This study aims to provide a comprehensive, longitudinal perspective on the evolution of executive functions (EF) in early childhood by examining scientific trends and conceptual transformations from 1997 to 2025. A bibliometric analysis was conducted on 530 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI Expanded), retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection. To enhance transparency and reproducibility, a rigorous screening process is detailed through a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram. The field’s conceptual structure was revealed through co-occurrence and clustering analyses, resulting in four major thematic clusters: (a) Skills and Early Learning, emphasizing school readiness and academic processes; (b) Family Influences, covering socioeconomic factors and parenting practices; (c) Behavioral Dimension, focusing on EF-related difficulties and standardized assessment tools; and (d) Experimental and Intervention-Based Studies, representing program evaluations and mechanism-oriented approaches. Trend analyses demonstrate a notable increase in EF research particularly after 2015, accompanied by a shift from deficit-oriented perspectives toward more ecological, developmental, and intervention-focused approaches. The visualized maps generated in this study illustrate both the dynamic intellectual growth of the field and the conceptual transitions that have shaped EF research in early childhood over nearly three decades.

In early childhood research, children are often anonymised through pseudonyms or numbers, well-intentioned strategies that can unintentionally reduce children to data points. This paper responds to that representational tension by introducing a more affective, relational approach rooted in New-Hermetic Materialism, a synthesis of posthumanist ethics and esoteric understandings of energy, vibration, and symbol. Guided by the view that children pulsate with colour, presence, and relational meaning, this study uses colour theory as a way to move beyond pseudonyms, offering a non-reductive and ethically attuned alternative to conventional anonymisation. This paper draws from a piece of doctoral research conducted in an early years setting, where each child participant was represented by a colour. These colours were selected through a reflective process involving classroom observation, practitioner insight, and intuitive attunement. Informed by both psychological and symbolic traditions of colour, as well as vibrational and energetic perspectives, colour is approached not as a label or metaphor, but as a material-affective resonance, something that gestures toward the child’s way of being without fixing their identity. This approach sits within a broader conversation about ethical representation and posthumanist inquiry in childhood research. Drawing also on educational and artistic traditions, the paper proposes a relational ethics of presence, one that allows researchers to stay with the complexity of children’s becoming, while attending gently to the politics of anonymity.

This article expands Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model by integrating biological and ecological processes—particularly microbial life—into its core concept of proximal processes. Drawing on host–microbiome research and the concept of the child-as-ecosystem, we reconceptualize the developing person as a multispecies being embedded within nested ecological systems. Through four interdisciplinary encounters—spanning social stratification, family separation, socialisation, and environmental health—we demonstrate how microbial diversity and ecological entanglements shape children’s development, well-being, and learning. We argue that BEM’s human-centered framework must evolve to reflect multispecies interdependencies and ecological realities, especially in the context of biodiversity loss and climate change. This rethinking has direct implications for early childhood education, research, and policy, offering a more ecologically attuned model of development.

Early childhood education and research have shifted toward a more refined understanding of children's voices as evidence of their rights, participatory experiences and feelings. However, little is known of the processes and rationales of children's voices in educational placemaking. The interplay of habitus and capital in cultural fields shape children's contextualised experiential and narrative voices, through perceptions, attitudes, and language use, constituting a valuable resource for understanding bodily experiences in collaborative learning placemaking. Accordingly, research in the understanding and use of children's voices is needed for recommendations that can improve the quality of early childhood education more widely. Through qualitative interviews with 20 children ages 4–8, this study examines how children describe their learning places and interactive experiences with teachers. Findings identified experiences that activated belonging and wellness, experiences that were discomforting to children, and the desire for future-making in eco-friendly and humane learning places. This study contributes significantly to early childhood education by 1) offering insights into how analysing children's voices of learning placemaking through Bourdieu's triad of habitus, capital, and field provides transformative potential for improving the quality of children's learning and development, 2) the framework facilitates critical understandings of how and why some children's voices are valued while others are subjugated in learning placemaking, and 3) through this lens, findings challenge inequalities by informing how voices can contribute to children's habitus and capital development in ECE field.

