The importance of early childhood education has been emphasized by a large body of research that has demonstrated that children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development is significantly influenced by the quality of the education and care received from their families and in preschool. Consequently, it is important to investigate factors that pertain to the provision of a high-quality education and high-quality care for young children.

This book addresses several important issues that are currently under discussion with respect to this topic. In particular, the book focuses on three topics presently under debate: the professionalization of pedagogues working in the field of early childhood education; the quality of education and care provided by families and preschools; and the promotion of children from socio-economically disadvantaged families. Providing an excellent overview of current research in Germany, this book will be useful to readers who are interested in international perspectives on early childhood education and who want to gain insight into relevant topics discussed in other countries. This book was originally published as a special issue of Early Child Development and Care.