Editorial

This issue of the European Journal of Education addresses current European
trends and developments in the field of early childhood education and care from
three interconnected perspectives: it provides a platform for exploring policies,
practices and theoretical underpinnings relating to the institutions set up to support
young children and their families in Europe.There is no ‘safe ground’ on which to
construct our research and that has consequences for design, process and
outcome: it confronts researchers with the necessity to situate and position themselves
in relation to the contested meanings. In designing and conducting research
into the complexity of European early childhood education and care systems, we
are asked not to take sides, but to take a stand. The individual contributions
approach their specific topics within a shared framework that acknowledges that
education is inevitably political and value based — which creates the need for
constant democratic dialogue. The choice of contributions to this issue does not
attempt to offer definite answers, let alone ‘solutions’ to the ‘problem’ of early
childhood care and education in Europe. It insists that all suggestions can only be
preliminary and are subject to constant democratic renegotiation. Rather than
promoting one ‘right’ answer, the perspectives offered in the shared framework of
the issue aim at exploring the critical questions we suggest we need to ask in
research, policy and practice.