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This article examines British early childhood education; regulation of the educational process for early (preschool) age children; and the features of content, organization and the estimation components of education in preschool stage. The author presents the translated documents and conducts comparative analysis of the legislative acts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Russian Federation to identify the characteristics of English preschool education. After studying the history and development of early childhood education in Great Britain, the author pays special attention to the Education Act and the National Curriculum and the documents accompanying this legislative act that regulate the activity of educators: Statutory guidance «Early years (under 5s) foundation stage framework (EYFS)», «EYFS learning and development requirements: exemptions for children», «Early years foundation stage profile: exemplification materials» and «Statutory guidance on sex and relationship education». The analysis of the structure of the National Curriculum makes it possible to draw the first conclusion that it significantly differs from the Federal Educational State Standard of early childhood education, but the ideas embodied in both documents are similar and reflect the features of preschool age, and emphasize its self-worth. The analysis of documents and guidebooks accompanying the National Curriculum also makes it possible to draw a conclusion about the importance of pedagogical monitoring, as these documents are aimed at supporting educators in conducting diagnostics.

An international comparative research project was carried out in the Netherlands, Wales, Germany and Finland to understand how trainee teachers reflect upon play. Data was collected among 31 Dutch, 37 Welsh, 40 German and 19 Finnish teacher trainees. They watched four videotaped sequences of preschoolers engaged in an activity. Next, they answered four open ended questions to elicit reflections upon the clips. The data were analyzed to answer two questions. The first was to compare reflections on the presence of play characteristics. The second question considered whether responses differed with regard to appreciation of the preschool teacher’s role in the activity. Using Chi-Square analyses significant differences were found between countries with regard to both research questions. The article discusses that the differences between countries might be explained in terms of differences in teacher education. It raises questions about teacher training curriculum with regard to play since it appears to influence viewpoints on play as well as on classroom practice.

The focus of this article is on Finnish pre-school curricula from the early pioneering years to the start of the new millennium (1972–2000). Pre-school has been part of the Finnish education system for nearly 40 years. It has been undergoing a challenging reconstruction process and changes influenced significantly by the increasing call for pre-school education. From 2001, all Finnish municipalities have the obligation to offer and arrange free pre-school education for all six-year-old children a year before compulsory schooling. In this article, pre-school curricula are analysed by examining five written curricula between 1972 and 2000 using qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis. How are the curricula written and how are they changed? The results show that often implicit concepts of the child and childhood determine the content of pre-school curricula. The answers have implications for the development of pre-school education, as well as curricula-related research.