Stabilise, balance and adjust—Framing the early years transitions of children whose parents work non‐standard hours

This study examined talk by parents about the early years transitions of their children (n = 7) in the context of parental non‐standard working hours and Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Parents were interviewed at three time points: when their child was aged one, four, five or six years (a total of 21 interviews). The third interview was conducted during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This article focuses on the children's ECEC transitions and the interpretative frames used by parents when talking about their work and childcare. The frames used by the parents to discuss the children's transitions were stabilising the children's lives, balancing between staying at home and attending ECEC and adjusting to norms and rules. The diversity of families' experiences and their children's transitions during the early years should be considered when developing family policy and ECEC services. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Social Welfare is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Associations between parental well-being and early learning at home before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: observations from the China Family Panel Studies.

Background: COVID-19-related lockdowns and preschool closures resulted in many young children spending all their time at home. Some parents had to manage child care while working from home, and increased demands may have led them to experience considerable stress. Evidence indicates that among parents with young children, those who had pre-existing mental and physical conditions adapted less well than other parents. We considered associations between parental well-being and the home learning environment for young children. Method: We leveraged data from the nationally representative China Family Panel Studies. We analyzed longitudinal data collected before (2018) and during (2020) the pandemic. Participants were parents of 1,155 preschoolers (aged 3-5 years in 2020). Moderated mediation models were conducted. Maternal and paternal psychological well-being, depression, physical health, and physical illness in 2018 and 2020 were predictors. The frequency of marital and intergenerational conflicts in 2020 were mediators. Primary caregiver-reported engagement in home learning activities and family educational expenditure and parent-reported time spent on child care in 2020 were outcome variables. The number of COVID-19 cases in each province 3 months before the 2020 assessment was the moderator. Child, parental, and household characteristics and urbanicity were covariates. Results: Controlling for covariates, improvements in parental psychological well-being predicted more home learning activities and increases in paternal depression predicted less time spent by fathers on child care. Negative changes in maternal physical health predicted less family educational expenditure and mothers spending more time on child care. Family conflicts mediated the association between maternal physical illness in 2018 and family educational expenditure. The number of COVID-19 cases in a province (i) was positively associated with mothers spending more time on child care, (ii) moderated the association of improvements in maternal physical health and mothers spending less time on child care, and (iii) moderated the association of family conflicts and more family educational expenditure. Conclusion: The findings indicate that decreased parental psychological and physical well-being foretells reductions in monetary and non-monetary investment in early learning and care at home. Regional pandemic risk undermines maternal investment in early learning and care, especially for those with pre-existing physical conditions.

Learning from COVID: recognising the centrality of the relational in early years practice and research

The initial aim of this research was to undertake an in-depth study to understand the impact of COVID-19 on early years practitioners. Following a survey and interviews with staff in Kids Planet Day Nurseries, an early years organisation in England, we used thematic analysis to analyse their responses. The findings were diverse, particularly highlighting the centrality of relationships in influencing how people responded to the anxiety caused by the pandemic, but the learning did not stop there. The research team was multidisciplinary, including university researchers and a manager from Kids Planet. It was discovered that the professional role of the interviewer influenced the response to the questions. Similarly, discussions within the research group highlighted the entanglement of knowledge acquisition and ethical practice, with consequent challenges. We discuss the value of explicitly supporting a relational worldview in Early Childhood Education and Care as the foundation for understanding and promoting improved ways of working together. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Early Years: Journal of International Research & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Reopening ECEC Services for Children Under Three Amidst the Pandemic: Investigating the Association of Health Measures with Pedagogical Practices and Children's Well-being.

In Portugal, early childhood education and care services for children under-three were the first educational services to reopen after periods of lockdown. COVID-19 prevention and control measures had to be implemented nationwide, but no knowledge was yet produced on their impact in educational settings. This study aimed to map the implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control measures and examine associations among prevention and control measures, perceived changes to pedagogical practices and children's well-being in early childhood education and care services for children under three. In this study, 1098 early childhood education and care professionals from all districts completed an online survey during January and February 2021. Results indicated that prevention and control measures were widely implemented. Furthermore, early childhood education and care professionals who started to implement prevention and control measures more frequently were more likely to perceive a reinforcement of their pedagogical practices at the level of adult-child interaction, emotional climate, and interaction with families, and reported higher levels of children's well-being. Findings highlighted the potential role of pedagogical practices in mitigating the effects of COVID-19 in early childhood education and care services for children under-three.