ABSTRACT This study surveyed Chinese early childhood teaching and research officers, who are personnel specialising in teaching, research and guidance services within the early childhood education system. Using interviews and questionnaires and drawing on an ‘onion’ model which structured traits into hierarchical concentric circles, we built a theoretical competency model incorporating intrinsic motivation, professionalism, teaching guidance, research leadership, and coordination and innovation. This model demonstrated good reliability and validity. Then, descriptive statistics and latent profile analysis were used to examine the competencies of 634 teaching and research officers. The results revealed that these teaching and research officers generally perceived their competency at a medium level. Four latent profiles were identified, showing low, middle, upper-middle and high competency. Teaching and research officers with more preschool work experience or a relevant professional background were more likely to demonstrate higher-level competency. These findings provide theoretical insights into the competency structure of teaching and research officers and offer practical implications for enhancing systems of support for early childhood educators.

ABSTRACT This case study investigated how a preschool teacher in a linguistically and culturally diverse Israeli city exercised her agency through an innovative classroom initiative designed to foster language awareness and cultural knowledge among children aged 5–6. The teacher, an immigrant herself, designed ′Arik’s Journey Among the Children’, in which a symbolic doll travelled with each child to their home, returning with records of family language and cultural traditions, which were then shared in class. The study employed a linguistic ethnography approach, which involved video-recorded observations, two semi-structured teacher interviews, parent interviews, and field notes collected over eight months. Thematic analysis revealed that the initiative fostered children’s reflection on language use, promoted their linguistic curiosity, enhanced cultural knowledge, and validated their multiple identities. The teacher’s approach to learning about children and their families positioned her as both an educator and learner within the multilingual classroom. Findings demonstrate how personal biography, contextual shift, and teachers’ sensitivity to the growing linguistic and cultural diversity in the classroom can shape agency. This study enriches early childhood research by offering a grounded example of how teacher-led initiatives can promote equity, inclusion, and identity development in diverse educational settings.

This study examines the relationship between maternal gatekeeping behaviors—defined as how mothers facilitate or restrict others' involvement in childcare—and preschool children’s social competence, problem behaviors, and emotion regulation skills within the Turkish context. Addressing a gap in early childhood research regarding the simultaneous impact of gatekeeping on various developmental aspects, the study utilized a relational screening model. The sample comprised 305 children (ages 48 to 69 months) and their mothers in Balıkesir, Türkiye. Data were collected through mother and teacher assessments using the Maternal Gatekeeping Scale, the Social Competence and Behavior Assessment Scale, and the Emotion Regulation Checklist. Results indicated that encouraging maternal behaviors were positively correlated with children's emotional regulation, whereas restrictive behaviors were associated with increased emotional lability. However, no direct association was observed between maternal gatekeeping and children's social competence or behavioral problems. Furthermore, demographic analysis revealed that higher maternal education and longer preschool attendance were linked to improved emotional regulation and fewer behavioral issues. The findings suggest that while supportive maternal gatekeeping enhances emotional regulation, it does not directly influence social competence. Consequently, interventions aiming to support children's well-being should focus on fostering positive maternal engagement and promoting preschool attendance, while future research should explore these dynamics across diverse cultural contexts.

Corrigendum to “Academic impacts of a mindfulness-based intervention on early grades students attending high-needs schools” [Early Childhood Research Quarterly 74 (2026) 106–116

Corrigendum to “Associations between school characteristics and learning gains for pre-K attenders and non-attenders: Important constructs, limited evidence” [Early Childhood Research Quarterly 72 (2025) 182-194

