The issues of childcare that affect most working parents are intensified for shiftworking parents. The concerns of these parents cannot be disregarded, nor should the needs of the young children involved be ignored.

Knowing how parents believe that children learn and how they encourage literacy development in the home will help teachers in  kindergarten to build on home literacy experiences.

The way teachers talk to children can influence their learning. This paper explores features of quality talk in early childhood centres, and discusses how quality can be documented.

Being ready, willing, and able to learn are important attributes for four-year-olds. Can early childhood centres encourage persistence?

Many centres use valuable display space for notices to parents, rather than displaying children's writing. This study of New Zealand kindergartens gives insight into the kinds of environments which help children get ready for literacy.

A study of 100 childcare centres shows that many parents make passive choices of centres rather than actively choosing between alternatives. Parent choice is not currently a viable means of controlling quality and policy makers need to look at other mechanisms.

Technology education is a key learning area, yet very little is known about how young children should be involved in a technology curriculum. This paper reports on the mismatch between currilulum planning and young children's home experiences.

The positive changes in early childhood education policy in New Zealand in the late 1980s occurred largely as a result of enough people coming together to speak with one voice for the sector. When the webs created by policy makers join with the webs of scholars and webs of thinking ...

Kohanga reo is a movement which can and has moved government into a legitimation crisis. It is a movement of Maori people who believe in the rightness of the culture, the language, traditions, and values.