Quality early childhood education and care in a time of COVID-19

Contextual approaches to high quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) seek to capture the complexity of children's lives, developing pedagogical approaches that are responsive to children's needs and interests. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a complex layer to the question of what constitutes quality ECEC. A mixed methods appreciative inquiry of educators' and parents' views of quality in one ECEC setting in England, became an unexpected ethnographic exploration of quality ECEC in the time of a global pandemic. The findings indicate how features of quality, such as offering a range of learning environments and structuring the pedagogic environment to offer free-flowing play, had to be adapted to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The focus on quality shifted, prioritising the health and safety of families and staff, over the quality and variety of the curriculum. Greater emphasis was also placed on children's social and emotional well-being to support their ability to understand and manage the changes to routines in response to the pandemic. The findings demonstrate that the early years workforce remains central to understanding and supporting quality, concluding that quality ECEC is shaped by adaptability – adapting to the needs of children, families, staff, and the unprecedented context of COVID-19. The focus on adaptability seeks to highlight how educators frequently respond to unique contexts in juggling concepts of quality ECEC. Consequently, a recommendation is made for future educator training to consider the importance of adaptability, in providing a useful framework for reimaging quality ECEC post COVID-19. © The Author(s) 2023.

A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial to Increase the Sustainment of an Indoor-Outdoor-Free-Play Program in Early Childhood Education and Care Services: A Study Protocol for the Sustaining Play, Sustaining Health (SPSH) Trial.

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings are important environments to support children's physical activity (PA). In 2021, COVID-19 regulations recommended the provision of indoor-outdoor free-play programs in ECEC settings to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, resulting in an increased uptake of this practice. As the context has since changed, research suggests that ECEC services could cease the implementation of these practices. Therefore, this pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) aims to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and impact of a sustainment strategy to ensure the ongoing implementation (sustainment) of ECEC-delivered indoor-outdoor free-play programs. Twenty ECEC services located in New South Wales, Australia that have implemented indoor-outdoor free-play programs since the release of COVID-19 guidelines will be recruited. The services will be randomly allocated either the sustainment strategy or usual care. The "Sustaining Play, Sustaining Health" program consists of eight strategies, developed to address key barriers against and facilitators of sustainment informed by the Integrated Sustainability Framework. The outcomes will be assessed via internal project records, staff surveys, and a self-reported measure of free play. This study will provide important data to support the performance of a fully powered trial within Australian ECEC settings and to inform the development of future sustainment strategies.

I Felt Like I was Going Crazy: Understanding Mother's and Young Children's Educational Experiences at Home During COVID-19.

The COVID-19 disruptions to children's education have been a major issue for families. This study examined how demographic, family, and mental health characteristics of 375 low-income children and their mothers from the City of Toronto were associated with children's educational experiences at home during COVID-19. Many mothers (82.3%) reported that they and their children (80.0%) experienced challenges related to children's education at home during the pandemic. However, a small percentage of mothers (1.1%) reported that this mode of learning was better for them and their children (4.3%). The most frequently reported challenges faced by mothers was taking on the role of a teacher (43.7%) and balancing their children's remote learning with other responsibilities (19.4%). The most frequently mentioned challenges faced by children was that children lacked both motivation (21.1%) and socialization (21.1%) and had difficulty focusing (26.9%). White mothers from households with higher income and with a higher number of adults in the home reported that their children experienced higher levels of challenges related to their education at home. Maternal and child challenges with children's education at home were also related to higher levels of maternal and child mental health challenges. Our findings suggest that the online educational experiences set up following the onset of the pandemic were difficult for many children and mothers to implement in the home. Given the significant associations of these challenges with child and maternal mental health, we encourage educators to provide flexibility, empathy, and support with learning from home to both children and mothers.

