Technologies are a pervasive feature of contemporary life for adults and children. However, young children's experiences with digital technologies are often the subject of polarised debate among parents, educators, policymakers and social commentators, particularly since the advent of tablets and smartphones changed access to the Internet and the nature of interactions with digital resources. Some are opposed to children's engagement with digital resources, concerned that the activities they afford are not developmentally appropriate, limit physical activity and restrict the development of social skills. Others welcome digital technologies which they see as offering new and enhanced ways of learning and sharing knowledge. Despite this level of popular and policy interest in young children's interactions with digital technologies our understanding of the influence of these technologies on playing and learning, and on the role of educators, has remained surprisingly limited. The contributions to this book fill in the gaps of our existing understanding of the field. They focus on children and families from Australia to England to Estonia, the how and why of encounters with digital technologies, the nature of digital play and questions about practice and practitioners. The book raises critical questions and offers new understandings and theoretical insights around one of the 'hot topics' in early years research. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Early Years journal.

Early Childhood Education in the United States is rife with contradictions, critique and innovation. It is a time when a status quo - characterized by systemic, historic discrimination; teacher de-professionalization; 'teaching to the test'; and attacks on funding - is challenged by new technologies, new literacies and transformative and critical perspectives and practices that defy assumptions and biases to create cutting-edge, diverse instantiations of Early Childhood Education for children, families, and teachers. This volume, based on a special issue of the Early Years journal written in 2016 before the new administration announced its policies, aims to generate conversations about developments in Early Childhood Education, situated within classist/racist/linguicist and neoliberal contexts, and to analyze critically where we are, where we might go and what we might do. It is also an opportunity to share counter-narratives to the dominant narratives promulgated by many, convinced that narrow, destructive norms of appropriate practice, standards, and accountability, as well as the curtailed achievement of children of Color, those from low income communities, and emergent bilinguals are 'common sense'. These counter-narratives - some about transformational projects that have generated innovative perspectives and practices, and some detailing critical analyses and projects that go beyond to explore issues of power - contest education that disprivileges some children and families while advocating education that is child- and family-centered, culturally relevant and sustaining, equitable and democratic. Our hope is that this work creates a 'space of dialogue and human action' needed even more urgently today. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Early Years journal.

Technologies are a pervasive feature of contemporary life for adults and children. However, young children's experiences with digital technologies are often the subject of polarised debate among parents, educators, policymakers and social commentators, particularly since the advent of tablets and smartphones changed access to the Internet and the nature of interactions with digital resources. Some are opposed to children's engagement with digital resources, concerned that the activities they afford are not developmentally appropriate, limit physical activity and restrict the development of social skills. Others welcome digital technologies which they see as offering new and enhanced ways of learning and sharing knowledge. Despite this level of popular and policy interest in young children's interactions with digital technologies our understanding of the influence of these technologies on playing and learning, and on the role of educators, has remained surprisingly limited. The contributions to this book fill in the gaps of our existing understanding of the field. They focus on children and families from Australia to England to Estonia, the how and why of encounters with digital technologies, the nature of digital play and questions about practice and practitioners. The book raises critical questions and offers new understandings and theoretical insights around one of the 'hot topics' in early years research. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Early Years journal.

Early childhood provision for babies and toddlers is in a critical phase. While governments are pushing for fast-paced expansion, mainly to support the return of mothers to the labour market, early childhood experts are deeply concerned about the quality of provision on offer for children up to age three. Research has consistently demonstrated that well-qualified educators are a crucial component towards ensuring a climate of sensitivity and responsiveness to individual children - and thus a central ingredient of high quality provision. However, national policy choices regarding required professional education/training and required resources for supporting the well-being and learning opportunities of very young children are highly variable. The chapters in this book approach the topic of professional work with very young children in diverse ways, employing varying theoretical frameworks, research foci and research methodologies. They illustrate starkly divergent policy contexts, in this case predominantly European, with research located in Belgium, France, Finland, Italy, Sweden and the UK, but also in South Africa and the USA. This book will be of interest to those conducting research into provision for infants and toddlers, both at the micro-level of relationships and settings and at the macro-level of policy paradigms. Potential readers also include practitioners and prospective managers and leaders of early childhood centres, as well as those offering initial and postgraduate early years teacher education and continuing professional development courses. This book was originally published as a special issue of Early Years.

Early Childhood Education in the United States is rife with contradictions, critique and innovation. It is a time when a status quo - characterized by systemic, historic discrimination; teacher de-professionalization; 'teaching to the test'; and attacks on funding - is challenged by new technologies, new literacies and transformative and critical perspectives and practices that defy assumptions and biases to create cutting-edge, diverse instantiations of Early Childhood Education for children, families, and teachers. This volume, based on a special issue of the Early Years journal written in 2016 before the new administration announced its policies, aims to generate conversations about developments in Early Childhood Education, situated within classist/racist/linguicist and neoliberal contexts, and to analyze critically where we are, where we might go and what we might do. It is also an opportunity to share counter-narratives to the dominant narratives promulgated by many, convinced that narrow, destructive norms of appropriate practice, standards, and accountability, as well as the curtailed achievement of children of Color, those from low income communities, and emergent bilinguals are 'common sense'. These counter-narratives - some about transformational projects that have generated innovative perspectives and practices, and some detailing critical analyses and projects that go beyond to explore issues of power - contest education that disprivileges some children and families while advocating education that is child- and family-centered, culturally relevant and sustaining, equitable and democratic. Our hope is that this work creates a 'space of dialogue and human action' needed even more urgently today. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Early Years journal.

Mit diesem umfassenden Uberblick uber die internationale Diskussion um die Bildungsqualitat bei jungeren Kindern formulieren die Autorinnen und Autoren Konsequenzen fur die Neugestaltung von Bildungsangeboten in Deutschland. Die Beitrage bieten einen Einblick in fachpolitische, nationale und kulturspezifische Umsetzungen verschiedener Konzepte und Modelle. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden zentrale Fragen der Bildung und Erziehung jungerer Kinder in einer vergleichenden Analyse identifiziert sowie Impluse fur die Entwicklung von Bildungsqualitat fur Kinder in Deutschland gegeben."

Working with Young Children in Europe provides information on the social context of childcare and educational services in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It documents the major kinds of provision for young children and describes the training of staff working in early childhood services. The book also includes material on provision and staff training for work with school-age children outside schools hours. In addition, cross-national themes and issues on training, provision and policy have been drawn out for comparative analysis.