ABSTRACT Self-regulation has gained prominence as a critical indicator of learning during early childhood. However, opportunities to practice self-regulation, primarily through child-initiated play in preschool settings, have long been undervalued. While play is increasingly emphasised in modern preschool pedagogy, educators in non-Western societies face challenges in implementing child-initiated play effectively. This case study aims to explore Chinese preschool teachers’ understandings and perceptions of child-initiated play and self-regulation, providing evidence for developing culturally responsive professional development and pedagogies that explicitly foster children’s self-regulatory capacities. Interviews with 12 teachers from public and private preschools in a highly developed region of mainland China revealed emerging trends and variations in pedagogical beliefs and practices. While teachers broadly endorsed child-initiated play as part of contemporary pedagogy, they reported challenges in implementation. In contrast, self-regulation was a less clearly recognised concept; however, teachers associated it in general with child development and incorporated it into their daily practices. Notably, teachers perceived a strong connection between child-initiated play and self-regulation, associating both with children’s autonomy and developmental potential. These findings contribute to ongoing discussions on preschool education pedagogy and highlight implications for professional development and future research.

ABSTRACT Ethnopedagogical practices are gaining prominence as essential components of culturally responsive education, especially in early childhood literature. This scoping review explores the impact and core components of ethnopedagogical practice within the context of children’s cultural literature. Despite increasing global recognition of culture-based pedagogy, a comprehensive understanding of its implementation remains limited. To address this gap, this study adopts Arksey and O’Malley’s six-stage scoping review methodology to systematically map empirical research from 2020 to 2025, retrieved from Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest and ERIC databases. This review identified four key components, including cultural identity affirmation, storytelling, native language use and community participation that enhance children’s literacy, emotional well-being and cultural belonging. However, the field remains under-researched, particularly in early childhood and multicultural education settings. These findings highlight ethnopedagogy’s potential to bridge home and school knowledge systems and to foster holistic, identity-affirming learning. The study provides a conceptual foundation for integrating ethnopedagogical principles into curriculum design, teacher preparation and early literacy policy.

ABSTRACT This study explores preservice teachers’ perceptions of the importance of children’s early approaches to learning. The study was conducted at a local university in the western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study sample consisted of 180 preservice teachers who were college students majoring in early childhood education (ECE). The participants completed a survey comprising fifteen items from the current Saudi Early Learning Standards (SELS) that assessed their perceptions of the following three categories of approaches to learning: (a) children’s curiosity and initiative (5 items); (b) children’s attention, engagement, and persistence (5 items); and (c) children’s logic, reasoning, and problem solving (5 items). Overall, the participants agreed on the importance of the practices categorised in the SELS as children’s active learning approaches. The analysis revealed significant positive correlations between the participants’ perceptions of children’s curiosity and initiative, logic, reasoning, and problem-solving and their academic level and training enrolment. The findings also indicated that preservice teachers enrolled in pregraduation practical training perceived the importance of supporting the three categories of learning approaches better than those not yet enrolled in practical training. The findings, conclusions, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

ABSTRACT Attending Forest School benefits children’s cognition and behaviour, but there is little research on preschool children. Our exploratory study investigated whether attending Forest School, compared to traditional nursery, helps preschool children’s developing nature connection, emotional regulation, social confidence and mood. Internationally, some Forest Schools adopt the UK-based Forest School Association principles and practice. To begin to explore the impact on children in countries that use these principles, we compared attendees in the UK and Portugal. Parents of 76 children aged 3- to 5-years participated in an online survey; 46 were based in the UK (Forest School n = 33; traditional nursery n = 13) and 30 in Portugal (Forest School n = 9; traditional nursery n = 21). Preschool children attending Forest School had less negative affect, greater emotional regulation and greater enjoyment of nature than those attending traditional nurseries, regardless of the country in which they were based. International differences were observed with preschool children in Portugal having greater nature connection and enjoyment of nature than those in the UK, regardless of preschool environment. This exploratory study adds to the literature detailing the positive impact of Forest School on children’s development and particularly highlights the impact on preschool children.

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate psychometric related issues of the TechCheck-K instrument for assessing the computational thinking skills of Turkish kindergarteners as well as explore whether age in month and gender made a significant difference in their general and domain-specific computational thinking skills. For this purpose, data were collected from 352 kindergarten-aged children attending public kindergartens in Türkiye. Item response and comparative analysis were used to analyse collected data. Item response results indicated that the TechCheck-K instrument had good psychometric properties, was suitable for use with Turkish kindergarten children and was more powerful in discriminating kindergarten children with moderate and low ability levels. It was also shown in the results that there was a significant difference between three age groups in months regarding participants’ general computational thinking skills. Significant differences in the general computational thinking skills were also observed within boys and girls according to their age in month. Specifically, boys and girls in the older month groups had statistically significantly higher mean scores. There was a significant difference in the domain-specific powerful ideas of computational thinking skills with respect to age in month. Finally, implications and directions for future research were discussed.