Pandemic Effects: Ableism, Exclusion, and Procedural Bias

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed social organizations and altered children's worlds. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study of the institutional organization of disabled children's lives, since March 2020 we have conducted interviews with families in rural and urban communities across Canada (65 families at the time of writing). The narrow focus of governments on the economy, childcare, and schooling does not reflect the scope of experiences of families and disabled children. We describe emerging findings about what the effects of the pandemic closures demonstrate about the social valuing of childhood, disability, and diverse family lives in early childhood education and care. Our research makes the case that ableism, exclusion, and procedural bias are the products of cumulative experiences across institutional sites and that it is critical we understand disabled childhoods more broadly if we are to return to more inclusive early childhood education and care.

PANDEMIC AND EDUCATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE 0-6 AGE GROUP: AN ITALIAN STUDY ON CHILDREN, FAMILIES AND CHILDHOOD EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

The Covid 19 pandemic lockdown has led to the fragmentation of children's educational trajectories as well as the links between families and the networks with which they engage. To address the interruption of in-person educational services, Italy experimented with LEAD (Legami Educativi a Distanza, Educational Links at a Distance) for 0-6 age children, a service operating parallel to (but not overlapping with) DAD (didattica a distanza, distance learning) addressed to older children. The aim of this study is to analyze the pandemic's emotional impact on families and 0-6 year old children and their experiences with LEAD on the basis of teachers' perceptions. A total of 383 teachers participated in the study, completing an online questionnaire. According to professionals' perceptions, LEAD proved a good tool for maintaining educational relationships with children and families despite the lack of physical contact and enabled the creation of new forms of participation, thus ensuring support for parents in a time of heightened vulnerability;however, LEAD were not inclusive in that it was not possible to maintain ties with all families, especially economically and socially disadvantaged ones. The results offer insights to guide professionals in dealing with both the current "new normal" and possible future emergencies. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Delta and Omicron: protective measures and SARS-CoV-2 infections in day care centres in Germany in the 4th and 5th wave of the pandemic 2021/2022.

BACKGROUND: During the five waves of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic so far, German early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres implemented various protective measures, such as wearing a face mask, fixed children-staff groups or regular ventilation. In addition, parents and ECEC staff were increasingly vaccinated throughout 2021. During the 4th wave, variant of concern (VOC) Delta-driven transmission indicators reached record values at the end of 2021. Those values were even exceeded in the 5th wave at the beginning of 2022 when Omicron dominated. We examine which factors facilitated or prevented infection with SARS-CoV-2 in ECEC centres, and if these differed between different phases within wave 4 (Delta) and 5 (Omicron). METHODS: Since August 2020, a weekly online survey among approximately 8000 ECEC managers has been conducted, monitoring both incident SARS-CoV-2 infections and protective measures taken. We included data from calendar week 26/2021 to 05/2022. We estimate the probability of any infections and the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children, parents and staff using random-effect-within-between (REWB) panel models for binomial and count data. RESULTS: While children, parents and staff of ECEC centres with a high proportion of children from families with low socioeconomic status (SES) have a higher risk of infections in the beginning of wave 4 (OR up to 1.99 [1.56; 2.56]), this effect diminishes for children and parents with rising incidences. Protective measures, such as wearing face masks, tend to have more extensive effects with rising incidences in wave 5 (IRR up to 0.87 [0.8; 0.93]). Further, the protective effect of vaccination against infection among staff is decreasing from wave 4 to wave 5 (OR 0.3 [0.16; 0.55] to OR 0.95, [0.84; 1.07, n.s.]). The degree of transmission from staff to child and from staff to parent is decreasing from wave 4 to wave 5, while transmission from child to staff seems to increase. CONCLUSION: While Omicron seems to affect children and parents from ECEC centres with families with all SES levels more equally than Delta, the protective effect of vaccination against infection is decreasing and the effect of protective measures like face masks becomes increasingly important. In order to prevent massive closures of ECEC centres due to infection of staff, protective measures should be strictly adhered to, especially to protect staff in centres with a high proportion of children from families with low socioeconomic status.

