Transition from early childhood education to primary school is a complex phenomenon. This situation, moving from one educational system to another, is exciting, but can also be stressful for the child, her family and preschool teachers. Smooth transition to primary school helps children feel secure, relaxed and comfortable in their new…

With the introduction of the 4+4+4 education system in 2012, the school starting age has been reduced to 60 months and branch teachers started to attend classes starting from 5th grade. Therefore, in the current study, there are two aims. Firstly it is aimed to determine the opinions and experiences of science teachers having started to teach the…

This research paper investigates how graduate early years practitioners support under-threes with early reading; presenting their perceptions and daily encounters. Previous research into the practice and pedagogy of early reading appears to have resulted in the latest overarching policy investment in phonics. This paper suggests that this…

Educator's perceptions and use of a state-mandated kindergarten entry assessment (KEA), the Alaska Developmental Profile (ADP), were investigated using a mixed-methods approach with 233 educators representing 23 districts in the state of Alaska. Educators reported inconsistencies in the administration, implementation, perceptions, and use of the…

The present study aimed to identify commonalities and points of divergence in the ways that parents, teachers, and administrators characterize children's transition from public pre-K into kindergarten within a large, diverse school district. A wide range of transition practices were in use across the district, including practices designed to…

The purpose of the study is to investigate what early childhood teachers in the United States of America believe are the essential characteristics young children and dual language learners (DLL) require to be ready for school. Participants identified the three top characteristics all young children and DLL need for school success. The findings…

Recent policies across the United States support rigorous high school computer science courses acting as flex credit courses. This allows the courses to count as graduation requirements in lieu of traditional mathematics or science courses. In this study, 457 teachers in high schools that had not yet adopted flex credit policies indicated school…

This study primarily explored the perceptions of dyslexia held by early childhood educators teaching in Head Start centers. A secondary purpose was to investigate how early childhood educators in Head Start centers perceive the notion of risk for dyslexia and how they identify at-risk students in ways that are consist with the results of a…

Developing strong language and communication skills in the first years of life provides young children with a foundation for a number of positive outcomes, including school readiness, early literacy skills, and self-regulation. High quality language supports in early childhood education programs are key to this development. Part of providing these…

In early childhood education, a long-standing debate exists around issues related to school readiness and the transition to school. This paper describes an action research project implemented by teachers in an urban Australian preschool which gathered multiple stakeholder perspectives about school transition. The project was initiated to support…

For decades, the educational system has been concerned with school readiness and the approaches educational institutions follow to ensure that students enter school with the necessary skills to be successful. However, determining what school readiness entails has been a controversial topic since the establishment of educational goals by the…

This interim report presents the ongoing progress of a collaborative project between the Centre for Teacher and Early Years Education (CTEY), UCL Institute of Education and the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University (BNU), which aims to (re)construct school readiness from Chinese children's perspectives. In this report, we first set out…

Theory of mind describes the ability to engage in perspective-taking, understand intentions, and predict actions and emotions. Theory of mind typically achieves major developmental milestones around age of 5, coinciding with the transition to kindergarten, and is associated with a verbal ability (receptive and expressive vocabulary), executive…

This article explores how three early childhood teachers working in grant-funded preschools within a public school context construct and negotiate their professional identities. Teachers share narratives that contribute to an understanding of how their beliefs, knowledge, and practice are marginalized by the context in which they work. The…

Denmark has a tradition of kindergarten pedagogy focused on children's play, sociality and individual interests. Political emphasis on global competition, however, has led to reforms in early childhood education and care (ECEC) since 2004. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at three kindergartens, we analyse how the ECEC-reforms have affected the…