In a Time of COVID-19 and Beyond, the World needs Early Childhood Educators

The most recent two issues of the International Journal of Early Years Education have been special issues: 28(2) was about ‘Children on the move’ especially young refugee children and their experiences of education, and was guest edited by Maria Androusou and Evangelia Kourti, while 28(3) was guest edited by Martin Needham & Nurper Ülküer and focused on ‘School readiness and play’. Articles in these excellent special issues address important topics for our field and are highly recommended reading. However, because we have welcomed two special issues this year, I last wrote an editorial for the Journal in January 2020, ahead of our March 2020 issue. Since then, COVID-19 has changed the World exponentially: the pandemic and its extremely damaging effects have intruded on our lives and those of our young children.