Parents' Perspectives of Family Engagement with Early Childhood Education and Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services and families, impacting family access to services and their communication and engagement with educators. This study aimed to examine parents' perspectives of family engagement with ECEC services during the pandemic. Primary caregivers in Victoria at the time of recruitment (September-November 2020) were invited to participate. Of the 66 participants who completed an online survey, 25 also took part in semi-structured video call or phone interviews; qualitative findings from these interviews are reported in this paper. Four key themes were conceptualised using a reflexive thematic approach: (1) disruptions to ECEC access and attendance impacting on family routines and relationships, and child development; (2) barriers to family engagement; (3) ECEC educators' support of families and children during the pandemic; and (4) increased parental appreciation of the ECEC profession. Findings revealed that disruptions to ECEC access and routines during the pandemic adversely impacted family engagement, and child learning and social-emotional wellbeing for some families. These were aggravated by other stressors, including increased parental responsibilities in the home, financial and health concerns, and changed work conditions. Findings also demonstrated successful methods used by educators to maintain communication and connections with families. Importantly, parents expressed increasing appreciation of the profession and an increased awareness of the value of family involvement in children's learning. Learnings regarding strategies for effective and alternative ways of engaging families are discussed.

An Intervention to Increase Outdoor Play in Early Childhood Education Centers (PROmoting Early Childhood Outside): Protocol for a Pilot Wait-list Control Cluster Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND: Participation in outdoor play has been extensively documented as beneficial for the health, well-being, and development of children. Canadian early childhood education centers (ECECs) are important settings in young children's lives and provide opportunities to participate in outdoor play. However, there are barriers to the provision of outdoor play opportunities at ECECs, such as adverse weather conditions, poorly designed outdoor spaces, outdoor time policies, and early childhood educator comfort levels. OBJECTIVE: The PROmoting Early Childhood Outside (PRO-ECO) study is a wait-list control cluster randomized trial that evaluates the impact of the PRO-ECO intervention, an innovative outdoor play intervention, on children's outdoor play behavior. The purpose of this paper was to provide a detailed overview of the pilot study protocol and the methods that will be used to develop, implement, and evaluate the PRO-ECO intervention. METHODS: A total of 8 ECECs delivering licensed care to children aged 2.5 to 6 years in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada, and operated by the YMCA of Greater Vancouver (YMCA GV) are included in this study. Using a wait-list control cluster randomized trial design, we randomly allocated ECECs to either the PRO-ECO intervention arm (n=4) or the wait-list control arm (n=4). The primary outcome measures include changes in the proportion and diversity of observed outdoor play behavior during dedicated outdoor times at the ECECs as measured through observational behavior mapping. Secondary outcome measures include changes in educator attitudes; quality of ECECs' outdoor play space; and children's psychosocial strengths, physical activity levels, and social behaviors. A process evaluation of the acceptability of the PRO-ECO intervention in the 8 YMCA GV ECECs will also be assessed. Outcome data will be collected at baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up. Mixed effect models will test the effect of the PRO-ECO intervention on quantitative outcomes. Baseline and postintervention data will be included in the analysis, controlling for the cluster design. Qualitative data will support quantitative findings and provide evidence for the acceptability of implementation. RESULTS: Participant recruitment for this study began in August 2021, and baseline data collection was completed at all 8 ECECs in November 2021. As of April 2022, a total of 130 children have been recruited to participate in this study. CONCLUSIONS: The PRO-ECO pilot study will develop, implement, and evaluate the PRO-ECO intervention within 8 YMCA GV ECECs in the Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada. The findings of this study will be useful for early childhood educators, ECEC providers, and policy makers to consider means for enhancing outdoor play provision and assessing the sustainability of the intervention in ECEC settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05075580; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05073380. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/38365.

“It’s Just Too Much”: COVID-19 Effects on Head Start Teachers’ Lives and Work

While the rapidly expanding field of pandemic research has explored the well-being of children and families, less attention has gone to early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators’ experiences. Such research is critical, as the ECEC workforce faces high and growing demands/low resources. As such, the workforce was vulnerable to pandemic-related constraints. This chapter contributes to ECEC and pandemic literature by describing the personal and professional experiences of teachers of Head Start, the only federally funded ECEC program in the United States. To do so, we interviewed 19 teachers in a mid-Atlantic city. Interviews occurred in summer 2020, which followed the March 2020 closure of most Head Start sites and many programs’ transitions to online learning. Findings coalesce in three themes: (1) dedication to work that was both demanding and fulfilling, (2) exacerbation of existing stressors and addition of new ones, and (3) a dearth of resources for online learning. This chapter begins with a description of the state and challenges of the ECEC workforce. Next, it describes each theme, including supporting and counterpoint quotes. This chapter concludes with recommendations for policies to improve teacher morale and to support young children’s online learning. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

