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The EECERA Ethical Code for Early Childhood Researchers outlines underpinning ethical principles as well as practice guidance to ensure that research undertaken globally within the field of early childhood is done so ethically. This revised ethical code has been expanded to ensure that current global issues such as sustainability and the advancement of technology are evident. It also considers a rising prevalence of desk-based research as we recognise that all research warrants sufficient ethical consideration. International early childhood researchers, under the direction of the EECERA board of trustees, have drawn upon their research experience in this collaborative document which has been reconsidered in light of specific challenges to our field. It is hoped that this revised EECERA Ethical Code will encourage all researchers to acknowledge the layers of ethical complexity that invariably occur when working within the field of early childhood research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of the most widely-ratified human rights treaties, yet the visibility of children in the early years, in the mandatory government reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and in the Committee's concluding observations to States Parties, is relatively low (Lundy, 2020, "Implementing the Rights of Young Children: An Assessment of the Impact of General Comment No. 7 on Law and Policy on a Global Scale," In Routledge International Handbook of Young Children's Rights, edited by J. Murray, B. B. Swadener, and K. Smith, 15–29, London: Routledge). This paper sets out an innovative approach to record and analyse rights-based practice with young children, which focuses on significant events in a child's daily life that could help raise the visibility of children in the early years as rights holders. The analysis of 75 h of participant observations across two settings in England and two in Finland, involving 16 two-year-old children, revealed that there were five rights that cut across the two countries and related to all children. The study found that having a way of recording rights-based practice is important if we wish to support all children, in learning about, experiencing, and exercising their rights, so that they can have an impact on pedagogical practice and thus influence their own lives in ECEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text discusses the challenges faced by early childhood educators, such as low pay, lack of professionalization, and recruitment issues. It highlights the importance of professional development in transforming ethical practices in the sector. The document emphasizes the need for innovative and human-centric approaches to professional development to improve the quality of early childhood education and support the well-being of educators. Various papers in the Special Issue explore different aspects of professional development, including coaching, mentoring, play skills development, and the role of immigrant parents in creating professional learning communities. [Extracted from the article]

The COVID-19 pandemic poses multiple challenges for young children in the modern world. Listening to, and capturing, the experiences and perspectives of young children on the pandemic are congruent with our sense of an inclusive, democratic society which values solidarity and the right to be heard, yet too often the voices of young children are excluded from consideration. This paper reports on a trans-national, qualitative study in which practitioners in England, Scotland and New Zealand have been trained in Foebelian storytelling techniques and rigorous documentation and analysis of children's narratives. These have beeen used in their pedagogy to encourage young children to express and explore their COVID experiences through their sequenced play narratives, which have been documented, curated and then analysed by their key practitioners in dialogue with a team of early year's researchers. The praxeological project is informed by Freirean theoretical concepts of empowerment, conscientization, agency and voice. An initial thematic analysis of the play narratives reveals children are expressing a desire to regain their daily life and routines, be with their friends, have extended time to play, be outdoors, and have authentic information. Practitioners and policy makers should consider these expressed needs from young children as they develop their COVID responses.

This paper reports on a praxeological investigation concerned with what conditions facilitate (or not) compassion in the daily life of one Pre-School community in England. With increasing concern for planetary well-being, it was conducted in context of compassion's global relevance to the pressing need for increased focus on well-being, sustainability and global citizenship in Early Childhood Education (ECE), as compassionate behaviours are highly conducive to all three. Data was gathered using participant observation, interviews and a focus group. This study's importance lies in its resulting framework for practice enhancement through the illumination of five interrelated conditions, which if employed, may facilitate compassion's holistic experience. These are: knowledge; communication and collaboration; opportunity; social role; and broader spheres of influence. Findings offer transferable knowledge that can be utilised to positively enhance daily experiences within ECE and empower children as global citizens to lead sustainable lifestyles that support and sustain collective well-being.

