Open research questions in Early Childhood Education and Development

What the literature leaves open

• A systemic gap in institutional support for parents during the transition from preschool to primary school. A lack of formal guidance for parents, leading to uncertainty and anxiety.

  What Worries Parents? A Mixed-Methods Examination of the Transition from Preschool to Primary School · 2026 · DOI

• This study, which aimed to examine parents' views on the tran- sition from preschool to primary school, provides recommen- dations to policymakers and educators based on its findings. Recommendations for Policymakers: National transition guidelines and mandatory frameworks should be estab- lished, including school visits and parent meetings. Edu- cation policies should adopt an ecological perspective that goes beyond the school-family-teacher triangle and includes the broader social environment, ensuring sustainability by integrating these activities into school development plans. Recommendations for Educators: Preschool teach- ers should provide consistent information about routines through systematic communication channels such as regular meetings and transition guides to address parents’ concerns. Integrated collaboration with primary school stakeholders should be established, and a transparent and supportive tran- sition process should be managed, focusing on professional development activities aimed at family participation.

  What Worries Parents? A Mixed-Methods Examination of the Transition from Preschool to Primary School · 2026 · DOI

• One challenge is ensuring the specificity of observed practice, particularly in in-person visits. Another challenge is balancing competing priorities, such as tutor timings and pupil needs, to create effective learning experiences. The study also highlights the importance of considering the limitations of hybrid and virtual modalities, such as technical issues and lack of interaction.

  Assessing the impact of hybrid school visits in initial teacher education: A mixed-methods randomised controlled trial and process evaluation · 2026 · DOI

• Logistical constraints during the initial year of ITaP delivery meant that observed lessons were not necessarily aligned with trainees' specific subjects, - The sample size for the analyses ranged from 56 to 78 trainees, - The study had a limited number of participants who provided data at all four timepoints

  Assessing the impact of hybrid school visits in initial teacher education: A mixed-methods randomised controlled trial and process evaluation · 2026 · DOI

• the conceptual confusion in the field of school climate - the abundance of theoretical frameworks and measurement instruments - the need to develop a search strategy that captures the theoretical vastness of the school climate construct

  Placing Social and Emotional Support at the Center of School Climate: A Scoping Review of Measures for Middle and Secondary Schools · 2026 · DOI

• further research is needed to develop school climate measures that explicitly address SEL, - studies should investigate the relationship between school climate and social and emotional learning, - research should focus on developing measures that are applicable to different educational settings

  Placing Social and Emotional Support at the Center of School Climate: A Scoping Review of Measures for Middle and Secondary Schools · 2026 · DOI

• Neglect of primary-aged children in previous research on school connectedness. Limited understanding of the factors influencing primary school students' sense of connectedness. Need for a study that explores the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of 8-12 year olds regarding school connectedness.

  Lessons from primary school students' perceptions of the factors that influence school connectedness · 2026 · DOI

• The implementation of education policy is a comprehensive activity composed of multi-level interpretation, publicity, implementation, coordination, and supervision. Conflicts of interest among stakeholders can make it difficult to reach agreement and lose recognition of government policies. The lack of supporting policies, such as special training for teachers and the construction of kindergarten-primary learning exchange platforms, can hinder the effective implementation of education policies.

  The ‘problem’ of school transition and its ‘scientific’ solution: Re‐examining ECE policy through the ethics of care · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of reasonable policy support has increased the difficulty of governance about the primary school characteristics in kindergartens, - The supporting policy lacks the corresponding supporting policies, - The implementation of education policy is a comprehensive activity composed of multi-level interpretation, publicity, implementation, coordination, and supervision

  The ‘problem’ of school transition and its ‘scientific’ solution: Re‐examining ECE policy through the ethics of care · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of guidance about where training providers and schools should focus their efforts in supporting early career teachers. There is a need for more evidence on the features of mentoring that programme providers and schools can influence and their impact on teacher wellbeing, retention, and practice.

  ‘In a small school, it's just capacity all of the time’: Delivery and experiences of a national early career teacher development initiative across diverse school settings in England · 2026 · DOI

• High job demands can negatively affect ECEC teachers' well-being. Quality professional development opportunities addressing stress and teacher-child relationships are lacking. The implementation of SWPBS in ECEC contexts can be challenging.

  Integrating the PERMA model and SWPBS approach: effects on portuguese early childhood teachers’ well-being and children’s self-regulation · 2025 · DOI

• Further research should investigate the long-term effects of the intervention, - Future studies should examine the effects of the intervention on other outcomes, such as academic achievement, - Research should be conducted to develop and test other professional development programs for ECEC teachers

  Integrating the PERMA model and SWPBS approach: effects on portuguese early childhood teachers’ well-being and children’s self-regulation · 2025 · DOI

• The study does not explicitly state specific technical or domain challenges, but it mentions the importance of considering adolescents' subjective experiences and perspectives on their academic performance. The study highlights the need to improve teacher skills and relationships with students to enhance academic performance.

  Adolescents’ academic performance: what helps them and what hinders them from achievement and success? · 2024 · DOI

• Further research on the impact of teacher-student relationships on academic performance, - Investigating the effects of different teaching methods on adolescents' academic performance

  Adolescents’ academic performance: what helps them and what hinders them from achievement and success? · 2024 · DOI

• Investigating the development of self-regulation in infants and toddlers in early childhood classrooms is challenging due to the lack of research in this area. Assessing classroom quality and its association with the development of self-regulation skills is a complex task. Working with a low-income population and limited demographic information on the specific participants poses additional challenges.

