Self-efficacy has been associated with benefits to everyday life such as resilience to stress and adversity, healthy behaviours, improved performance, and academic achievement. Research into self-efficacy development is scarce in early childhood, yet self-efficacy is associated with numerous skills and competencies taught in the early years of…

Children are growing up in a media-rich digital environment where they are immersed in new technologies in unprecedented ways. Digital games are one of these technologies, and young children play a wide range of digital games. Research studies suggest that digital games support children's learning and development. The paper aims to assess digital…

This study explored the gaps between new kindergarten curriculum and engagement of personnel in real settings of Myanmar. We applied qualitative multi-level analysis through semi-structured interviews with 41 participants (curriculum team members, regional/township administrative staffs, school principals, in-service kindergarten teachers,…

Imagination is the ability of envisaging something that does not exist at the time being. Since 5-6-year-old children get through the pre-operational stage of Piaget's [2004. "Çocukta Zihinsel Gelisim" [Intellectual Development of Child] (2nd ed., H. Portakal, Trans.). Istanbul: Cem], they believe in empirical facts. Hence, Kujawski's…

The researchers conducting this study explored kindergarten teachers' knowledge level of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) in early years settings in Jordan. Data were collected from 180 kindergarten teachers working in Amman Governorate. A 37-item questionnaire was designed to reflect the concepts of DAP as presented in the National…

Purpose: This article was intended to share and reflect on experiences concerning the education for sustainable development (ESD) project at Hongqiao Kindergarten in Shanghai. The project aimed to explore how ESD could be implemented in a current curriculum and to provide useful examples of educational activities and experiences.…

Six kindergarten teachers in the Greater Toronto Area were interviewed on their understandings of and approaches to culturally responsive education (CRE) in their classrooms. Teachers generally reported believing that CRE is important in kindergarten, and the practices they implemented fell into two categories: structured components of their…

As a result of globalization, kindergarten curriculum frameworks in Asia have been strongly influenced by Western theories, pedagogies, and values. In this article, we argue that Singapore's "Nurturing Early Learners" and Hong Kong's "Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide" present key notions that are inconsistent with…

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) has a crucial contribution to the future life of children, and overall quality of learning and development of a country. Even though there are no well-established international criteria to evaluate the quality of ECCE programmes because of the variability in nations' economies, workforces, political…

Practitioners in play-based learning contexts face the challenge of developing developmentally appropriate practices while meeting rigorous academic curriculum standards. To date, play and academic learning have been predominantly conceptualized from an adult perspective. Considering that children are key agents in classroom play contexts, it is…

The appropriateness of early childhood foreign language education is occasionally a debatable subject among parents, educators, public education administrators and policymakers. A large body of research has been done on this subject and conclusions sometimes appear contradictory. This article first reviews briefly the importance of learning a…

Developmentally appropriate courseware can play a crucial role in enhancing children's learning and development. Research studies have demonstrated that early childhood educators face major challenges in selecting and updating developmental courseware that supports young children's development. The primary purpose of this study was to assess…

In China, the "2001 Kindergarten Education Guidelines (Trial)", or "New Outline", delineates what constitutes high-quality, developmentally appropriate practices in all early childhood education curriculum domains, including mathematics. The "New Outline" is known for advocating a child-centered, play-based approach…

The benefits of play to children's development and academic learning are often discussed in the research. However, inconsistencies in definitions of play and differing perspectives concerning the purpose of play in educational settings make it challenging for teachers to determine how to productively integrate play-based pedagogies into their…

This article summarizes a study of the viewpoints of Bible lecturers in the Kindergarten Education Department while teaching content related to the biblical "other." The study, by two researchers themselves part of the study population, was conducted according to the qualitative approach and included interviews with participants from a…