The psychosocial adaptation of children born or experiencing their early years during the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain. In order to implement prevention strategies, it is, therefore, a priority to deeply analyze children’s mental health in this post-pandemic phase and to identify family risk and protective factors. Indeed, recent studies reveal that children’s emotional distress increased with the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in situations of high parental stress. The study investigates associations between some parental characteristics (coping strategies, parental burnout, resilience, perception of social support, and promotion of children’s social-emotional competence) and children’s emotional symptoms, considering gender differences. A total of 358 parents of children aged 2 to 6 years participated in this study. Regression analyses show that parental burnout is a predictor of emotional symptoms; moreover, for females, higher levels of emotional symptoms are associated with parental maladaptive coping strategies, whereas for males, the parent’s ability to promote children’s emotional competence is a protective factor. Results emphasize the importance of supporting parental well-being as a critical factor in shielding children from the repercussions of adverse situations.

Teacher job satisfaction is a key component of teacher well-being and educational quality, particularly in early childhood education settings. This study examined how different dimensions of job satisfaction are associated with individual factors (sociodemographic characteristics and meaning at work) and work-related factors (perceived stress, workplace relationships, and satisfaction with training experiences) among Italian early childhood educators and preschool teachers. Participants were 259 professionals working with children aged 0–6 years who completed an online questionnaire assessing meaning at work, teacher stress, support from colleagues, and conflictual workplace relationships. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that Positive Meaning was the strongest and most consistent predictor across all dimensions of job satisfaction. Perceived support from colleagues positively predicted intrinsic, relational, and working conditions satisfaction, whereas conflictual workplace relationships negatively affected relational and working conditions satisfaction. Age, years of teaching experience, and work setting selectively influenced specific dimensions of job satisfaction. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of collaborative workplace climates and meaningful work in promoting teacher well-being in early childhood education contexts, suggesting that interventions should address both individual resources and the quality of workplace relationships.

The essay explores some aspects of visual narration, an important topic in the human sciences and very used especially in some areas of work. At first, the paper explore some epistemological references related to visual narration and, particularly, to geographic maps and cartography finalized to reflect about personal e professional identity in care and education fields. Later, the essay delves into some practical applications about the construction of professional identities geographic map and the context of care and educational operators’ training.

Continuity is a fundamental principle of integrated Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) systems, yet little is known about how adults’ educational beliefs vary across developmental references. The study examined developmental differentiation in educational beliefs when adults refer to children aged 0–3 versus 3–6 years and whether this differentiation varied across parents and ECEC professionals. Participants were 697 parents, 243 nursery educators, and 160 preschool teachers from ECEC services in Northern Italy. They completed two parallel versions of the Pre-K Survey of Beliefs and the Socialization Goals Scale. The two parallel Educational Beliefs forms showed metric and partial scalar invariance across developmental references. A mixed-design ANOVA showed less child-initiated beliefs for the 3–6 reference and a significant developmental-reference × respondent-role interaction of modest magnitude. Parents and nursery educators showed moderate within-person differentiation, whereas preschool teachers showed a small observed difference; an equivalence analysis did not establish statistical equivalence for preschool teachers. Item-level analyses indicated selective rather than uniform differentiation, with the largest shifts in developmental goals, learning processes, and the adult role. Psychological Autonomy was positively associated with child-initiated beliefs, whereas the role-specific developmental pattern remained virtually unchanged after adjustment for broader socialization goals. These findings support conceptualizing continuity across integrated 0–6 systems as coherence across developmentally differentiated expectations rather than representational uniformity.

The socio-emotional impact and educational inequalities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in vulnerable children, particularly those from disadvantaged immigrant families, require further investigation, especially in preschool-aged children. This study, based on a sample of 110 foreign-born mothers living in a northern Italian region who completed an online questionnaire, explores emotional and behavioral problems in children and parenting quality across three time points: before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown. It also examines mothers’ perceptions of their remote relationship with early childhood education centers during the lockdown. Findings show that children’s behavioral problems increased after the onset of the pandemic, particularly in contexts characterized by negative family climates and dysfunctional parenting. The study highlights the protective role of early childhood education services in supporting parental practices and offering children a sense of normalcy during a time of crisis. These findings offer valuable insights to guide professionals in designing parenting support initiatives that take into account the long-term psychological and educational impact of the pandemic on preschool children and immigrant families.