This study aimed to examine how Finnish early childhood education (ECE) teachers use planning, assessment and development (PAD) hours across different areas of the national ECE curriculum. The PAD of pedagogy carried out by ECE teachers is an important quality factor in ECE. In Finland, the working hours reserved for planning, assessment and…

Critical reflection on practice is a hallmark of professionalism in early childhood education. In the Australian context, reflection is highlighted as a principle in the national curriculum framework. This paper focuses on the professional learning of early childhood educators by drawing on a pedagogy of discomfort, an approach that aims to…

The revision of Te Whariki, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum Framework, in 2017 offered a unique opportunity to gain understanding of the ways teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand think about and enact curriculum in their daily practice. As researchers we were intrigued as to the ways teachers conceptualised the role of curriculum in…

High-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) has a robust and long-term impact on the development of children's skills and abilities, including self-regulation. While the importance of early self-regulation is acknowledged in national curricular frameworks (Australian Early Years Learning Framework), little is known about practices…

Historically Danish preschool has emphasised play and downplayed curricular planning. Over the last 20 years, there has been heightened emphasis on learning and goal orientation. This article explores the consequential framing of play as result of that shift. This is done first by discussing the changes in policy and discourse in Denmark in…

The aim of this study is to know the extent to which the national interactive curriculum scheduled for governmental kindergartens in Jordan take into account the psychological, social, aesthetic and cognitive foundations are considered. The researchers used the analytical descriptive approach. The sample of the study consisted of all kindergarten…

Despite the increasing popularity of studies on teachers' national curriculum adaptations, there is no comparative study elucidating teachers' adaptations in centralized and decentralized educational contexts through sense-making theory lenses. This paper presents a comparative case study of Turkish and Swedish senior classroom teachers'…

Teacher learning is crucial in terms of good quality education in early years and, respectively teachers' professional communities are crucial for teacher learning. The meaning of engagement in collaborative learning and resources available in professional community are emphasized in educational reforms. In this study, we explored teachers'…

National curriculum standards for different countries mean some International Baccalaureate (IB) schools must often balance IB and national standards. Literature on how schools find this balance is limited. Using a qualitative case study design, we examined the perspectives of teachers of English in a Chinese IB school that recently employed a…

Developing character strengths in early childhood has attracted increased attention all around the world in recent years. Nevertheless, very few studies have examined teachers' awareness and practices concerning character strengths. The present study aimed to discover early childhood teachers' awareness of children's character strengths and…

Inclusive education has long been implemented in regular educational settings in many jurisdictions including New Zealand (NZ). Since many children with special educational needs (CSEN) are not identifiable in a family environment, to ensure all CSEN are supported in a timely manner, early identification should be an integral component of the…

Educational change is dependent on the practices and perceptions of educators. Yet efforts to sustain teacher's adoption and implementation of reform packages often deteriorate over time. Monitoring educators' engagement across the reform process, and making adaptions to reflect key findings, is central to successful implementation. This…

In this paper, we explore how professional and policy contexts can mediate early childhood teachers' relationship with the official curriculum. Using their assessment practices as an impetus for discussion, we probed 28 Greek kindergarten teachers to talk about their engagement with the prescribed curriculum and explain how they construct its…

This article explores collective and individual perspectives on preschool mathematics within a professional development programme. All seven teachers at one Swedish preschool participated in a one-year research-based professional development programme. At the beginning and then again at the end of the programme, the teachers collectively wrote…

The introduction of the Australian Curriculum in 2011 and 2012 brought with it a variety of responses, from consternation from some states less willing to give up their autonomous curriculum positioning through to significant optimism from educators and academics about the opportunities and benefits afforded by such a national curriculum…