After a first peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, early childhood education and care (ECEC) again plays an important role in the educational system in Austria. Over 90% of 3-5-year-old children attend non-familial institutions such as preschools. A consequence of this development is that new challenges arise, which have become the subject of…

Purpose: This paper aims to study parental expectations of and satisfaction with overall services of preschool centres and to determine the factors which affect parents' satisfaction in a part of one of Thailand's southern provinces. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from parents of children…

In the U.S., experiences of infants and toddlers in group care are often overshadowed by the policy and research focus on preschool education just prior to formal school entry. When infant-toddler care is studied, it is often described relative to the global quality of classroom environments. Little research has focused on the day-to-day…

The Research Connections collection contains records for more than 1,300 instruments that have been used to conduct studies in the child care and early education field. This bibliography provides records for instruments in the collection that can be used to observe child care quality in center-based settings serving infants and toddlers. In…

There has been increasing debate about the role early childhood education and care (ECEC) plays within local and wider communities. This article reports on a small-scale case study that explored the views of teachers, management and parents from a privately owned ECEC centre in New Zealand about the notion of community. Rogoff's planes of…

In 2016, Washington, D.C. passed regulations that sought to increase the education and credentials of the early educator workforce. To meet the needs of Spanish-speaking educators, leaders at the University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDC-CC) collaborated with community stakeholders and organizations, to design and implement a…

Over the past few decades, instructional policy supports -- encompassing standards, curricula, and assessments -- have featured centrally in the education reform movement. So, too, have efforts to align them. In this article, we conduct interviews with local educators with responsibility for early education about the alignment of instructional…

Through an examination of the reflective comments of 42 pre-service Early Childhood Education Teachers (PS-ECETs), this study describes how an infancy course within an Early Childhood Education program used four different ways of organizing learning to unravel details of infant pedagogy, focusing on the role of the teacher. It is vital to theorize…

Advances in technology have seen a proliferation of touch-screen interfaces available to young children. These screens have changed the way in which young children engage with digital technology; with increased exposure and use, it raises debates about the suitability of integrating digital technology within early childhood settings. There are…

This study examined how partnerships between early care and education providers were developed and how they worked together to deliver comprehensive, high-quality services to infants and toddlers from low-income families. Survey data were collected from 220 Early Head Start (EHS) program directors and 386 child care center directors and family…

Research Findings: This study examined the development and implementation of six Early Head Start Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCPs), unique collaborations between EHS grantees and community-based child care partners that expand access to high-quality child care and comprehensive services for low-income infants, toddlers, and their families.…

Research Findings: This small-scale study features the 1st comparative exploration of the pedagogical quality of parent-led child care and regular child care in The Netherlands. The quality of the interaction skills and the affective relationships between adults and children was evaluated and compared with those of regular child care centers. On…

In a French early childhood care and education system that is strongly divided by age and institution, the current research studies the collective life of children at the pivotal age of two to three years of age in four different early childhood settings: (1) a group of "grands" (nursery) in a "crèche" (daycare centre), (2) a…

While academic attention is now being paid to infant-peer relationships in early childhood education and care settings and the role of teachers in these interactions, research is inclined to emphasise the importance of shared understanding as a feature in infant-peer relationships. As such, little research attention has been given to the alteric…

Children's social and emotional well-being can be supported through their experiences of early years education to promote positive life-long outcomes. This study explored the views of 10 early years practitioners in relation to supporting children's social and emotional well-being. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews and analysed…