This paper introduces a comprehensive conceptual framework for understanding and addressing climate emotions in early childhood research, policy and practice, while supporting children’s emotional well-being in the face of environmental change. Recognising the growing psychological impact of the climate crisis on young children, the framework posits that climate emotions are shaped by four interdependent domains: Neurodevelopmental/Emotional Regulation Capacities, Caregiver/Educator Co-regulation, Symbolic/Imaginative Mediation, and Sociocultural/Environmental Climate Narratives. The framework moves beyond fragmented and often pathologising concepts like ‘climate anxiety’ and ‘eco-anxiety’ by offering a holistic, developmentally-sensitive view of both adaptive and maladaptive emotional responses. It directly addresses the absence of an integrated, developmentally specific, and cross-system framework for children up to age eight, a gap in the existing climate emotion models. Finally, the framework is translated into actionable policy and intervention strategies for researchers, clinicians, educators, and policymakers, arguing that a systems-level approach is essential to cultivate resilience and promote healthy development in the face of the global climate crisis.

ABSTRACT This study examines how early learning standards and relevant guidelines address children’s diverse mobilities, focusing on the notion of home within the geography of the social studies domains for prekindergartners in five U.S. states. Drawing on the concept of mobility justice and critical theories of home, the analysis reveals that these standards predominantly conceptualize ‘home’ as a physical dwelling, often defined by household objects that reflect middle-class norms. Such a narrow and static framing of home marginalizes highly mobile children’s lives in the curriculum. It not only (re)enforces dominant discourses about mobility but also influences how young children come to understand everyday realities of their own and others’ experiences of mobility. The findings call for early childhood educators and researchers to (re)examine early learning standards in ways that support children’s diverse mobility and urge the field to consider how intersecting factors shape children’s positions in the early childhood education curricula.

Context: In moments of social crisis, adults may wonder what to say to the young children in their care. Yet children are often already making meaning of and taking action on their worlds. In this qualitative case study of a virtual writing and art workshop, we sought to listen to young children’s play and composing about the COVID-19 pandemic and intersecting crises. Research Question: Drawing on critical childhood studies and Bakhtin’s carnival, we asked: How do young children in a virtual art/writing workshop use compositional play to make meaning of the pandemic and other intersecting social crises? And through their compositional play, how do these young children take action on and speak back to the crises unfolding around them? Research Design: We present findings from a broader qualitative case study focused on how young children and their families processed the pandemic and intersecting social crises within a virtual writing/art workshop. Between June and December 2020, we designed, facilitated, and documented a series of four-part virtual writing/art workshops for young children and their families. Data generation included: (1) video-recorded participant observation of workshop sessions, including simultaneous breakout groups, and (2) artifact collection (i.e., photographs of writing/art, chat transcripts). We engaged in cycles of qualitative coding, analyzing what children made alongside our annotations, before connecting our coding scheme to literature and theory to construct themes. Conclusions: We found that young children (1) “decrowned” the virus, narrating care amid crisis; (2) confronted the “unspeakable,” disrupting notions of appropriateness; and (3) played with masks through parody, while simultaneously critiquing and “unmasking” adults’ pandemic rituals. We offer a discussion and implications for early childhood educators and researchers, reinforcing the role of play in children’s composing and recognizing even children’s most indiscernible expressions as meaningful, especially in moments of crisis.

Abstract Diverse global cultures have different value definitions, meanings, and orientations. Yet, some values are shared across societies, varying in importance in each context. Values that the current generation of parents strive to pass on to the next generation are context-laden, evolving, and varying in conceptualisation worldwide. Subsequently, to advance cultural humility and value sensitivity, early childhood development (ECD) information, programs, policies, services, interventions, and research should consider and adapt to the value considerations relevant to the local implementation context. This mixed-methods study explores cross-cultural similarities and variations in values that parents aspire to instil in children, aiming to identify the values reported by parents, other child caregivers, and subject matter experts throughout 12 low- and middle-income countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, and Uzbekistan. A total of 70 co-design workshops were conducted with 348 participants living in these countries. In addition to providing empirical insights into the distinct and shared values across these 12 countries, the results have practical value for advancing the cultural humility and value sensitivity of early childhood education and care, ECD information, digital ECD interventions, and related research.

