At a time when crucial questions concerning the nature of early childhood and early childhood education are being increasingly examined worldwide, an exploration of the issues, priorities, and methodologies of research in early childhood education may provide valuable material for debate. This book focuses on research in early childhood education in eight European countries, providing an overview of the field, information on researchers, where findings are published, their impact on the field, levels of research funding, and links between researchers. The book also highlights the main research agendas of each country and contains a chapter discussing the strengths and weaknesses of comparative research. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction: Researching Early Childhood Education in Europe" (Tricia David); (2) "Comparative Research: A Way Forward?" (Helen Penn); (3) "Early Childhood Education Research in Denmark" (Stig Brostrom and Karin Vilien); (4) "Early Childhood Education Research in France" (Sylvie Rayna and Eric Plaisance); (5) "Early Childhood Education Research in Greece" (Alkistis Kondoyianni); (6) "Early Educational Research in Ireland" (Noirin Hayes); (7) "Young Children Learning: Research in Poland" (Malgorzata Karwowska-Struczyk); (8) "Early Childhood Education: Research in Spain" (Teresa Aguado and Rosario Jimenez Frias); (9) "Positions in Swedish Child Pedagogical Research" (Ulla Lind); and (10) "From Child Development to the Development of Early Education Research: The UK Scene" (Tricia David). Each chapter contains references. (KB)