AJEC Special Issue on Contemporary Ecological Influences on Learning and Development in Early Childhood
In 2024, approximately 2 billion children in the world are aged from birth to 14 years. Children have experienced multiple social, economic, political and education crises in the last few years and in some instances, these crises have occurred in quick succession, if not simultaneously. For this special issue, we welcome papers examining current and longer-term consequences of such crises for the developing child.
Major challenges have been experienced at a national level by many countries and there are also significant converging global challenges. The economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted vulnerable nations (United Nations, 2020). At the same time, while the world’s least developed countries contribute the least to carbon emissions and human-induced global warming (Climate Central, 2023), climate change and the increasing frequency and unpredictability of severe environmental events are further global challenges (Al Wazni et al., 2023; de Rosnay et al., 2022). The climate crisis leads to increased competition for resources and forced migration which in turn exposes children to multiple risk factors (Cuartas et al., 2023). Children are also experiencing surging cases of childhood diseases such as measles, resulting from disrupted vaccination campaigns (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023; Mcallister & Rigby, 2022). Regional conflict and wars are additional humanitarian crises impacting children (Khoshnood & Raymond, 2022; McGuirk & Burke, 2022).
The world is living through uncertain times with layers of complexity at international, national, community, family and individual levels which challenge the interconnectedness and reciprocity of social systems. This special issue provides an opportunity to report empirical research that focuses on the learning and development of children aged from birth to eight years within contemporary social systems.
All manuscript submissions will be peer reviewed. Technical requirements for submission of manuscripts can be found at: https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/AEC. Authors must comply with these requirements. Accepted manuscripts will be initially be published online.
Submission deadlines
1. 350-word abstract—1 December 2024
2. If abstract accepted, full paper submission—1 March 2025
3. Revisions to authors—19 May 2025
4. Final complete manuscript submission—16 June 2025
Special Issue Editors
Professor Caroline Cohrssen
Dr Maria Hatzigianni
Please email the special issue editors if you wish to discuss ideas before submission at either ccohrsse@une.edu.au or mhatzigianni@uniwa.gr.
References
Al Wazni, A. B., Chapman, M. V., Ansong, D., & Tawfik, L. (2023). Climate change, fragility, and child mortality: Understanding the role of water access and diarrheal disease amongst children under five during the MDG era. Journal of Prevention. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935023-00732-4
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2023, 16 March). Global Measles Outbreaks. https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/measles/data/global-measles-outbreaks.html#print.
Climate Central. (2023). The hottest 12-month stretch in recorded history: How carbon pollution affected countries and major cities worldwide from November 2022 to October 2023. https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/3Ol753QygKfVTuCC28qgij/b97aacad87ca66289e06e2176b7af567/Climate_Central_report_The_hottest_12-month_stretch_in_recorded_history__Nov_2022_to_Oct_2023_.pdf
Cuartas, J., Bhatia, A., Carter, D., Cluver, L., Coll, C., Draper, C. E., Donger, E., Gardner, F., Grueso, H., Herbert, B., Lachman, J. M., Maalla M’jid, N., Seidel, F., & Kelly, O. (2023). The climate crisis and violence against children. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(23)00137-2de
Rosnay, M., Neilsen-Hewett, C., Kervin, L., Okeley, A., Taylor, E., Strooband, K., & Kilgariff, L. (2022). Most Vulnerable to Most Valuable. Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC). https://arnec.net/resources/arnec-resources/most-vulnerable-most-valuable-scoping-study-put-youngchildren-heart-0
Khoshnood, K., & Raymond, N. A. (2022). System of filtration: Mapping Russia’s detention operations in Donetsk Oblast.
https://hub.conflictobservatory.org/portal/sharing/rest/content/items/7d1c90eb89d3446f9e708b87b69ad0d8/data
Mcallister, E., & Rigby, J. (2022, October 24). COVID disrupted measles vaccinations in Africa and now cases are surging. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/coviddisrupted-measles-vaccinations-africa-now-cases-are-surging-2022-10-24/
McGuirk, E., & Burke, M. (2022). War in Ukraine, world food prices, and conflict in Africa. In L. Garicano, D. Rohner, & B. Weder di Mauro (Eds.), Global Economic Consequences of the War in Ukraine: Sanctions, Supply Chains and Sustainability (pp. 133-138). Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
United Nations Children’s Fund. (2020). COVID-19: Are children able to continue learning during school closures?https://data.unicef.org/resources/remote-learning-reachability-factsheet/