This study explores how recycled tyres as sustainable play materials influence the spatial behavior and developmental outcomes of preschool children. Drawing on Visual–Verbal Video Analysis (VVVA), the research investigates the dynamic interactions between children, materials, and space in two urban preschools in Accra, Ghana. Forty-five children aged 2–4 years were observed over a three-month period through video recordings, field notes, and photographic documentation. Using Nicholson’s Loose Parts Theory and spatial affordance principles, recycled tyres were introduced into play environments to encourage creativity, movement, and cooperative engagement. Data were analyzed through VVVA, integrating visual and verbal modalities to identify patterns across five play types—constructive, dramatic, physical, cooperative, and games with rules. Findings revealed that recycled tyres enhanced open-ended exploration, spatial coordination, and peer collaboration, fostering both cognitive and socio-emotional growth. The integration of VVVA themes and spatial dimensions (as summarized in Tables 1 and 2) demonstrated that material flexibility, spatial layout, and group interaction collectively shape children’s play experiences. The study contributes to early childhood and environmental design research by showing how sustainable materials can transform play spaces into inclusive, developmentally enriching environments. Implications for preschool design, sustainability education, and child-centered learning are discussed.

ABSTRACT Reconceptualising early childhood care and education enables critical thinking about policies, practices, curriculum planning, policy formulation, implementation, care, the development of young children, and research with children. This new ideology differs significantly from previous perceptions of childhood education, which have been both a programme of study and a practitioner-provided service, especially in developing countries influenced by Western education practices. This paper highlights paradigm shifts and new perspectives on childhood education, particularly in Nigeria. We examine how scholars have reconceptualised early childhood education (ECE) policy and research and how this provides insights into making education primarily liberatory and child-centred, rather than transactional, in Nigeria. We advocate the importance of recognising children as active participants in research and policy formulation and emphasise the role of stakeholders, including government agencies, educators, researchers, and families, in shaping a more inclusive ECE system in Nigeria.

Introduction Early childhood—specifically, the period from 0 to 6 years of age—is a critical time in children’s lives with rapid growth in their cognitive, social and emotional development. This period has also been shown to be the most effective time for early interventions. The use of artificial Intelligence (AI) for supporting early child development is increasing alongside the rapid advancement of technology. AI can be used directly by children (eg, for implementing adaptive technologies), by individuals who interact with children (eg, educators, parents, nurses), and by individuals indirectly supporting early child development (eg, early childhood researchers or policy analysts). This scoping review will provide a roadmap for relevant stakeholders on how AI has been applied within and across different contexts to support infants and young children’s development, as well as the most predominant AI technologies used across various contexts.Methods and analysisThe current study follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Review The search syntax will be applied in PsycINFO, ERIC, Education Source, CINHAL, MEDLINE, Embase and IEEE Xplore. The purpose of this study is to curate and synthesise academic papers to examine the application of AI for supporting the development of children between birth and age 6 years of age. Studies with children or individuals who work directly or indirectly with children will be included. Part of the abstract and full-text screening will be conducted by two researchers, with discrepancies being resolved by the lead authors. In addition, AI will be used to help with study screening and data extraction once confirmed to be reliable (Cohen’s kappa >0.80). Thematic and content analyses will be conducted to identify the types of AI products used and their applications in different contexts, the most predominant AI products used within and across each context, as well as how children’s developmental outcomes are impacted by the use of these AI products. Where applicable, visualisations such as tables, graphs and figures will be used to synthesise the data across contexts and AI products used to support early development of young children.

