Neuroscience in early childhood education: a content analysis of Australian qualifications

Lyra L'Estrange; Tanya Burr; Susan Irvine; Kate E Williams

doi:10.1080/10901027.2025.2489947

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Neuroscience in early childhood education: a content analysis of Australian qualifications

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Neuroscience in early childhood education: a content analysis of Australian qualifications

Lyra L'Estrange, Tanya Burr, Susan Irvine and Kate E Williams

Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Vol.Advanced access

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2025.2489947

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Abstract

Over the last two decades, there has been increased interest in neuroscience-informed approaches in early childhood, particularly regarding their potential benefits for early childhood education. However, little is known about the neuroscience-related content early childhood educators and teachers receive in their initial training. This study sought to address this gap by examining early childhood pre-service education qualifications in Australia for neuroscience-related content. Findings revealed an absence of neuroscience-related content within vocational early childhood education programs, and only 20% of university-based initial early childhood teacher education programs contained one or more units with some neuroscience-related content. The limited neuroscience-related content in early childhood education qualifications could have implications for educators’ understanding of young children’s brain development, and their interactions and practices with children within their early childhood education and care programs.

Details

Title: Neuroscience in early childhood education: a content analysis of Australian qualifications
Authors: Lyra L'Estrange (Corresponding Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Tanya Burr - Australian Catholic University
Susan Irvine - Queensland University of Technology
Kate E Williams - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Education and Tertiary Access
Publication details: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Vol.Advanced access
Publisher: Routlege
DOI: 10.1080/10901027.2025.2489947
ISSN: 1745-5642; 1090-1027
Copyright note: © 2025 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Grant note: This work was supported by a Queensland Government Department of Education, Education Horizon Grant (2022).
Organisation Unit: School of Education and Tertiary Access
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991121552502621
Output Type: Journal article

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Web Of Science research areas: Education & Educational Research

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