Content Global Perspectives in Early Childhood Education: Diversity, Challenges and Possibilities ............................................................... 9 SECTION A DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Eeva Hujala, Anneli Niikko The Science of Early Childhood Education – Core Ideas ............................... 21 Eve Kikas, Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen Education in Estonia and Finland .................................................................... 33 Ulla Härkönen The Process of Creating the Pedagogical Systems Theory for Early Childhood and Preschool Education .................................... 47 James E. Johnson, Jennifer Chestnut Pyles ECE in the USA: Focus on the State-Funded Pre-K Movement ..................... 67 Mare Torm 170 Years of Development in Estonian Preschool Institutions: Historical Trends in Preschool Education ....................................................... 81 Marika Veisson, Paul Kees, Taimi Tulva, And Maie Vikat Development of the Field of Preschool Education in Tallinn University .......................................................................................... 105 Sigrun Sand Early Childhood Education in a Multicultural Norway................................. 125 Jarmo Kinos Early Childhood Education in Finland – History, the Present and a Little Part of the Future ........................................................................ 141 Airi Liimets What “Gifts” Could Good Beginnings Have in Education Interpreted as a Difference? ........................................................................... 153