All articles

In this article, I investigate preschool children’s participation in organised activities. Current political and academic debates consider informal education as a prime vehicle for potentially diminishing social class inequalities in educational outcomes before school entry. However, studies point to unequal participation rates between social classes, which means the activities might actually aggravate existing disparities. Various explanations have been offered for this social class gap. Some scholars argue that material resources play a pivotal role, while others say that culture is the decisive factor. This study uses the kindergarten cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) to test how far these two dimensions contribute to social class differences in preschool children’s participation in organised activities. My analysis shows that both dimensions are important determinants of children’s participation in organized activities. However, occupational characteristics also have a considerable effect, which suggests shortcomings in the current scholarly discussion.

Following on from successful early intervention programs abroad, the Netherlands also introduced a number of different programs to tackle educational disadvantage in preschool and early years education. Studies that investigate the effects of Dutch early childhood interventions have been published since 2000. This meta-analytic review study summarizes the findings from 21 experimental comparisons which study some 50,000 children in the period between 2000–2015, with a total of 165 outcome measures. The aggregate effect of early childhood interventions compared with standard preschool and early years groups is not statistically significant. The disappointing results indicate that special early childhood education programs currently offer no added value for the development of young children in the Dutch context over and above regular preschool and early years groups. A focus for Dutch policy is to improve future practice based on scientific evidence around effective approaches to ECEC. Further, the implementation of study designs with more experimental control would strengthen the current knowledge base.

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.

This research article attempts to determine strategies that can be used to support children’s cognitive and social-emotional development in early childhood care and education programs. By synthesizing empirical evidence about pedagogical techniques that promote children’s competencies, the article aims to identify those characteristics of programs that ultimately contribute to the effectiveness of early childhood care and education. In particular, the article summarizes strategies that foster children’s acquisition of language, math, and social-emotional skills. In so doing, it responds to the needs of program staff who struggle to understand and address the numerous developmental needs of young children and it provides concrete guidance for policymakers and management personnel who aim to design purposeful programs which benefit child development effectively.

This article presents the findings of research on the quality of early childhood education and care in Moscow. This research is based on insight into the quality of early childhood education and care built in to The Federal State Educational Standard for Preschool Education and the cultural-historical ideas of L. Vygotsky. The main aim of this field research is to investigate “the strong points” and drawbacks of early childhood education and care in the capital city. The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R) is used as an instrument of field research. The results are based on a random sample of 36 preschools and kindergartens in one of the districts of Moscow. The research gathers data about the most comfortable and least comfortable aspects of the learning environment in the preschools and kindergartens of Moscow. Taking into consideration the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standards, the findings of the research revealed that the most important line of learning environment development in preschool and kindergarten are individual early care and education program, support for the independence of children, the creation of a more available and mobile environment, and optimal conditions for the development of thinking, imagination and child creativity.

This article is based on work undertaken for the European Commission (EC) as part of a wider project on what is termed ‘social services of general interest’. The EC is currently engaged in considering what kind of legislative and quality assurance mechanisms might be promoted for those social services, which have been opened up to competition. The EC work reported here mapped the extent to which early education and childcare (ECEC) is provided by private organizations in the member states of the European Union, and what regulatory frameworks exist for such services. This article foregrounds the situation in the UK, and England in particular. England is exceptional in Europe in the degree to which it has conceptualized and promoted childcare as a business or for-profit enterprise; and it has developed a regulatory framework with a narrow scope which excludes or limits such issues as financial regulation, access, pay and conditions of work for staff, and accountability measures.

From research we know that there is no specific early childhood education programme that is superior to other approaches (National Research Council. 2001). At the same time, historically it looks like people think there is a specific programme that will solve all problems and guarantee a high quality in early years education, since different discourses keep appearing. Right now based on the UN Convention of the Right of the Child, children’s voices and perspectives are central to education for young children. In this theoretical article we will discuss what an early childhood education based on child perspectives and children’s perspective could be. The two perspectives will be defined. Central notions and features for a pedagogy that takes both of these perspectives into practice will be illustrated, but also aspects that link care and education. The important relation between children’s experiences in the family and in early childhood education call for a sensitivity and dialogue with children that presuppose adults’ skills to empathically and cognitively make sense of children’s worlds. This means that, instead of arguing for a certain programme to early years education, we try to focus attention to certain features and aspects that could be of importance for a child’s right to education.