The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has shown that there is a steady growth in the numbers of infants attending early childhood services. Despite growing interest in infant learning, recognition of infant teachers as specialised professionals is limited. This research aims to explore the role of early childhood teachers…

This case study investigates two Chinese children's shared reading experiences in both home and preschool contexts. The parents and the educators were interviewed about their general attitudes and practices relating to shared reading for promoting the Chinese children's bilingual development. Detailed observations were undertaken to record the…

In Birth-2 early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings, where evidence-based practices are still emerging, tensions exist about what it means to be an infant educator. While it is widely accepted that infants require responsive, supportive and care, relationships between educators and infants in early childhood settings necessarily involve…

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services are vital in the establishment of optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and long-term health. This qualitative study, informed by Social Cognitive Theory, aimed to describe ECEC infant feeding environments. Nineteen formal long day care and family day care ECEC services and 124…

This article focuses on Inspector Lydia Longmore and 29 infant mistresses who were leading South Australian infant schools in the interwar year era. During 1926/1927 Longmore and each infant mistress in the state school system were interviewed by a journalist about her career path and current role, and profiles of their work featured week by week…

"Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia" emphasises that families have an important role in their children's learning and it recognises that their earliest development is influenced through these relationships and adds that partnerships can be fostered with families by early childhood educators…

In most majority countries, early childhood educators' work occurs in a context increasingly dominated by neoliberal logic. A large body of literature emphasises that neoliberalism flourishes in society by fuelling mutual distrust and competition among people to pursue individual performance and material gain. This system has crept into education…

This study investigated five Australian early childhood educators' negotiation of the complex terrain of working in partnership with Chinese parents regarding their children's language usage in early childhood settings. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to explore educators' views on children's language usage in early childhood settings,…

Outdoor environmental education and provision of unstructured exploration of nature are often forgotten aspects of the early childhood experience. The aim of this study was to understand how adults' early experiences in nature relate to their attitudes and practices in providing such experiences for young children. This study surveyed 33 parents…

Developmental Work Research (DWR) is a methodology for simultaneous research and innovation in workplace settings, developed by Finnish researcher Yryo Engestrom. This interventionist approach builds on the principles of cultural-historical activity theory, articulated by developmental psychologists L.S. Vygotsky and A.N. Le'ontev. The article…

Reports on a survey of early childhood staff of 85 child care centers and 85 kindergartens in Australia regarding professional ethics. Discusses survey results in relation to Katz's work on ethics and teachers' developmental stages. Compares results with data from an earlier study of American educators (Feeney and Sysko, 1986). (NH)

International research has consistently found that early childhood staff are anxious about their relationships with parents. This qualitative study examined the perceptions of early childhood staff from a variety of early childhood settings in Australia regarding their experiences with the federal government's Quality Improvement and Accreditation…

Recommends implementing specialized preparation for rural preschool teachers to function effectively as distance educators. Addresses differences between urban and rural environments affecting education; the important role of parents as educators in distance education; and the need for distance education preschool teachers to reconceptualize their…

This study documented a kindergarten teacher's efforts to actively involve parents as partners in the literacy education of their children. In addition to the teacher, subjects of the study were her 26 pupils and their parents, all residents of rural New South Wales. Data were collected through anecdotal records, field observations, interviews,…