‘My Cup Was Empty’: The Impact of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Educator Well-Being

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in Australia have been essential to enable parental workforce participation. Australia’s swift and effective management of the pandemic has been held in high regard around the world. However, what toll has the pandemic taken on educators? The aims of this study were to outline the governmental and organisational responses to the pandemic in relation to the ECEC sector and to understand the impacts of the pandemic on educators’ well-being. A survey approach using closed and open-ended responses was used to address these goals. Participants included 831 directors and educators at a range of ECEC service types across Australia. Responses to survey questions were summarised descriptively and used to give an overview of the ECEC sector in relation to the pandemic. Guided by a phenomenological framework, thematic analysis was used to interpret the open-ended responses. Findings from closed questions revealed that, while most ECEC services surveyed remained open during the pandemic, educators received little training or preparation for their dramatically altered working conditions. Findings from open-ended responses showed that educators’ mental health and emotional and financial well-being were negatively impacted by the pandemic. However, some positive coping strategies were identified by the respondents. Implications for supporting the ECEC workforce through future critical incidents and protecting educators’ well-being are discussed, along with suggestions for ways the sector could become better prepared for future crises. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Government Policies Relating to the Early Childhood Sector Across Ten Countries

The relationship between early childhood education and care (ECEC, birth to 8 years), children’s lifelong learning trajectory and the economy is undisputed. This relationship was particularly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an auto-ethnographical study, this chapter discusses government responses across 10 countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal reveal much about the perceptions of children and their early childhood professionals from a political, social and economic stance. The chapter interrogates how government responses situate children and early childhood professionals within the educational landscape in the countries studied and asks how it shapes early childhood education in particular. It illustrates that Governments overall, in the countries studied, did not recognise ECEC as fundamental to the educational continuum. In looking to the future, we question how early childhood education should develop to prepare children for the times we live in so that children are able to flourish and shape future societies with confidence and purpose. Finally, we ask whether the pandemic could possibly see the dawn of a new era in knowledge and understanding of the centrality of Early Childhood Education and Care. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A Bioecological Systems Approach to Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for the Education and Care of Young Children

Drawing on examples from research and practice, this chapter will explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) from a multisystem perspective of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological framework. The chapter will discuss key factors that influence children’s early education and care as well as consider how the physical and social environments have changed in response to the crisis. Changes to the relationships in the ‘mesosystem’ (i.e., the early childhood settings and the home environment) are also explored. Physical distancing measures implemented to minimise the spread of the virus resulted in disruption to the connections between ECEC practitioners and parents and between the home and school environments. ECEC is also influenced by wider factors, often beyond the control of educators, practitioners, children and families within the ‘exosystem’, such as the availability of government grants to adapt settings for increased hygiene practices and support for unemployed educators. Furthermore, there are cultural factors within the ‘macrosystem’ that have led to significant variations in how ECEC settings were affected internationally by the COVID-19 crisis. This chapter will highlight how the socio-historical context (‘chronosystem’) and the sense of ‘time’ in various guises impact ECEC, while also considering the developmental stages of young children. New empirical evidence relating to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on young children is emerging every day, and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems approach provides a strong theoretical framework in which to consolidate these findings, reflect on their implications, and consider recommendations for the future. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Introduction to the Volume

There is little question that COVID-19 has had profound implications for the care and education of young children as well as work with their families. This volume gathers together the informed perspectives of researchers in the field as they have struggled to understand and address the many challenges associated with a worldwide health pandemic. The chapter begins with a brief explanation of how the project originated and the process of identifying contributors for the chapters. Next, it examines the unique contributions made by a compilation of original research specific to the impact of COVID-19 on the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC). As the title of the book suggests, the 25 assembled chapters offer keen professional insights from an international team of teachers/scholars who have dealt directly with the complex issues brought about by this life-threatening illness;adapted to drastic measures implemented to contain the disease;and attempted to normalize the lives of children, families, and early childhood personnel despite major—and sometimes devastating—changes to the lives that they led previously. The introduction then provides a synopsis of the book’s content that is clustered into five different themes, each consisting of four or more chapters. It closes with some observations about the long-term consequences that this persistent virus and its variants have inflicted upon human beings, especially those highly vulnerable individuals in the early childhood phase, defined as infancy up to and including 8 years of age. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in ECEC centers: social and psychological impact on children and teachers

