This is a special issue of Early Childhood Folio which draws together thinking on key competencies across time and place. All the articles have been adapted for the journal from work done as part of a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) research project led by Margaret Carr and Sally Peters, in collaboration with three schools and two early childhood centres. It is a rich and diverse mix of articles that are both located in particular contexts and link into a coherent and extremely topical cross-sector research inquiry. This issue contains much to interest and inspire education thinkers and practitioners from anywhere in the education system.

This edition of Early Childhood Folio contains articles to inform, provoke and challenge early childhood practitioners. An exploration of the early childhood curriculum questions whether the way it is being enacted leaves sufficient room for debate and uncertainty and for practices that promote diversity and innovation. There are research findings on how early childhood teachers support children’s scientific learning, children’s strategies for joining in play, and lessons on how teachers can co-construct games of chase. One article based on close observation of children’s social interactions poses the question: at what point would you intervene? Another explores the experiences of same-gender families in early childhood settings.

This issue is out of print.