Innovative Directions in Early Care and Education

Dear Colleagues,

Early care and education is increasingly shaped by changing family and community needs, advances in research and technology, and growing recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary and inclusive approaches to supporting young children. This Special Issue, “Innovative Directions in Early Care and Education,” seeks original research, reviews, conceptual papers, and practice-oriented scholarship that examines emerging and innovative directions across diverse settings, disciplines, and cultural contexts.

We welcome work that advances understanding of how young children’s development, learning, participation, and well-being can be supported through evidence-based and emerging practices, interdisciplinary collaboration, family-centered approaches, and responsive systems of care and education. The Special Issue aims to bring together scholarship that crosses traditional disciplinary and service boundaries, connects research with practice, and offers new ways of conceptualizing, organizing, or delivering early care and education.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Infant and toddler care, learning, and development;
• Early childhood education and inclusive classroom practices;
• Early intervention and early childhood special education;
• Speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, behavioral services, and other therapeutic or related services for young children;
• Teacher, provider, and interdisciplinary personnel preparation;
• Professional learning, coaching, and workforce development;
• Family engagement and family-centered practices;
• Interdisciplinary, interprofessional, and cross-sector collaboration;
• Assessment, individualized supports, and responsive intervention;
• Emerging technologies, including responsible applications of artificial intelligence;
• Innovative approaches to equity, access, participation, and inclusion;
• International and cross-cultural practices and perspectives in early care and education.

We are particularly interested in contributions that integrate perspectives across disciplines or systems, examine emerging approaches, and offer meaningful implications for young children, families, and the professionals who support them. We welcome submissions representing diverse methodological approaches, professional perspectives, service settings, and cultural contexts.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Jun Ai
Dr. Lin Zhu
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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 double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences 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 2000 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.