From practice to publication: the story of the Peppa Pig song

by Rosie Walton and Susan Young I’ve often found that as soon as the article is written, reviewed, revised and accepted for publication – in EECERJ, hurray! – that I come across an idea which would have exactly captured what we were trying to say when we wrote the article.  So it is that I…

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The Questions Playground: How Open-Ended Questioning Fosters Playful and Democratic Learning

Guest post by Maria Barbara Donnici In both formal and informal educational settings, we often grapple with a central challenge: How can we truly cultivate creativity and recognize children’s inherent competences? This is the exact question that drove our recent pilot action-research project, The Questions Playground. Building on international research around learning through play (LEGO…

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When Babies Paint Democracy: Rethinking Arts Education in Day-Care Centres

Guest post by Mariana Estrela and Rita Rovisco Can babies participate democratically even before they acquire verbal language? Our research suggests they can. Through a series of arts education ateliers developed in a day-care centre, we explored how babies exercise agency, communicate through their bodies, and co-construct pedagogical experiences, challenging traditional understandings of participation in…

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Child-centred Belonging: Creating Curricula for Children’s Agency and Participation through Cynefin

Guest post by Wendy Briggs and Sharon Phillips Figure 1. My granddaughter building a den in the forest, immersed in the experiences, relationships and sense of place that shape her cynefin. Through exploring, creating and problem-solving in a meaningful local environment, she demonstrates how place-based pedagogy supports children’s agency, participation and belonging. Photo credit: Wendy…

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Little Acts of Care – Babies in Brazilian Early Childhood Education

Guest post by Vanessa Neves The EnlaCEI research group is all about understanding how babies and toddlers develop culturally when they’re in collective care and education settings. Between 2017 and 2019, we followed a group of infants (aged seven to ten months) as they began their journey at a Brazilian Early Childhood Education Centre, EMEI…

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Beyond the screen: Rethinking children’s agency through light and shadow play

What a study in Mongolian kindergartens reveals about technology, participation, and democratic learning Guest post by Tserennadmid Shagdarsuren and Tala Fig. 1. A child explores light and shadow with toy animals.* When we talk about children’s agency, we often imagine a child making an independent choice—selecting an activity, taking the lead. But what happens when…

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Guest Post: Envisioning a Nurturing Ecosystem in Which ECCE Can Thrive

Any views expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of their affiliated institution or EECERA. Planting Seeds of Resilience in South Africa’s ECCE through Local Hubs and Collaboration* By Sandra Bruwer, Lesley Wood and Benita Taylor- North-West University, South Africa Resilience in the face of…

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EECERA Conference 2025 – Guest Blog # 6: Sharing Personal Stories

One of a series of short blog posts by presenters who will be sharing their work at the upcoming annual conference in Bratislava, Slovakia. Any views expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of their affiliated institution or EECERA. Sharing Personal Stories with Preschool Children…

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Towards an Ethical Praxis in Early Childhood: Interview with Chris Pascal

Christine Pascal, President of EECERA, presents the Towards an Ethical Praxis in Early Childhood book series. Texts in this series reflect a strong shift internationally towards the development of a strengthened knowledge base for practice in early childhood education and care. Researchers are also increasingly expected to demonstrate the impact of their work and its…

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