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Social Sciences
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Educational Innovation and Child Participation in Early Childhood Education
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Educational Innovation and Child Participation in Early Childhood Education

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Childhood and Youth Studies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 2260

Editors

Prof. Dr. Ana Castro Zubizarreta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Education. Faculty of Education. University of Cantabria. 39005 Santander, Cantabria, Spain
Interests: childhood; rights; global citizenship education; policies for the protection, provision, and participation of children in educational contexts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Roberto Sanz Ponce

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of General Didactics, Theory of Education and Technological Innovation, Faculty of Education, Catholic University of Valencia, 46001 Valencia, Spain
Interests: childhood; rights; education for global citizenship; policies for the protection, provision, and participation of children in educational contexts; teacher training and teaching competencies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Early childhood education is an essential stage in children's development. This Special Issue will explore and share the ways in which educational innovation in early childhood education can help inspire new ways of teaching and learning, providing safe, sympathetic, and respectful childcare environments that are committed to children’s rights.

We advocate educational innovation that helps to reimagine education by promoting the participation of children as active agents of situated and experiential learning, enabling them not only to be heard, but also to influence the socio-educational environments of which they are a part.

From this perspective, it is not a question of ‘going to and being at school’, but of ‘being and making a committed school’ that generates alliances and positive influences in the lives of its members, where everyone is taken into consideration.

Child participation is therefore a right, a duty, and a guarantee for educational innovation.

This Special Issue welcomes original research articles, systematic literature reviews, and educational articles that provide insightful and important contributions. Areas of research may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Experiences of educational innovation in early childhood education.
  • Alternative experiences in early childhood education.
  • Innovation and improvement in early childhood education through child participation.
  • Children as co-researchers.
  • Reflections on innovation and child participation: Challenges and frameworks for action.
  • The role of adults in promoting and exercising child participation.

Prof. Dr. Ana Castro Zubizarreta
Prof. Dr. Roberto Sanz Ponce
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. Social 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 1800 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

  • educational innovation
  • early childhood education
  • child participation
  • educational quality
  • educational improvement
  • teacher training
  • childhood
  • educational experiences

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

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 979 KB  
Article
Dimensions of the Culture of Space in Early Childhood Education and Care
by Linda Podrug Krstulović
Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(8), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15080524 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 295
Abstract
This paper examines the concept of the culture of space in early childhood education and care (ECEC), building on contemporary perspectives that understand space as an active factor in children’s development, learning, and socialization. The study aims to identify and define the dimensions [...] Read more.
This paper examines the concept of the culture of space in early childhood education and care (ECEC), building on contemporary perspectives that understand space as an active factor in children’s development, learning, and socialization. The study aims to identify and define the dimensions of the culture of space in relevant interdisciplinary literature and to examine their representation in national and international strategic documents related to ECEC. The analysis is based on socio-constructivist perspectives, the phenomenology of space, the concepts of place identity and sense of place, and the Reggio Emilia approach. The findings indicate that the culture of space comprises interconnected physical, social, symbolic, cultural, digital, and pedagogical dimensions that shape children’s experiences and support belonging, identity formation, cultural awareness, spatial competences, and sustainable relationships with the environment. International policy documents published by OECD, UNESCO, and UNICEF emphasize that well-designed learning environments and sensitivity to cultural context are essential indicators of ECEC quality. Space should be understood as a culturally and pedagogically constructed medium that actively supports children’s development, identity formation, and community building. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educational Innovation and Child Participation in Early Childhood Education)
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25 pages, 2348 KB  
Article
Navigating Early Childhood Special Education: An Analysis of School Counselors’ Professional Development Needs
by Ibrahim Halil Diken, Derya Atik Kara, Ramazan Akdogan, Melike Kurtulus Uzlu, Osman Yasar, Gizem Turkoglu Boyvat, Gozde Tomris, Secil Celik Demirtas, Ozlem Diken, Ozlem Toper, Ozcan Ozgur Dursun and Cem Cuhadar
Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(7), 439; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15070439 - 1 Jul 2026
Viewed by 435
Abstract
School counselors working in preschool special education institutions undertake multidimensional responsibilities involving support for children with developmental disabilities, family guidance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and participation in individualized education program (IEP) processes. Despite the complexity of these responsibilities, limited research has specifically examined the professional [...] Read more.
School counselors working in preschool special education institutions undertake multidimensional responsibilities involving support for children with developmental disabilities, family guidance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and participation in individualized education program (IEP) processes. Despite the complexity of these responsibilities, limited research has specifically examined the professional development needs of counselors employed in early childhood special education settings. This study aimed to determine the professional development needs of school counselors working in preschool special education institutions and to explore the professional challenges they experience in practice. The study was conducted using a qualitative research design. Participants consisted of 19 school counselors working in preschool special education institutions across different regions of Türkiye. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated that school counselors experienced substantial professional development needs related to autism spectrum disorder, behavioral intervention strategies, family counseling, crisis intervention, interdisciplinary teamwork, assessment procedures, and individualized education planning. School counselors also emphasized inadequacies in preservice education and reported a strong need for applied, field-specific in-service training opportunities. Furthermore, role ambiguity, institutional limitations, and insufficient supervision emerged as significant factors negatively influencing professional competence perceptions. The findings suggest that counselor education curricula and professional development policies should be restructured to address the unique demands of preschool special education settings more effectively. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the necessity of specialized professional preparation for school counselors supporting young children with special needs and their families. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educational Innovation and Child Participation in Early Childhood Education)
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20 pages, 687 KB  
Article
Developing Complex Thinking Skills to Foster Intercultural Citizenship: Mixed-Methods Evidence from Four Latin American Contexts
by Luz Elena Malagón-Castro, Carolina Henao-Rodriguez, Jenny Paola Lis-Gutiérrez, José Carlos Vázquez-Parra, Claudia Lorena Tramón, Gerardo Antonio González Rivera and Liz Katherine Marco Torrez
Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(3), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15030156 - 2 Mar 2026
Viewed by 757
Abstract
The notion of complex thinking has become established as an essential competency for understanding multidimensional social phenomena and for engaging with democratic processes in diverse contexts. This study examined within-individual changes associated with participation in an educational intervention aimed at developing complex thinking [...] Read more.
The notion of complex thinking has become established as an essential competency for understanding multidimensional social phenomena and for engaging with democratic processes in diverse contexts. This study examined within-individual changes associated with participation in an educational intervention aimed at developing complex thinking among university students in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, and explored their implications for intercultural citizenship education. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design was employed, drawing on panel data and fixed-effects regression models to estimate intraindividual variation over time, complemented by an exploratory differential analysis by sex. The findings revealed statistically significant within-individual changes across the four evaluated subdimensions, as well as differentiated patterns by sex, with women showing higher relative changes in critical and innovative thinking and men showing higher relative changes in scientific reasoning. Interpreted in dialogue with existing literature, these observed changes in complex thinking are consistent with theoretical frameworks that conceptualize such competencies as relevant cognitive foundations for intercultural citizenship. Overall, the study provides empirically grounded insights into the role of complexity-oriented learning experiences in higher education in Latin America and outlines considerations for the design of more context-sensitive and equity-oriented educational initiatives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educational Innovation and Child Participation in Early Childhood Education)
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