  Resilience: supporting children’s self-regulation in infant and toddler classrooms · 2024 · DOI

• Investigating the development of self-regulation in infants and toddlers in group care and education settings. Examining the nature and quality of ECE experience and associations with school readiness, early academic achievement, and behavior problems.

  Resilience: supporting children’s self-regulation in infant and toddler classrooms · 2024 · DOI

• Further research could explore the mechanisms by which family relationship patterns influence child social and behavioral competence. Longitudinal studies could examine the stability and change of family relationship patterns over time.

  The association between family relationship patterns and preschoolers’ social and behavioral competence in Chinese urban families · 2024 · DOI

• Few studies have examined the affective climate collectively shaped by family subsystems and its role in child development. Prior research has treated family subsystems as separate entities interacting with one another, rather than examining the overall quality of family affective relationships.

  The association between family relationship patterns and preschoolers’ social and behavioral competence in Chinese urban families · 2024 · DOI

• The challenge of bridging gaps between policy and practice in preschool education - The difficulty of ensuring a reasonable cost of attendance for preschool education - The need to balance the role of government and private providers in Chinese preschool education

  Impact Analysis of Chinese Government Leadership in the Construction of a Public Service System of Preschool Education · 2024 · DOI

• The gap between policy and practice in preschool education - The need to evaluate the impact of government investment on preschool education in China - The lack of research on the cost-sharing, equity, and quality of preschool education in a local urban governmental-led public service system

  Impact Analysis of Chinese Government Leadership in the Construction of a Public Service System of Preschool Education · 2024 · DOI

• Conduct new primary research where there is a need for more evidence, - Update recommendations in the future using new evidence

  ‘In a small school, it's just capacity all of the time’: Delivery and experiences of a national early career teacher development initiative across diverse school settings in England · 2026 · DOI

• However, limited research has considered multidimensional patterns of early functioning across a comprehensive set of developmental indicators, in relation to educational outcomes.

  Educational Adversities Among Children With Distinct Multidimensional Profiles of Early Childhood Developmental Vulnerability · 2026 · DOI

• However, little is known about whether behavioral problems mediate the association between self-regulation and academic competence, after accounting for key child and family characteristics, during the transition from less structured preschool to more structured primary school contexts.

  Early self-regulation and academic competence in the preschool-to-primary school transition: The mediating role of behavioral problems · 2026 · DOI

• To date, few studies have had the data required to explore selection into preschool arrangements by disability classification or to examine how different arrangements are associated with both the likelihood and timing of post-preschool IEP receipt.

  Associations between preschool-age care arrangement and low-income children’s IEP receipt during elementary school · 2026 · DOI

• Purpose: Care is of concern for educators, but little is known about the way that district-level leaders conceptualize and enact care within a district central office.

  The Social–Emotional Well-Being of Students and Staff: How District Leaders Conceptualize and Enact Care · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Early Childhood Education and Development

• The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions · Child Development · 2011 · 6,040 citations
• Developmental potential in the first 5 years for children in developing countries · The Lancet · 2007 · 2,560 citations
• Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course · The Lancet · 2016 · 2,378 citations
• Early Teacher–Child Relationships and the Trajectory of Children's School Outcomes through Eighth Grade · Child Development · 2001 · 2,051 citations
• The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environments: Lessons from research on successful children. · American Psychologist · 1998 · 1,961 citations
• Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development · The Lancet · 2016 · 1,391 citations
• Measures of Classroom Quality in Prekindergarten and Children’s Development of Academic, Language, and Social Skills · Child Development · 2008 · 1,290 citations
• Inequality in early childhood: risk and protective factors for early child development · The Lancet · 2011 · 1,281 citations
• School readiness: Integrating cognition and emotion in a neurobiological conceptualization of children's functioning at school entry. · American Psychologist · 2002 · 1,270 citations
• Can Instructional and Emotional Support in the First-Grade Classroom Make a Difference for Children at Risk of School Failure? · Child Development · 2005 · 1,171 citations

Most recent work

• Parental Warmth and Academic Achievement of Adolescent Children · Journal of behavioural sciences · 2026
• Introducing the Socio‐Emotional School Experiences Adaptation ( SESEA ) model: A theoretical integration of emotions, social relationships and the experience of learning · British Journal of Educational Psychology · 2026
• Anticipating Practicum: Pre-Service Teachers’ Educational Imaginaries and the Schoolized Mind · Trends in Higher Education · 2026
• Towards an Ecology of Relations: Reconceptualising Relational Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education and Care · Education Sciences · 2026
• The Macroeconomic Consequences of Early Childhood Development Policies · Journal of Political Economy · 2026
• Child Development Perspectives · Child Development Perspectives · 2026
• Teaching quality as a dynamic system: How school support, psychological needs, and motivation interact across needs–skills configurations · Teaching and Teacher Education · 2026
• “A rising tide lifts all boats”: The role that positive workplace practices and teacher well‐being play in foreign language teacher emotions · Modern Language Journal · 2026
• Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) delivered in the school setting with teacher involvement: a co-produced intervention for students with conduct problems · Australian Psychologist · 2026
• Integrating social sustainability in early childhood teacher education: a comparative analysis of practicum course outlines of nine university curricula in Greece · Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education · 2026

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