ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book intends to align with the key components of teaching and family practices that impact young children’s education and care across the globe. It focuses on research highlights of early childhood education and care from 19 countries internationally. The book presents research that spans from challenges in teacher training to case studies and observational data of child play and family practices in relation to early child development to problematise the key components of teacher education and family practices that impact young children education and care. It provides an overview of early childhood education policy, teacher professionalism and family practices in Estonia. The book draws on their experiences as teacher educators and empirical studies from the Greek context to discuss how the lack of integrated policies weakens the teacher education continuum to educate reflective professionals.
