The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into early childhood education (ECE) presents transformative possibilities but raises urgent ethical challenges that demand immediate attention. This scoping review examines 42 studies to explore key ethical concerns in four interconnected areas: data privacy, impacts on child development, algorithmic bias, and regulatory frameworks. Findings reveal significant gaps in safeguarding children’s sensitive data, with inadequate protections against breaches, profiling, and misuse. Emotional AI tools, such as social robots and emotion-recognition technologies, offer novel learning opportunities but risk undermining relational learning and fostering overreliance, manipulation, or loss of autonomy. The lack of developmentally appropriate design in AI systems further exacerbates these risks, failing to align technological solutions with the unique needs of young learners. Algorithmic bias, driven by non-representative datasets, perpetuates systemic inequities, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities and eroding fairness. Regulatory frameworks are fragmented and inconsistent, often lacking provisions tailored to the vulnerabilities of children or mechanisms for global enforcement. To address these challenges, this study highlights the urgency of establishing global frameworks that prioritize transparency, data minimization, and cultural inclusivity. Engaging educators, parents, and children in participatory governance is essential to align AI design with developmental needs and uphold children’s rights. These findings underscore the need for immediate and sustained efforts to ensure that AI systems in ECE foster equitable and ethical learning environments, safeguarding the well-being of young learners while advancing innovation responsibly.

Preschool children are immersed in screen media, yet little study has been conducted on screen addiction among them. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental screen addiction and young children’s screen addiction and to verify factors that mediate this relationship. A total of 477 parents of kindergarteners (3–6 years old) were recruited via six kindergartens in Henan province, China. They completed the Problematic Media Use Measure Short Form of Children, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Child–Parent Relationship Scale, and the Parental Screen Addiction Scale. The results showed that the relationships between each pair of parental screen addiction, parental anxiety, and children’s screen addiction were significantly positive, but the parent–child relationship was negatively correlated with the other variables. Parental screen addiction can directly and indirectly affect children’s screen addiction through parental anxiety and the parent–child relationship. The findings contribute to the development of family protection mechanisms against screen addiction in children.

Early childhood digital pedagogy (ECDP) has been widely implemented and studied, but the empirical evidence has not been systematically reviewed. This scoping review aimed to synthesize the existing studies to understand the practices and profiles of ECDP and the redefined roles of teacher, child, and technology. Thirty-eight studies on ECDP published from January 2010 to October 2024 were collected from three academic databases: EBSCO, Web of Science, and ProQuest. Synthesis of the findings of these studies revealed that: Firstly, digital technologies increasingly hold transformative potential for instructional practices at the level of modification and redefinition based on the SAMR framework. Secondly, play-based, project-based, problem-based, and co-operative and collaborative pedagogy with constructivist tendencies are the trademarks of ECDP. Lastly, in pedagogical interactions, teachers, children, and digital technologies each play diverse roles. This review study sheds some light on the practical characteristics of ECDP, which can inspire the effective designs and implementation of ECDP in the future.

Research Findings: This study aims to validate a scale highlighting the applicability of selected TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) domains of knowledge to early childhood education and to explore the internal relationships between TPACK’s components in the Chinese context. A survey instrument was designed and administered to 1,192 early childhood (EC) in-service teachers enrolled in their national training programs. The instrument consisted of 29 items classified into four categories that align with the conceptual TPACK framework and are applicable to the EC context, including Technology Knowledge (TK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), and TPACK. CFA and path analysis generated a model with good fit. The confirmed model indicated that (1) TK, TPK, and PK were significantly correlated; (2) TK, TPK, and PK all had direct positive effects on TPACK; however, (3) PK had a smaller influence on TPACK. Practice or Policy: The instrument was a reliable and valid assessment for measuring the TPACK of Chinese EC teachers and may be used to inform future research. The findings suggest that ECE training should shift away from focusing on discrete technological skills (i.e., TK) and instead emphasize preparing teachers with mastery in pedagogic approaches for integrating digital technology into instruction.

Research Findings: Digital leadership as an urgent and emerging topic has attracted public attention, but its nature, definition, and constructs have not been thoroughly explored for the Chinese culture. This study uses a grounded theory approach to examine how Chinese principles are utilized at “Model Level” preschools to define, understand, and practice digital leadership in preschools. Eight principals from “Model Level” preschools in Shanghai were purposefully sampled and interviewed individually. The interview transcripts’ inductive coding and interpretive analysis revealed a Chinese definition of digital leadership and its three constructs: Attitude, Cognition, and Capability, resulting in a unique “ACC model.” This model indicates that this Chinese definition of digital leadership has gone beyond the traditional process-capability dichotomy and is a combination of three major constructs. Practice or Policy: This model provides a scientific foundation for the policymakers to develop “Digital Leadership Standards for Chinese Preschool Principals;” a conceptual structure of digital leadership for developing systematic indicators and scales. Digital leadership training can begin with an emphasis on attitude and cognition.

The knowledge and capacity to use digital technologies to access information, investigate ideas, connect with others, and create innovative solutions are among the digital literacy practices that p...