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Early Childhood Education and Care Lays the Foundations for Learning...
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Early Childhood Education and Care Lays the Foundations for Learning and Wellbeing

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Pediatric Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2025 | Viewed by 5260

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Education, Communication and Learning, Goteborgs Universitet, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Interests: early childhood education; early child development; children’s learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Children’s first years in life and the childhood they become a part of lay the foundations for children’s learning, development, and wellbeing. Children grow up in an unequal world where experiences related to their family or other humans around them can provide children with strength or limited efforts to become engaged and interested in the world around them, despite the UN Convention’s statement that all children have a right to quality education, care, and play. Often, Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is overlooked, not regarded as an important aspect of children’s lives. ECEC starts at birth, and family members are children’s first teachers. However, most children across the globe also become participants of some kind of early education or care outside the home. This education is the first step to becoming a citizen, since it is a collective arena that provides children with many opportunities to socialize and come into contact with people of different values and behaviors. ECEC in different countries has a large variety of staff members, and this variety can result in a higher-quality program for children. To make ECEC and its role in children’s lives more visible, we aim, in this Special Issue, to focus on young children’s learning, development, and wellbeing in a broad sense.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Education Sciences.

Prof. Dr. Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • early childhood education and care
  • childhood
  • quality education
  • children’s rights and equality

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 1555 KiB  
Article
Nurturing Sustainability in Toddlerhood: Investigating Preschool Teachers’ Views and Daily Practices in a Swedish Preschool
by Deniz Kahriman-Pamuk and Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson
Children 2024, 11(12), 1412; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11121412 - 22 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1097
Abstract
Background/Objectives: While studies suggest that young children can learn and think about sustainability, most research has focused on children aged three to five, leaving a significant gap in understanding how to engage toddlers (one to three years of age) in early-childhood education in [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: While studies suggest that young children can learn and think about sustainability, most research has focused on children aged three to five, leaving a significant gap in understanding how to engage toddlers (one to three years of age) in early-childhood education in sustainability (ECEfS). This study aims to address this gap, a crucial and often overlooked area, by investigating preschool teachers’ views of ECEfS and their daily practices for nurturing sustainability in a toddler group in a Swedish preschool. Methods: We employed a case study approach, incorporating observations, interviews, and document analysis for data collection. Qualitative techniques were used for data analysis. The research was conducted with a strong commitment to ethical considerations, including obtaining participants’ consent, ensuring confidentiality and privacy, informing them of their right to withdraw, and maintaining anonymity. Results: The findings demonstrate that the teachers possessed a solid understanding of education for sustainability and were capable of effectively implementing sustainability-related daily practices in toddler groups. By creating suitable learning environments and integrating sustainability issues into daily classroom activities, they enhanced the children’s overall learning experiences. Conclusions: This study’s findings underscore the pivotal role of educators in shaping the mindsets and behaviors of future generations, thereby supporting the long-term goals of sustainable development. By nurturing toddlers’ innate curiosity and harnessing their brains’ plasticity, educators can effectively engage toddlers in ECEfS and promote sustainable development from an early age. This study’s implications highlight the need to prioritize ECEfS during toddlerhood to realize the full potential of this critical investment in the future of our planet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Early Childhood Education and Care Lays the Foundations for Learning and Wellbeing)
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13 pages, 231 KiB  
Article
Does Play-Based Learning Support Children’s Everyday Resiliency? A Cross-Case Analysis of Parents’ and Kindergarten Teachers’ Perceptions of Play-Based Learning as a Precedent to Young Children’s Coping During the Pandemic-Affected 2020–2021 School Year
by Lisa Fyffe and Angela Lewis
Children 2024, 11(11), 1378; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11111378 - 13 Nov 2024
Viewed by 3273
Abstract
Background: Play has long been credited with fostering self-regulation in young children, though few studies have examined how children draw upon early childhood experiences with play to navigate adversity later in childhood. The purpose of this study is to describe the facets of [...] Read more.
Background: Play has long been credited with fostering self-regulation in young children, though few studies have examined how children draw upon early childhood experiences with play to navigate adversity later in childhood. The purpose of this study is to describe the facets of the children’s everyday resiliency that were attributed to their play-based experiences by parents and teachers as they reflected on the children’s kindergarten experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We used a cross-case study design to examine the positive coping strategies parents and teachers observed in three five-year-old girls and one six-year-old boy entering kindergarten during the 2020–2021 pandemic-affected school year. We recruited parent participants based on their child’s enrollment at a Reggio Emilia-inspired, play-based early childhood center in Northern Colorado for three or more years prior to entering kindergarten. Once parents enrolled in the study, we extended an invitation to their child’s kindergarten teacher to participate. Data included three one-hour interviews with each participant, field visits during remote learning, and artifact collection over the course of the school year. Results: Cross-case analysis revealed four themes: “Willing to Adjust”, “Understands the Situation”, “Uses Advanced Language”, and “Embraces Challenge”. Participants describe these children as willing to adjust to public health orders, having a deep understanding of the pandemic’s societal repercussions, using sophisticated language to process adversity, and embracing the challenge of becoming kindergarteners. Conclusions: Participants believed these children’s experiences with play-based learning promoted the interdisciplinary development of their social language, persistence, altruism, and cognitive flexibility; these traits fostered the children’s positive coping strategies throughout the pandemic-affected kindergarten year. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Early Childhood Education and Care Lays the Foundations for Learning and Wellbeing)
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