Publications & Reports

Browse editions of our journal, Early Childhood Matters, and our Early Childhood in Focus series, along with other selected publications and reports. All are free to download or read online.

A good start: advances in early childhood development

Publication ECM124 A Good Start: advances in early childhood development

A special issue to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bernard van Leer Foundation's first grant in early childhood, this edition of ECM surveys the state of the early childhood… Read more

Counting on Quality: Measuring and Improving Quality in Early Childhood Environments

Publication Report Counting on Quality: Measuring and Improving Quality in Early Childhood Environments

This is a report on the International Consultation convened in Leiden, the Netherlands, in September 2014. To protect children’s rights and promote their development, quality in early childhood settings is… Read more

Small Children, Big Cities: Impact through design intervention

This is a report on the national conference ‘Small Children, Big Cities: Building Smart Child-Friendly Cities for 21st-century India’, held on 28 and 29 November 2014 in New Delhi, India. Read more

Annual Report 2014

Publication Annual Report 2014

As the Bernard van Leer Foundation approaches the halfway point of its ten-year strategic plan, the Annual Report for 2014 shares facts, figures, lessons learned and stories detailing the progress… Read more

Small children, big cities

Publication ECM123 Small Children, Big Cities

With the world rapidly urbanising, more and more childhoods are being lived in big cities. This ECM explores issues ranging from playground design, "public parenting", and children's voices in urban… Read more

Steps for Engaging Young Children in Research - Volume 2: The Researcher Toolkit

Steps for Engaging Young Children in Research Volume 2: The Researcher Toolkit - Bernard van Leer Foundation

Steps for Engaging Young Children in Research is a comprehensive resource developed for academics and practitioner researchers wanting to include the perspectives of young children in their research. This is… Read more

Steps for Engaging Young Children in Research - Volume 1: The Guide

Steps for Engaging Young Children in Research is a comprehensive resource developed for academics and practitioner researchers wanting to include the perspectives of young children in their research. This is… Read more

Responsive parenting: a strategy to prevent violence

Publication ECM122 Responsive Parenting: a strategy to prevent violence

This edition of Early Childhood Matters addresses responsive parenting and its potential to reduce the incidence of violence against young children. Read more

Research: domestic violence against children aged 0-8 years in Turkey

In 2013, the Bernard van Leer Foundation supported Boğaziçi University, Humanist Bureau and Frekans Research to conduct a national scale survey on domestic violence against children aged 0-8 years in… Read more

Children of seasonal migrant workers

Publication ECM121 Children of seasonal migrant workers

This issue of Early Childhood Matters focuses on an almost invisible population - people who migrate seasonally in search of work, and their children. Often they live in poor quality… Read more