Early Childhood Education and Care
Mission
Conduct and disseminate high-quality, high impact theoretical and empirical research on early childhood education and care (ECEC) to understand and improve the lives of all young children, their families and communities, and their educators.
Key areas of research focus and expertise
To develop contextually relevant, high impact, evidence-informed knowledge and understandings in relation to the following:
- Effective provision for supporting high quality early years and primary learning progression and outcomes in different curricular, school and community contexts in UAE.
- How specific cultural and environmental factors (including parenting and pedagogy) prevalent in the UAE interact with neurodevelopmental processes to influence early child development.
- How play supports learning, how play can be incorporated into classroom pedagogies, and what teachers can do to establish classroom conditions and processes through which play-based learning optimises children’s growth and development.
