This chapter begins with a short presentation of the historical and biographical context of Bronfenbrenner’s research, which is followed by a description of his theory of an ecology of human development. This idea is presented both as a theory of child development and a theory of collaboration, as it is often the latter form that is applied in research on cooperation between early childhood education and care (ECEC) and parents/caregivers. The discussion addresses the ways in which Bronfenbrenner’s theory is currently applied in research on ECEC-family cooperation. In concluding remarks, the applications of the theory in relation to the understanding of more-than-parental involvement are presented in Chap. 1.

Social sustainability is linked to finding new ways of living together and strengthening social capital and participation, as well as to social justice and equity in societies, and it is becoming increasingly important for diverse multicultural societies. In this article, we trace understandings of social sustainability as established in Early Childhood Education (ECE) policy documents by following the chains of meaning connected to sense of belonging, local place and cultural diversity and through ECE collaboration with children’s parents/caregivers. Critical discourse analysis has been applied to trace the chains of meaning attached to these concepts in ECE steering documents in Australia, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Such analysis shows different ways in which the ECE polices indirectly work with social sustainability, as well as create critical distance from the sets of meanings established in each country (by proving a chain of meaning established in the policy documents of another country). In conclusion, we do not advocate in favour of any of the chains of meaning but argue for continual reflection and reflexivity, and we see research to be a particularly significant arena in which to unfreeze the taken for granted and sustainable notion.

After years of research and theorisation connected to education for sustainable development, the holistic core of sustainability seems to have disappeared within the frames of the social, environmental and economic pillars. This article suggests a post-humanism inspired understanding of a sense of belonging. Even though the phenomenon of belonging is ascribed to social sustainability, the post-human theoretical toolkit challenges the humanism-based understanding of a sense of belonging as a human-related phenomenon. Using Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizome and affect concepts and Barad’s concept of intra-action, we show the connections between the human and nonhuman elements constituting each other in our world. We conclude with the implications that using post-human language (to understand belonging) may have for policy, Early Childhood Education and care (ECEC) practice and theory.

This article uses the concept of ‘superdiversity’ as a lens through which various conceptualisations of diversity in Norwegian early childhood education and care policies and professionals’ understandings are made visible. Although Norwegian early childhood education and care is expected to highlight, value, and promote diversity and mutual respect, little has been written on how diversity is actually understood by professionals as part of early childhood education and care institutional practice. On the basis of interviews with 2 migration pedagogues, 10 early childhood education and care teachers, and 15 early childhood education and care teacher education students, the following conceptualisations of diversity were reconstructed: diversity as embodied by different children and families; diversity as a social context for every child’s becoming; and diversity as equal participation. Each of these accounts involved ways of working with children and families from minority and majority backgrounds, and ‘diversity as a social context for every child’s becoming’ seemed to be most in line with the Norwegian curriculum. The curriculum focuses on the process of formative development/becoming, which overlaps with and may be meaningfully supplemented by superdiversity. However, superdiversity as a sociological concept requires careful operationalisation in dialogue with the field and its empirics .

Existing research indicates that risky play plays a significant role in children’s learning and development. Children’s access to risky play is, however, culturally and institutionally mediated. The cultural values associated with a good childhood and the values and attitudes of people who are ‘in charge’ of children’s activities have a significant role in the creation of institutional conditions for the activities. In this paper, we report on the attitudes of Croatian Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers towards various examples of risky play and their declared frequency of allowing it in their own work settings. A statistically significant difference is revealed between the ECE teachers’ educational degree and their attitudes towards risky play. The discussion section indicates that teacher education shapes attitudes, but it does not shape the ability to take action in respect of institutional limitations, particularly where these are reinforced by an array of safety procedures.