Research around the World

Innovative research in the early childhood field is happening all over the world. There are various international web sites that are dedicated to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years. EECERA (European Early Childhood Education Research Association) is one such influential organization dedicated to early childhood http://www.eecera.org/ . This organization publishes a journal called European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ), which is one of the most well respected early childhood journals in the world. EECERJ is peer reviewed, scholarly and is particular interested in research which has application. It aims to provide a forum for the publication of original research in early childhood education in Europe.

Some of the topics that are currently being researched that are published in the current issue of EECERJ volume 20, Issue 3, 2012 http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/recr20/current are:

Infant’s experiences of early childhood education and care settings. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704758

Teacher-child relationships among racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704759

Parental influence on the development of the children’s language competence - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704760

School readiness of children and importance for early interventionists. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704761

Role of human capital in determining value for money in early years education http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704764

Outdoor environment as part of an educational practice http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2012.704766

Exploring this journal, we can find that issues of concern in early childhood field are the same in every part of the world. Child care and child care settings, the influence it can have on the development of the child is the utmost need across the globe and one that needs to be addressed. Of the several research articles that are available for online reading from this journal, I found the one with the importance to outdoor environment especially interesting.

Did you know

Norway is one country that has realized the importance of natural environment as educational practice and has already emphasized the use of outdoor environment in both schools and kindergartens as part of the pedagogical/educational practice.

Gagen , E. A. 2000 . “ Playing the part. Performing gender in American Playgrounds ” . In Children's geography. Playing, living and learning , Edited by: Holloway , S. and Valentine , G. 213 – 29 . London : Routledge .

Natural environments give children the rich experiences that they need to become avid learners. Through play children make connections between the forest space and ‘the modern world’, building bridges between different contexts, or one could say recontextualize the given space. From this website I was led to a partner site http://www.educationarena.com/ which has a whole page dedicated to this topic connecting to various research and articles relating to play, outdoor activity and children’s health, http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/PlayVI_1.pdf.