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This study aims to investigate the effects of the use of symbols in the development of young children's ability to form questions in mainstream early‐childhood education. Hypotheses examined whether the use of graphic symbols help 3. 5‐5 year‐old students to increase the number of questions and the number of words in the questions asked for a particular subject.

Following an experimental design approach, an experimental (EG) and a control group (CG) of children, matched to age (4:2) and to their ability to make questions (pre‐test), attended an instructional programme. The EG used Widgit Symbols and the CG the traditional methods used by educators to teach questioning. Data collection involved pre and post oral assessment tests, which measured the number of questions and the length of questions in role play activities.

Findings of the study showed that symbols have positively affected children's ability to make questions. The EG scored higher than the CG on variables examined, and the within groups improvement (pre to post test) was again higher for the EG.

The paper discusses some possibilities of a lengthier implementation of the use of symbols and their effect on language acquisition.

The study raises some considerations about the development of new teaching methodologies with the use of symbols and Information Communication Technology to enhance language development and maximize learning for all learners.

Usually emphasis is placed on the use of symbols as a means of assistive technology (AT) for the accommodation of the needs of children with disabilities. This paper is an effort to cover a gap in literature and emphasize on the benefits of AT in general learning environments for all children.

We examined the effect of management practices on overt and subtle forms of discrimination in remote working contexts. Management practices (i.e. diversity and equality management systems) may influence employees’ perception of the diversity climate and affect the occurrence of discrimination.

To empirically investigate these associations, we administrated an online questionnaire with self-report measures via a 3-wave longitudinal research design.

Data analysis of our sample of N = 153 remotely working employees show that when managers invest in equality and diversity practices, employees perceive their workplace as more inclusive (i.e. diversity climate). In turn, this reduces the occurrence of subtle discriminations. Conversely, this relationship was not significant for overt forms of discrimination.

This result indicates that creating a diversity climate is especially important when combatting subtle forms of discrimination in remote work contexts. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings in light of managerial studies on discrimination at work and psychological literature on virtual environment and social networking.