Community-based parenting education programs have a unique role to play in the promotion of infant mental health. In contrast to classes that seek to accelerate child development, the author describes enrichment programs that promote parent-child bonding and healthy social and emotional development. The ParentSource program was developed on the…

This study examines teachers' beliefs and their practices of emotional socialization in three child care centers. Interviews with teachers revealed that teachers shared some, but not all, of their beliefs with regard to their role in children's emotional development and views of their own socialization practices. The findings from classroom…

In the 21st century, students' character, social-emotional skills, and academic competencies will define school excellence. This article describes characteristics of visionary leadership for such schools based on settings already characterized by strengths in "EQ + IQ = Best Leadership Practices for Caring and Successful Schools." Core beliefs…

This paper studies homeschooling as an alternative form of educational provision in South Africa and USA to determine what knowledge and experiences from research on homeschooling in the USA may be relevant to the South Africa situation. Homeschooling in the USA has a sound legal foundation and has become an acceptable educational alternative.…

Further education has become pivotal to English educational policy with the sector being central to strategies that seek to raise educational standards and widen participation. This article derives from a study of trainee further education (FE) teachers on a full-time, postgraduate certificate course in the Midlands. It seeks to examine trainee…

This article can help teachers and directors become eloquent and effective advocates of play-based early learning environments. It defines play and play policy and discusses distinct research areas that support play policy and practice for physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development within diverse early childhood settings. Also…

This practical book deals with the emotional and moral dimensions of school leadership. The author sets out the intra-personal and interpersonal attributes, attitudes and behaviours necessary to develop emotional and moral leadership within the school community. The book provides a range of person-centred strategies for building communities of…

This article presents questions regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) regulations and the No Child Left Behind Act. The author's answers to these questions are presented.

How can language and literacy enhance emotional development in the very young (birth to three years)? Although all children begin to understand their world through language and social interaction, literacy differs from culture to culture. It can range from oral stories of personal and cultural relevance to songs of ethnic pride and includes a…

Over the past decade, investing in learning programs for young children has emerged as a central strategy in states' efforts to improve educational achievement and opportunity. This trend has been fueled by strong public support and a steady stream of research findings on the influence of the first few years of life on cognitive and emotional…

Recent advances in neuroscience show clearly how experience can change brain neurochemicals, and how this in turn affects the way the brain functions. As a result, early negative events actually get built into the growing brain's neurochemistry, altering the brain's architecture. Research is continuing to investigate how children with genetic…

Once again, early education has emerged as a major policy and program topic. And, while the importance of early education is undisputed, the increasing calls for "Universal Preschool" and full-day kindergartens have yielded considerable controversy. Our specific interest in public policy for preschool programs stems from our concerns about…

Parental meta-emotion, assessed through interviews, involves parents' philosophy about emotions and has been found to be related to parenting behaviors and children's emotional and social competence (e.g., Gottman, Katz, & Hooven, 1996; Katz & Windecker-Nelson, 2004). The Emotion-Related Parenting Styles Self-Test is a true-false…

This article outlines six primary stages of a child's development. These basic functions show the way mental capacities work together as a team. Cognitive, motor, language, emotional, and social skills act together to help the child learn to deal with the world. Helping a child through these stages and fostering these core capacities requires a…

Although the nature of the relationship of music on students' emotional development remains an issue for continued research, my overall purpose is to provide adults with research-based methods to help children become better consumers of hip-hop music. First, I identify research-based recommendations to prepare adults as facilitators of children's…