Adams, JeffAtherton, Frances2018-03-022018-03-022018-02-09Adams, J. and Atherton, F. (2018). Editorial: Young children and art education.The International Journal of Art & Design Education, 37(1), 4-5. https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.1218810.1111/jade.12188http://hdl.handle.net/10034/620887This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Adams, J. and Atherton, F. (2018). Editorial: Young children and art education.The International Journal of Art & Design Education, 37(1), 4-5, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12188. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingThis special issue of iJADE is devoted to the art education of young children, and provides a timely platform for the dissemination of new research in this important area. For many young children their artistic experiences can prove to be some of the most profound and insightful of their early education. Although these creative moments are frequently integrated with a multitude of other educational experiences, nonetheless the artistic ones have a singularity, making them unique within the educational experience as a whole. It is the predominance of a visual epistemology that provides this specificity, and it hardly needs stating that knowing by means of the visual is of profound importance in our contemporary societies. The demonstration and the parole of this ‘knowing’ by young children should not be seen as peripheral, or as an adjunct to education. Fundamental to a well-informed art education are the critical expression of meaning and purpose, no matter how tentative these might appear. These practices entail a critical engagement with the languages of visual imagery, to which children readily adapt.enhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/art educationyoung childrenArticle1476-8070The International Journal of Art and Design Education