Parents play a vital role in identifying children’s needs for support and Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) features that support children’s well-being. This study examined parental perspectives on features of ECEC that foster young children’s well-being under and above the age of 3 years by interviewing 359 parents across nine European countries (England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Portugal). Results revealed that parental perspectives largely converged with quality features discussed in ECEC research. Process quality features were mentioned more frequently than structural features for all children 0- to 6-years-old in almost all countries. However, care-oriented features were mentioned more frequently for under 3 years, and educational-oriented features were mentioned more frequently for the older group. Regarding structural features, patterns of responses across the two age groups were similar in most countries. Age differences were not more pronounced in countries with a split governance system.

This systematic scoping review aimed to identify and describe published peer-reviewed research articles on the transition of under-3-year-old children from home to early childhood education and care (ECEC) from 1 January 2013 to 19 August 2024. Both national (Idunn, Libris, Oria) and international (Academic Search Premier, ERIC, PsycInfo, Scopus, Web of Science) databases were systematically searched for relevant studies in English, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. A total of 20 studies met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. The results show that the number of publications fluctuated from January 2013 to August 2024. Finland was the most represented country in the different studies, and by continent, most studies were published in Europe. The studies included diverse methodologies, such as descriptive purposes or studies exploring relationships between concepts. Eleven studies used a longitudinal design. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were represented, and data were collected from multiple informants. The studies examined multiple concepts, such as children’s adaptive behavior during the transition, the ECEC process and structural quality, child characteristics, stress, and parents’ roles and experiences. The results of this review contribute to identifying research gaps and what future research can do to increase knowledge about this topic.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems across the world are under increasing pressure because of considerable challenges in staff recruitment and retention (e.g., European Commission, 20...