Despite the growing body of evidence that the origins of bullying lie in early childhood, very little is known about the nature of the phenomenon in preschool groups. The current understanding among studies conducted in the school environment is that bullying prevention can only be effective if training with individual children takes place…

Swedish leisure-time centres were formerly part of Swedish social and family policies but were transferred to an educational context in the 1990s. This transfer was accentuated by both the Education Act of 2010 and the new teacher training established in 2011, which also included education particularly directed for leisure-time centres. The…

Australian "Play School" is a children's television programme developed in collaboration with early childhood educators. It is screened free to air across Australia. Two hundred and twenty-four adult carers of young children aged 1-8 years completed an online survey via a link on the "Play School" website. The survey addressed…

Caregiver reports of problematic activities/routines with their young children with physical disabilities and types of assistive technology used as solutions were investigated in this study. In addition, caregiver competence with assistive technology use and ways in which caregivers received information and training were also examined. A subset of…

The current phenomenological case study, based in part on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, set out to examine the lived experiences of individuals sharing and mediating meaningful communication with individuals who have Down syndrome. To accomplish this, the researcher interviewed several categories of caregivers who regularly interact with…

The aim of this report was to investigate the associations between attachment state of mind, romantic attachment style, and indices of maternal functioning in two relational spheres: the mother-child relationship (i.e., maternal sensitivity and child attachment security) and the marital relationship (i.e., mothers' and their partners' marital…

This article presents the key findings and discussion from a research project and subsequent report: "Involving young children in decision making: An exploration of practitioners' views". This research explored early childhood practitioners'--childcare workers, kindergarten, pre-primary and grade 1-2 teachers--views on decision making…

Free to Grow: Head Start Partnerships to Promote Substance-free Communities (FTG) was a national initiative in which local Head Start (HS) agencies, in partnership with other community organizations, implemented a mix of evidence-based family-strengthening and community-strengthening strategies. The evaluation of FTG used a quasi-experimental…

The purpose of this research was to study the opinions toward self and task performance in childcare centres as perceived by caregivers under the jurisdiction of the Local Administrative Organization. The four areas evaluated were caregiver characteristics, task performance, objectives of caregiving and educating young children and problems and…

The policy brief "Ethnographic Knowledge for Early Childhood" details the contributions of current ethnographic research in the area of early childhood education. The brief's main purpose is to demonstrate how ethnography (as a methodology) helps us better understand the context of early childhood programs, the types of settings and…

Forty-nine caregivers in eight daycare centres were interviewed about their daycare experiences, their own childcare decisions and practices, and their views of how their profession is perceived by society. Results suggest that: caregivers comment positively on the process elements of their work, such as their enjoyment and love of children, and…

This pilot study examined the experiences of 24 teacher education students and nine caregivers who participated in a weekly community play session on a rural University campus in NSW, Australia. Students completed a questionnaire at the beginning of the 13 week semester and at the end of the semester and were asked about confidence levels in…

This study represents a quasi-experimental test of the role of early social-emotional experience and adult-child relationships in the development of typically developing children and those with disabilities birth to 4 years of age living in orphanages in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. The three orphanages in the current study were selected…

When a school-age child with disabilities is accepted into a childcare setting, it is only the first step. The sustenance of the care option depends on whether the setting makes appropriate adaptations to accommodate the child with disability in the setting. Parents face a host of challenges related to adaptations and accommodations. This study…

Caring is the core value that empowers families and early childhood professionals. This article articulates the meaning and power of caring in the lives of children and families. It also explores family, professional, and community strategies for creating caring and nurturing children and families. In particular, insights that show that caring is…