Early social and emotional development is foundational for children’s health, education, well-being, and later adjustment in society. It is also a cornerstone of positive psychology—the exploration of human flourishing at an individual, community, and societal level. Habitual explanatory styles (e.g., mindsets and optimistic thinking) have an impact on human well-being and development and are often acquired during early childhood. These explanatory styles may be influenced by regular interactions with significant adults outside of the family setting. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between optimism, mindsets, and well-being of children in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) contexts. This scoping review systematically explores and maps out the literature on optimism, growth mindsets, and positive psychology with young children in ECEC. It identifies literature reporting qualitatively or quantitatively on theory or programs and interventions including optimism, growth mindset, and positive psychology in young children, reporting or implying a mechanism of change for the well-being of young children, and published between 1995 and 2021.

Gender equality through the empowerment, representation, and provision of equal opportunities for all, regardless of gender, is increasingly recognised as a driver of social outcomes and a fundamental human right. This study explores the longitudinal (2006–2018) relationship between gender equality, human development, and education results as measured by PISA. Gender equality and human development are consistently correlated with PISA scores at each time point; however, when controlling for starting values and country effects only change in gender equality positively predicts change in PISA scores (F = 22.6, p < 0.001, R² = 0.58). Research and policy implications for the longitudinal interpretation of the relationship of PISA results with system-level factors as well as the relationship between gender equality and education are discussed in this paper. In consideration of the impact of COVID-19 on education and gender equality, the findings from this study support continued political effort towards gender-equal human development in a post-COVID-19 world.

Globalisation and policy transfer in education make it incumbent upon decision makers to prioritise among competing policy options, select policy initiatives that are appropriate for their national contexts, and understand how system-specific factors moderate the relationship between those policies and student outcomes. This study used qualitative comparative analysis and correlational analyses to explore these relationships with publicly available data on socio-economic, cultural, and education conditions, and their association with PISA 2015 results in 49 countries. Findings show that gender and income equality, human development, and individualism were outcome-enabling conditions for PISA 2015 results, and gender equality was the most consistent of these conditions. These factors significantly moderated the relationships between education policy and PISA results. Implications for the identification of meaningful peer countries for comparative educational research, policy transfer, and the future expansion of PISA are discussed.

Low cost, non-invasive instruments for the identification of high academic potential in early childhood education and care are scarce, and the complexity of cognitive development indicates that combinations of screening instruments are needed. This study investigates the reliability and validity of three instruments (individually and in combination) in a longitudinal study of 136 Norwegian children in kindergarten through 8th grade with the research questions: (1) Do children's scores on screening instruments accurately identify high academic potential in kindergarten? (2) Are children's scores on kindergarten screening instruments consistent with high academic achievement in 8th grade? (3) Is early screening for high academic potential biased by the child's gender, family income, birth semester, or level of the mother's education? A mean score combination of the instruments provided the most reliable and valid screening, but as systematic error by gender and level of mother's education was identified, similar instruments should be used cautiously.

This paper describes the development of two nomination scales designed to measure parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of high academic potential among young children, and how the scores correlate with assessed high potential. Parents and teachers of 243 children (49% girls) taking part in the research project ‘Skoleklar’ responded to written surveys, and children were evaluated with specially designed assessments on tablet computers. Principal component analyses and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a seven-item solution for the teachers’ nomination scale and a four-item solution for the parents’ nominations scale that fitted the data well, and that correlated in the expected direction with assessed potential. The teacher scale had stronger correlations with assessed potential than the parent scale. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.