Welcome to the website of the Department of Early Childhood Education

How can all children be given equal educational opportunities? What is the role of the pedagogical quality in early childhood learning environments such as daycare centers and families in this context? How can there be a smooth transition of educational processes from daycare to school? Our team investigates these and other central questions about early childhood education. 

Our research is empirically and quantitatively oriented. We use, for example, standardized observation procedures to assess pedagogical quality in early childhood learning environments as well as test procedures to measure child development or develop survey instruments of our own. Qualitative procedures such as guided interviews are also part of our portfolio of methods.

In teaching, we are represented in the Bachelor's program in Bildungs- und Erziehungswissenschaften (Educational Science) as well as in the Master's program in Bildungswissenschaften (Educational Science). Our teaching program aims to address current topics in early childhood education and upbringing, to locate them theoretically, to reflect on them against the backdrop of scientific findings, and to develop professional knowledge for working in the field of early childhood education.