This paper discusses some of the ethical issues encountered when involving refugee children in research. It draws on a study that aims to investigate how young Syrian refugee children experience Early Education, in one English local authority. This small-scale qualitative piece of research was developed in response to the deepening refugee crisis outlined by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in August 2013 which suggested that as a result of the conflict in Syria, 740,000 refugees were under the age of 11. The study involves four children and their families -- who were resettled in England through the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement scheme (2017). Also involved are four Early Childhood and Education Care settings. The research field is complex and the 'customised methods and methodologies' which have been adopted, to respond well to the challenges of the field, are described. Ethical issues concerning the conceptualisation of refugees, a narrative of trauma and location of positionality are expanded. The researcher has developed power-sensitive ethical research practices to help manage issues of positionality; negotiate access in the field; develop authentic relationships; address issues of cultural bias in self and others, and navigate the challenges of researching with very young refugee children.

Compassion is of high global relevance, being positioned as a core global competency for sustainable lifestyles promoting well-being, global citizenship and peace, which should be fostered in education. However, as a contested concept there is a vast gap in knowledge regarding compassion in early childhood education (ECE). In response, this research explored how one Pre-School community in England experience compassion in their daily lives. Within a sociocultural framework it illuminates children's and practitioners' experiences to raise awareness of compassion's role, what conditions facilitate it, and the ways it is experienced and expressed. Fieldwork involved observation, interview and focus groups, gathering different perceptions and interpretations to produce a multi-voiced account. Thematic analysis was applied to the data, with the findings providing a provocation for embedding compassion in ECE as an approach to sustainability, shifting perspective towards needs, rights, capabilities and well-being for the betterment of daily lived experiences.

This paper reports on a segment of Ph.D. research which was undertaken to develop participatory pedagogy working specifically within a praxeological paradigm [Oliveira-Formosinho, J., and J. Formosinho. 2012a. "Praxeological Research in Early Childhood: a Contribution to a Social Science of the Social." European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 20 (4): 471-476; Pascal, C., and T. Bertram. 2012. "Praxis, Ethics and Power: Developing Praxeology as a Participatory Paradigm for Early Childhood Research." European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 20 (4): 477-492]. It focuses on the development of listening practices through a process of pedagogic mediation [Oliveira-Formosinho, J., and J. Formosinho. 2012b. Pedagogy-in Participation: Childhood Association Educational Perspective. Porto: Childhood association and Porto Editoria]. The research was carried over two academic years in a private day care setting in England and aimed to enhance pedagogic practice with three and four-year olds. This qualitative methodology encompassed ethnographic techniques to develop a case study [Stake, R. 1995. The Art of Case Study Research. London: Sage]. It researched the development of participatory practice through pedagogic mediation, as developed by the Childhood Association, Portugal (Oliveira-Formosinho and Formosinho 2012b). This paper reports on two listening methods which were developed between researcher, practitioner and the children in the setting. These methods demonstrate the co-constructed participatory pedagogy and the isomorphic nature of learning [Formosinho, J., and J. Formosinho. 2016. "The Search for a Holistic Approach." In Assessment and Evaluation for Transformation in Early Childhood, edited by J. Formosinho, and C. Pascal, 93-106. London: Routledge].

The discipline and practice of participatory, practice-led research has grown rapidly in recent years and it is now widely accepted as making an important and serious contribution to the knowledge base of early childhood. Despite this progress recently we have come to understand that our worldview has needed to shift again in response to the troubling paradoxes we face in attempting to live out our participatory vision in our research practice. We are conscious too of the need to respond to a continued and sometimes reasonable professional critique of the robustness of our participatory methods. It is this shift in perspective that is set out in this article, and has led us to accept that praxis in itself is not enough, and that to realise authentically a participatory paradigm in our research requires us to develop a worldview in which reflection (phronesis) and action (praxis) done in conjunction with others, needs to be immersed within a more astute awareness about power (politics) and a sharpened focus on values (ethics) in all of our thinking and actions. We see this mix of phronesis, praxis, ethics and power at the heart of a "praxeological" worldview in modern early childhood research. This paradigm is helping us to shift our research work into what we hope will be a more profound and intensely participatory, and thus more authentically democratic, phase. In this article we aim to share our developing vision of "praxeological research." We look at its key elements; trace its roots, theoretically and conceptually; and explore the particular contribution it can make in research. We exemplify how an early childhood praxeologist with a participatory worldview might ethically operate in their inquiries, and consider what methodologies they might use and what challenges they might face in attempting to make praxeology a part of their "life of inquiry." Finally, we shall explore issues of power, status, visibility and progress within the research world of early childhood. (Contains 2 figures.)