Trends and issues in the disseminadon of child development and early education knowledge

Drawing upon the experience gained from 25 years as director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education this paper is presented in two parts. First some observations on current trends in the environment to which the dissemination of child development and early education knowledge is directed. Included within these trends are the expansion of the information environment as an increasing number of specialist journals emerge and the collision in some countries between these specialised professionals and experts and public and political sentiment, Second some issues related to the dissemination of knowledge are presented ending with the suggestion that those in advisory and training positions have an important role to play in helping the scientific and practitioner cultures understand each other. The paper concludes with a discussion of some implications of the trends and issues.