This book is a result of conversations with early childhood educators and teacher trainers in different national and cultural settings. The aim was to establish what drives the practice of preparing adults to work with young children with the focus on the "professional" educator. Professional development in any sphere requires consideration of what constitutes appropriate or legitimate knowledge. The process of training in early childhood education specifically requires investigation of the ways in which those skills, abilities, attitudes and dispositions develop which in different national contexts are regarded as appropriate to the early childhood programme. It is these considerations that the contributors address. The editors believe that there is a powerful case for elaborating a code of ethics for work with young children and for making that code explicit during pre-service training. Roy Evans is currently Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Education, Roehampton Institute, London. He ha