This study explored how teachers’ learning is reconstructed within the practices and relational entanglements of an in-house play-support learning community in early childhood education. It sought to reconceptualize learning as a relational flow shaped by the interweaving of children, teachers, language, and moments. The research was conducted over approximately seven months at the P Workplace Childcare Center, where the researcher served as director, with the participation of six homeroom teachers. Data were generated through regular learning community meetings, age-level play consultations, individual interviews, participant observations, and various play records, photographs, and video materials. Analysis was based on in vivo coding, tracing patterns of repetition, re-reflection, and entanglement. The researcher participated not as a detached observer but as an engaged practitioner who responded and adjusted interpretations within relationships. Findings revealed three interrelated flows of teacher learning. First, in “listening to oneself through unfamiliar language,” teachers re-recognized familiar practices and adjusted their perceptions. Second, through “the rhythm of repetition and re-reflection,” teachers reinterpreted similar scenes and reconstructed their interventions and responses. Third, within “entangled practices,” learning was co-constructed and expanded through communal interactions. These findings suggest that teachers’ learning is not a fixed attribute but an ongoing process continually generated through relationships. In conclusion, teacher professionalism emerged as a living, relational process that is transformed and reconstituted through practice. This study emphasizes the need to strengthen teachers’ responsive observation and relational interpretive capacities and to support the sustained operation of learning communities institutionally and environmentally. By rethinking learning as a flow of co-creation within relationships, this research provides transformative implications for both early childhood educational practice and research.

The quality of child–parent relationships plays a central role in shaping children’s socio-emotional and literacy development. However, the lack of validated instruments in multicultural contexts such as Sabah limits systematic examination of these dynamics. This study examined the construct validity and reliability of the Child–Parent Relationship Scale-Short Form (CPRS-SF) in measuring the dimensions of conflict and closeness among preschoolers. Cronbach’s alpha values indicated high internal consistency for both subscales (conflict α = 0.899; closeness α = 0.941). Exploratory factor analysis further supported construct validity, with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measures of 0.907 and 0.888 and statistically significant Bartlett’s tests (p < .001), demonstrating that the dataset was suitable for factor analysis. These results demonstrate that the CPRS-SF is both reliable and valid for use in the Sabah context. The findings carry important implications for research, practice, and policy. The validated instrument provides researchers with a robust tool to explore the influence of parenting relationships on child outcomes, while offering practitioners and policymakers evidence-based support for designing interventions that strengthen family interactions. By validating the CPRS-SF in a multilingual and multicultural setting, this study contributes to methodological rigor in early childhood research and highlights the need for further validation across diverse populations and longitudinal contexts.

Child growth monitoring is a key aspect of public health, contributing to stunting prevention and improving children's quality of life. This review analyzes research trends related to child growth monitoring using a bibliometric approach to identify publication patterns, scientific collaboration, and academic impact. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using Scopus data (1985-2025) analyzed with Biblioshiny in R Studio and VOSviewer. The parameters evaluated included publication volume, international collaboration patterns, author impact index, and research topic trends. The number of publications has increased rapidly since 2010, with the highest spike in 2017-2023. The United States, India, and the United Kingdom were the countries with the highest publication contributions, while the global collaboration rate reached 26.41%. Co-occurrence analysis showed that the dominant topics included stunting, nutritional status, primary healthcare, and anthropometry. Research on child growth monitoring has grown rapidly over the last two decades, with multidisciplinary trends and increased international collaboration. However, gaps remain, especially in the implementation of evidence-based policies in developing countries. Future studies should expand data coverage, including Web of Science databases, and integrate more comprehensive analysis methods to improve the relevance of findings.

There is growing evidence of children’s engagement in multimodal literacy activities across a range of digital media in their homes. However, little is known about the ways in which bilingual children experience their languages in their everyday digital literacy events. As digital technologies are becoming increasingly common in society, children’s digital literacy practices in migrant families need to be better understood. This research explored the digital literacy and language experiences of Turkish-Australian families with preschool aged children in Melbourne, Australia. Data were collected via an online questionnaire from 35 parents, and four engaged in semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that although Turkish was spoken at home, most parents wanted their children to become fluent in both languages (English and Turkish). Approximately three quarters of the 3–5-year-old children used Tablets at home multiple times per week for entertainment, online learning and social purposes and most of them were provided with opportunities to engage with digital content in Turkish and English. This article reports and discusses the details of these data. Parents expressed a need for guidance from experts about the types of apps and programmes appropriate for children. The implications from this study are of value and relevance to early childhood educators, researchers and parents; assisting them to better support the language and literacy needs of young bilingual children.