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centers are extremely significant contexts for understanding the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, and teachers are privileged interlocutors to detect changes in children's behavioral manifestations. Starting from these premises, the present study aimed to investigate the social and psychological impact of the pandemic on children and teachers and the strategies implemented to cope with it in the context of ECEC centers. 161 teachers completed an online survey which investigated four main themes: 1) impact of pandemic on children;2) impact of pandemic on teachers;3) children's vulnerabilities and resources;4) strategies implemented to cope with the impact of pandemic. Qualitative content analysis allowed to identify representative categories for each open-ended question and statistical frequency showed the distribution of the categories within each variable. The results show changes in behavior, play and conversations between children, let teachers' concerns emerge, highlight children's fragilities and resilience, and allow to identify the main strategies implemented to cope with negative effects observed after the lockdown. The study provides an interesting overview of the impact of the pandemic, which allows researchers and professionals to focus on aspects relevant to the design and implementation of interventions with both children and teachers. © 2021 Sapienza Universita Editrice. All Rights Reserved.

Barriers and Facilitators to Toddlers’ Physical Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Perceived by Teachers, Principals and Parents: A Challenge for the Early Childhood Educational Environments

The aim of our study was to explore the barriers and facilitators that teachers, principals, and parents face when adapting to COVID-19 pandemic scenario in terms of promoting toddlers’ physical activity (PA). Thirty-four (20 teachers and principals, and 14 parents) semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted from October 2020 to March 2021. The socioecological model has enabled the identification of barriers and facilitators, some of which are related to the pandemic and others which are not. The main results suggest that upon reopening the ECEC institutions, regarding environmental barriers, educators mentioned the impact on the use of space, and parents, the modification of daily activities generated by COVID-19. However, educators also considered that the presence of suitable spaces in the school for practicing PA was a facilitator. At the intra- and interpersonal level, facilitators of PA that were unrelated to the pandemic included, for parents, the predisposition of children to be physically active and their own function as role models, and for educators, the curricular practices themselves. At an environmental level, the risk of danger in the traditional classroom plus bad weather were considered barriers by educators, while parents mentioned difficulties accessing outdoor space and the poor suitability of indoor spaces. Our results suggest the simultaneous analysis of the perceptions of different actors in the educational environments offers a broad vision of the ecological alternatives for offering children opportunities for PA in these difficult times.

Healthy Food Environments in Early Learning Services: An Analysis of Manager Survey Responses, Menus and Policies in Regional New Zealand Early Childhood Education and Care Centres.

Healthy food environments in early childhood play an important role in establishing health-promoting nutritional behaviours for later life. We surveyed Early Learning Services (ELS) in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand and describe common barriers and facilitators to providing a healthy food environment, through descriptive survey analysis and thematic analysis of open-ended questions. We used a policy analysis tool to assess the strength and comprehensiveness of the individual centre's nutrition policies and we report on the healthiness of menus provided daily in the centres. Sixty-two centres participated and 96.7% had policies on nutrition compared to 86.7% with policies on drinks. Of the 14 full policies provided for analysis, identified strengths were providing timelines for review and encouraging role modelling by teachers. The main weaknesses were communication with parents and staff, lack of nutrition training for staff and absence of policies for special occasion and fundraising food. With regard to practices in the ELS, food for celebrations was more likely to be healthy when provided by the centre rather than brought from home. Food used in fundraising was more likely to be unhealthy than healthy, though <20% of centres reported using food in fundraising. Only 40% of menus analysed met the national guidelines by not including any 'red' (unhealthy) items. Centre Managers considered the biggest barriers to improving food environments to be a lack of parental support and concerns about food-related choking. These results highlight the need for future focus in three areas: policies for water and milk-only, celebration and fundraising food; increased nutrition-focused professional learning and development for teachers; and communication between the centre and parents, as a crucial pathway to improved nutrition for children attending NZ early childhood education and care centres.