2021): Four-to six-year-old children's experiences of participating in different physical environments and activities in early childhood education and care institutions in Norway, Education 3-13,

This cross-cultural study aims to explore children's, mothers', and teachers' current perceptions of play in Turkish and Norwegian cultures by using the Cultural Historical Action Theory framework as an analytical tool. The participants included 40 children enrolled in preschools, 39 mothers, and 10 teachers. In this cross cultural comparative study, structured interviews were used to collect the data. The results revealed one common theme across the participants' definitions of play, the feelings related to play. All three groups expressed play as a way of having fun. Another common theme for the adults from both countries were the ideas that, play is important for children's learning and development and, it is impossible to think of an alternative to play. Both Norwegian and Turkish children defined play as different examples, such as cars, bicycles and balls. While Norwegian teachers defined play as a context in which children make their own decisions, both Norwegian and Turkish teachers considered play socialize with friends and to be a way of communication. The concept of adults as the community of play and children as the actors of play deserve more attention

In this article, the authors illustrate some of the challenges and dilemmas that Norwegian early childhood education and care teachers experienced when completing a global screening tool (UPSI-5: Universal Psychosocial Indicator for 5 Year Old Boys and Girls) concerning the psychosocial well-being of five-year-olds as part of an international research project. Based on interviews with 31 teachers, the authors present in-depth analysis of the critical reflections of 19 teachers concerning the assessment forms. While previous research has criticized standardized testing and screening in early childhood education and care, there is a need for the critical voices of practitioners to be heard. The aim of this article is to illustrate which aspects teachers find challenging and how they respond when in doubt. The authors found that teachers’ assessments are inextricably linked to the early childhood education and care context, and the values, ideas and norms that are prevalent in Nordic early childhood education and care settings.