Early childhood is the most important stage of human development yet in Middle East and North Africa countries there is little research and inadequate investment in this crucial stage of life. This book covers risk, protective factors, policies and programs that can address inequality and shortfalls in the early years of life.

Children in Turkey have vastly different odds of success. Their paths are affected by factors over which they have no control, such as how wealthy or educated their parents and even grandparents are. By investing in its children and youth, Turkey can create a virtuous cycle whereby these children and youth contribute more to their country s economic growth and social development, helping to realize its ambitious goals.

This volume in the Research in Professional Development Schools book series considers the role professional development schools (PDSs) play in expanding opportunities for linking research and clinical practice. As in past volumes of this series, PDS practitioners and researchers make a compelling case for the power of micro?level initiatives to change practice. Contributors share ideas to expand PDS work beyond site?specific contexts to include a broader macro?level agenda for clinical practice. Authors hope to inspire large scale PDS reform through replication of successful initiatives featured in this volume. Evoking change is not easy. Nonetheless, series editors and contributors conclude that PDSs generate a critical mass of PK–16 educators willing to form partnerships to address enduring educational dilemmas. This volume represents a cross section of PDS stakeholders engaged in research along with innovative projects that uncover the richness of clinical practice. Higher education faculty, school practitioners, and preservice teachers featured in these chapters explore the ways PDSs deepen clinical practice while enriching teaching and learning. We begin with the discussion by Beebe, Stunkard, and Nath on the National Association for Professional Development School’s (NAPDS’s) role to support teacher candidates’ clinical practice through the cooperative efforts of university and school?based personnel. The authors explain NAPDS’ history and advocacy over the years to promote a context for schooluniversity partnerships to thrive and expand. As the premier association guiding the work of collaborative P–12/higher education partnerships, we welcome the insightful perspectives provided.

The Next Generation of Solution Focused Practice shows how practitioners help create change by ‘stretching the world’ of their clients. The book brings new ideas from enactive cognition which show how skilled attention on the client and their words is important both practically and conceptually. It provides both a summary of the development of Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) over time and how the latest developments form a newly coherent form of practice based on developing descriptions. The author has structured the book using simple and easy to understand metaphors to paint a rich, creative, and visual picture of therapy for the reader, which makes it an accessible read. This book will be of interest to a wide range of SF practitioners internationally, as well as to those involved in coaching, counselling, family therapy, education, social work, healthcare and organisational change.