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore the prolonged impacts of COVID-19 on preschool professionals’ mental health by examining their COVID-19 fear, burnout, and resilience levels, as well as the relationships among these variables. A total of 231 participants, including preschool teachers and administrators, completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Employing a correlational design, the study revealed that the mean COVID-19 fear score was lower compared to studies conducted in 2020–2021. Participants who experienced personal loss due to COVID-19 or sought psychological support reported higher fear levels. Burnout results showed moderate emotional exhaustion, low depersonalisation, and high personal accomplishment, suggesting an improvement in professional well-being compared to earlier stages of the pandemic. Teachers reported higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation than administrators. The study found a negative correlation between resilience and both COVID-19 fear and burnout, while personal accomplishment was positively associated with COVID-19 fear.

ABSTRACT This study looks at 5 and 6 years old children’s science learning experiences in field trips and classroom activities. It aims to contribute to recent interest in applying multimodality to the teaching and learning of science [McCormick, K. I., C. Uliassi, K. Barber, and K. Wieczorek. 2023. “Creating Multimodal Experiences to Engage All Students in Early Elementary Classrooms.” YC Young Children 78 (3): 24–32]. This research reports on findings from young children’s science learning in a preschool setting in Oman’s capital city of Muscat. The research uses ethnographic perspectives to situate children’s science learning in broader community practices, highlighting the idea that science learning is both a social and cultural practice. It also applies multimodality to highlight children’s micro-movements in science learning through field trips and classroom activities [Flewitt, R. 2011. “Bringing Ethnography to a Multimodal Investigation of Early Literacy in a Digital age.” Qualitative Research 11 (3): 293–310. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111399838]. The findings show that children’s science learning can be a part of their daily lives and cultural practices. They also indicate that multimodality offers the participating children the chance to experience and make sense of science learning. The findings also show how teachers can benefit from the inclusion of science in their lives (e.g. through household activities and visiting parks) by basing their classroom activities on those that take place in children’s everyday world.

ABSTRACT This paper examines how an infant’s participation in serve-and-return interactions evolves over time, revealing shifts in well-being, engagement, and agency. Drawing on Experiential Education (EXE) theory as the principal analytical and interpretive framework, and incorporating interpretive insights from Attachment Theory and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, this longitudinal qualitative study follows a mother-infant dyad over 14 months (child aged 10–24 months). Using Leuven’s five-level descriptors of well-being and involvement in learning and a five-step interaction model, 24 video-recorded episodes – three selected at key developmental points – are analysed to assess interactional quality from the infant’s perspective. Findings show a progression from affective responsiveness to increasing autonomy, communicative intent, and symbolic understanding. The infant’s contributions shift from reactive to agentic, highlighting deeper involvement and emotional security. Rather than focusing solely on adult behaviours, the study reframes process quality as a co-constructed, child-led experience. Implications for early childhood education and care (ECEC) suggest that even brief, attuned interactions can meaningfully support learning and well-being, especially in group settings where one-on-one exchanges are limited. The study advocates for further research into relational quality from the child’s lived perspective, offering a methodological and theoretical contribution to early years practice.

ABSTRACT School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a growing global focus on online learning for students and educators. In this study, we examined the feasibility of delivering online professional development (PD) for teacher educators in Tanzania to support teachers’ enactment of play-based pedagogical approaches in preprimary and the early grades. This article describes the principles that guided the course design and findings from a pilot of the course with teacher educators, which underscore the importance of culturally and contextually relevant PD and highlight the affordances and limitations of online teacher PD in a context where teacher educators and teachers may have limited digital literacy skills and inconsistent internet access.

ABSTRACT Problematic technology use is defined as a condition in which individuals experience adverse effects in their physical, psychological and social lives due to excessive and uncontrolled use of technological devices. This study aimed to examine the relationship between problematic technology use and the acquisition of social values in preschool children through an explanatory sequential design, integrating a quantitative phase that included 124 children aged 3-5 years and their mothers, while the qualitative phase involved 18 children, nine identified as problematic technology users and their teachers. Mothers evaluated their children's levels of technology use, while data on children's acquisition of social values were directly collected by the researcher through individual assessments. Teachers also observed children's social behaviours in the classroom. Data were gathered using the Problematic Technology Use Scale for Young Children and the Social Value Acquisition Scale. Qualitative data were obtained through children's drawings and teacher focus group interviews. The findings revealed that increased technology use was associated with decreases in social values such as love, respect, responsibility, cooperations and kindness. The study highlights the developmental risks of excessive technology use in early childhood.