This research paper explores the role of play in early childhood education, emphasizing its significance in the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of children. The paper draws on various studies, including those conducted in India, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the benefits of play-based learning. Additionally, it examines the current state of play in Indian early childhood education settings and offers recommendations for integrating play effectively into the curriculum.
This research paper explores the role of play in early childhood education, emphasizing its significance in the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of children. The paper draws on various studies, including those conducted in India, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the benefits of play-based learning. Additionally, it examines the current state of play in Indian early childhood education settings and offers recommendations for integrating play effectively into the curriculum.
Children’s engagement in risk-taking has been on the agenda for early childhood education for the past 10–15 years. At a time when some say the minority world has become overly risk averse, early childhood education aims to support confident, competent and resilient children through the inclusion of beneficial risk in early childhood education. The concept of risk is a complex phenomenon. Beneficial risk is engaging in experiences that take a person outside of their comfort zone and include outcomes that may be beneficial to learning, development and life satisfaction. To date, research on beneficial risk in early childhood has focused on children’s risk-taking in outdoor play. This focus has led to a predominant conceptualisation of beneficial risk in early childhood as an outdoor physical play activity for children. In this article, the authors problematise this conceptualisation. Drawing on both broad and early childhood education specific literature, the authors explore the current discourse on risk in both childhood and early childhood education. The authors identify the development of the current conceptualisation of risk as an experience for children within play, outdoors and as a physical activity, and highlight the limitations of this conceptualisation. The authors argue that for risk-taking to be in line with the predominantly holistic approach of early childhood education, a broad view of risk is needed. To achieve this broad view, the authors argue for a re-conceptualisation of risk that encompasses a wide range of risk experiences for both children and educators. The authors suggest further research is needed to expand our understanding of beneficial risk in early childhood education. They propose further research will offer a significant contribution to the early childhood sector.
Digital transformation is the process of transforming interactions between actors on a traditional platform to interactions on a digital platform. This is the revolution that takes digitization or data as the foundation for development. This process is continuous and never stops. Digital transformation is a systematic process, so when all political, economic and social fields undergo digital transformation such as e-government, digital economy, digital businesses, digital banking, population, digital health, digital tourism... education is also in this inevitable trend. The article points out that digital transformation of education and training is a core part of taking advantage of the impact of the global industrial revolution 4.0. and how technology is transforming early childhood education. Why is technology important in early childhood education?
The topic of distributed pedagogical leadership has attracted researchers’ interest in early childhood education leadership. A growing body of research focuses on investigating leadership enacted between leaders and teachers in ECE settings. In this article, we focus on the enactment of distributed pedagogical leadership in Finnish ECE settings and their relations to teacher commitment to pedagogical leadership on staff teams. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. Data on the perceptions of 130 ECE professionals, ECE center directors, ECE teachers, and child care nurses on the enactment of distributed pedagogical leadership and teacher commitment were collected with a survey. A qualitative inquiry included six ECE professional interviews. The results indicate that the studied ECE centers have adopted leadership approaches congruent with distributed pedagogical leadership and the implementation of distributed forms of leadership related positively with the ECE teacher’s ability to lead reflection and learning in their teams.
Johanna Heıkka, Harri Pitkäniemi, Titta Kettukangas et al.
I was interested in studying what leadership looks like in early childhood education, specifically what it looks like in the daycare. My focus was educational leadership because it was a term I had heard about and wanted to know more about what it looks like in early childhood education. Purpose. The purpose of the study was to find out how directors in daycare see educational leadership in early childhood education and what educational leadership looks like in practice. Questions to study: How does directors in daycare look at educational leadership? What does it mean for the directors to lead educationally? How does the directors define their leadership in early childhood education? Method. The thesis is a qualitative study. The research material was gathered by interviews. Five directors in early childhood education in Helsinki area was interviewed about their view on educational leadership. Result and conclusion. The directors had a clear thought about educational leadership. The meaning of educational leadership is the responsibility to, according to goals and control documents and by supporting and coaching coworkers, aim to develop high quality early childhood education. According to the directors, educational leadership is needed to develop high quality early childhood education.
Early childhood education is critical for building a strong foundation for children’s holistic development. Exploring the integration of nature-based and religion-based learning in Desa Petengan, Bandung, Indonesia by using the case of Yayasan Al Anbiya wal Mursalin, it addresses two questions: (1) how is the combination between learning from nature and religious values applied in early childhood education? (2) why is it important to integrate nature-based and religious-based learning early education setting? The study examines the implementation of nature-religion integrated learning in early childhood education, and its significance for children’s holistic development. A descriptive-explorative qualitative design is employed with data collected through classroom observations, interviews and documentation analysis. Findings reveal that integration of nature and religion not only enriches learning experiences but also fosters cognitive, socio-emotional, moral, and ecological awareness among children. These findings indicate that contextual learning grounded in local wisdom and spiritual values strengthens the sustainability of early childhood in rural communities. The study provides valuable implications for policy makers, educators, and researchers seeking to promote sustainable and value-based early education. Combination between learning from nature and religious values in early childhood education shows two learning domains, they are environmental (nature) and spiritual (religious). The combination is directly examined the process and practice of integration. Moreover, it answers and explores community response and impact by understanding why the model gains social legitimacy. It connects the outcome of integration (trust, satisfaction) with the value-based learning model. Model of pedagogical implementation and social validation combine natural and religious learning there.
Jordan has been one of the leading countries in early childhood education and development in the Middle East and North Africa. As a country with limited natural resources, Jordan recognizes the importance of investing in the development of human resources to build a competitive advantage in the global knowledge economy. Therefore, education is considered a priority investment in Jordan. Over the past three decades, early childhood care and education have been recognized in the political and educational agenda in Jordan. The Jordanian Government, with the help of international donor agencies, has launched reform initiatives and programs to develop and enhance children’s education such as the National Plan of Action for Children, the National Early Childhood Development Strategy, Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy, the National Strategy for Human Resource Development, and the Education Reform Support Program. This paper focuses on the most important strategic developments that have taken place in the early childhood field in Jordan.
Early childhood education is a crucial step in a child’s educational journey. This paper begins with a history of early childhood education programs in the United States, from the Head Start program to public and private programs. A child’s participation in a quality early education program is essential to mental, social and academic development, as is evident in the research of several successful model programs. The Abecedarian Project, Perry Preschool Program, Chicago Child-Parent Center, and Abbot Preschool Program provide an excellent evidence base for the benefits of early childhood education. Research of these projects show improvement in several areas, some of which are literacy, grade retention, cognitive skills, self-esteem, and high school graduation rates. There are currently several options for early childhood education ranging from the Head Start program to public school programs, to private options. The cost and benefits associated with each program differ widely across the range of available options. This paper concludes with recommendations for making early childhood education available for more children by making improvements to current programs and increasing funding.
A day care center is not just any place where children can spend their day while parents are at work. How to ensure that children have good childhood experiences and how to sup-port their positive development from the very beginning of their educational career? In this study, we introduce the concept of love-based leadership and discuss its role and implemen-tation in early education. Love-based leadership in early education is a method that renews teachers’ professional skills. The Finnish early childhood education system offers favorable premises for love-based leadership in early education. The method should also be included in the curriculum of future early childhood education teachers.
