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DEVELOPING POSITIVE SOCIAL and emotional growth and development in young children has always been a fundamental priority of early childhood practitioners. However, with an increasing economic and political focus on the foundational early childhood years, there has been a global push for the measurement of outcomes in early childhood education. This paper reports the findings of a major literature review to examine the assessment of social and emotional competence and wellbeing in young children. The review was conducted by a team at Edith Cowan University as part of a project funded by the Western Australian Department of Education and Training. It describes a number of issues about assessment dominating the early childhood literature. The paper then reports on the complexities of examining a domain that is socially and culturally constructed and where meaning belongs to the individual rather than to the person assessing the individual's behaviours.

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In recent years an educational practice has been to increasingly promote the inclusion of students with disabilities into mainstream schools. This trend relies on early childhood teachers utilising their knowledge and skills to successfully induct children with disabilities into the education system. This paper describes early childhood teachers' knowledge of children with disabilities, focusing on their sources of knowledge and experiences in teaching children with disabilities in mainstream settings. Utilising qualitative methodology the study disclosed common factors teachers considered crucial to effective inclusion, including sources and forms of knowledge, teachers' attitudes and expectations, types of support and changes in teaching practices. In addition, the process of inclusion caused early childhood teachers to question their self-efficacy and the adequacy of their practical teaching knowledge.