In late 2003–early 2004, NZCER researchers surveyed early childhood services around the country, talking to parents, managers, and teachers about all aspects of what was being provided.

Rules are presented as cultural tools that assist socialisation, yet observations revealed that young children subvert adults’ messages. A sociocultural interpretation offers teachers an alternative way of understanding this more challenging aspect of young children’s behaviour.

The connecting role of playfulness in young children’s communication is explored with a specific focus on children’s playful narratives. Such narratives are useful frameworks for teachers’ understanding and interacting with children in meaningful ways to promote learning for teachers and children.

Supporting Parents Alongside Children’s Education (SPACE) programme is a New Zealand early childhood Centre of Innovation (COI) aiming to support first-time parents with newborn infants in a group setting as they share the journey through their infant’s early months.

Strategies to support children’s active participation in research about them or the conditions of childhood are investigated in this article. Some participatory-research approaches used with children in a kindergarten setting are included.

How teachers’ subject knowledge in mathematics enhances documentation of young children’s mathematical learning is explored together with strategies for sharing this learning with parents and whānau.

Exploring children’s views on their outdoor experiences in an early childhood education setting was the focus of this article, as well as the parents’ and teachers’ views on the value and role of the outdoors in young children’s lives.

The main findings from a literature review exploring thinking skills in the early years (for children aged three to seven) are summarised, and some practical recommendations for teachers seeking to further promote thinking skills in the early years are provided.

Emeritus Professor Anne Smith, from the Children’s Issues Centre at the University of Otago, was asked to distil three key ideas from their work over the years.