Enabling young children to achieve their full developmental potential is a human right and an essential requisite for sustainable development. Given the critical importance of enabling children to make the best start in life, the health sector, among other sectors, has an important role and responsibility to support nurturing care for early childhood development. This guideline provides direction for strengthening policies and programmes to better address early childhood development. It is primarily the family who provides the nurturing care that children need to develop in the earliest years. Many parents and other caregivers need support to put this into practice. Therefore, the guideline contains four recommendations aimed at caregivers, health professionals and other workers who can assist them, as well as policy-makers and other stakeholders. The recommendations relate to i) providing responsive care and activities for early learning during the first 3 years of life; ii) including responsive care and early learning as part of interventions for optimal nutrition of infants and young children; and iii) integrating psychosocial interventions to support maternal mental health into early childhood health and development services.

This Handbook explores the multidisciplinary field of childhood studies through a uniquely global lens. It focuses on enquiries and investigations into the everyday lives of young children in the age range of birth to 8 years of age, giving space to their voices and involving interrogations about the various aspect of their lives. This Handbook engages with the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies, education, cultural studies, ethnography, and philosophy, with contributions from scholars from across the globe who have focused their work on the complexities of childhoods in contemporary times. By considering a range of epistemologies, ontologies and perspectives to present the contemporary & systematic research on the topic from a wide range of academics and authors in the field, this Handbook provides a significant contribution to the international dialogue of Global Childhoods. Part 1: Global Childhoods Part 2: Researching Global Childhoods Part 3: Contemporary Childhoods Part 4: Pedagogies and Practice Part 5: Creating Communities for Global Children

Educational practices have rapidly changed in the last few decades, especially in how exchanges of information and learning are delivered and processed. Yet, while the field of international comparative studies has grown, there has not been an extensive study on the relationship between educational practices, students, and how practitioners are prepared and trained. This handbook explores international educational practices and behaviours through new research and a review of existing research, with chapters spread across six parts: Part I: Introduction to Research Practices in Comparative Studies of Education Part II: Research Methods Part III: Policy Transfer Research through International Comparisons Part IV: Use of Student time in Formal and Informal Settings Part V: School Practices from Early Childhood through Secondary School Part VI: Conclusion - Lessons from Large Scale Studies

Foundations and Best Practices in Early Childhood Education: History, Theories, and Approaches to Learning (3rd Edition)

This book presents the most recent theory, research, and practice on service learning as it relates to early childhood education. It describes several service learning programs, many of which were developed to better prepare pre-service teachers for the challenges they face in today’s early childhood classrooms, including class size, ever-changing technology, diversity, high-stakes testing, parental involvement (or the lack thereof), and shrinking budgets. The book shares stories of positive outcomes from pre-service teachers who, having participated in service-learning programs, report a shift in their attitudes and beliefs including an increased empathy for others, a heightened sensitivity to student differences, more democratic values, and a greater commitment to teaching. In addition, the book examines the effects of service learning and positive outcomes for children and teacher educators as well. Schools today face an increasing number of language learners, the mainstreaming of special population students, and working with a standards-driven curriculum. All of these present new challenges for teachers as they attempt to meet their students’ educational needs. As a result of this new classroom environment, and the educational needs they present, teacher educators must now seek different approaches to prepare prospective teachers to meet these needs because the traditional approaches to teacher preparation, such as coursework independent of fieldwork, are no longer effective in equipping teachers to address these issues. This book examines in detail the new approach of service learning.

Comprehensive and integrative, The Oxford Handbook of Poverty and Child Development describes the contextual and social ecology of children living in poverty and illuminates the biological and behavioral interactions that either promote optimal development or that place children at risk of having poor developmental outcomes.

The essential resource to the issues surrounding childhood care and education with contributions from noted experts The Wiley Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education is a comprehensive resource that offers a review of the historical aspects, best practices, and the future directions of the field. With contributions from noted experts in the field, the book contains 30 interdisciplinary essays that explore in-depth the central issues of early childhood care and education. The handbook presents a benchmark reference to the basic knowledge, effective approaches to use with young children, curriculum design, professional development, current policies, and other critical information. The expert contributors address the myriad complex policy and practice issues that are most relevant today. The essays provide insight into topics such as child development and diversity, the sociocultural process of child development, the importance of the home environment in the lives of young children, early childhood special education, teaching and learning literacy, and much more. This important resource: Presents a comprehensive synopsis of the major components of the field of early childhood care and education Contains contributions from leading scholars, researchers, and experts in the field Offers the foundational knowledge and practices for working with young children Puts the focus on how early childhood works and presents an understanding of culture as a foundational component of both child development and early childhood education Written for academic scholars, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and students of early childhood care and education, The Wiley Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education is a comprehensive resource to the major issues for dealing with childhood care and education with contributions from noted scholars in the field.