The Early Childhood Quality Rating Scale – Emergent Curriculum (ECQRS–EC) is designed to measure the quality of support for literacy, mathematics, and science in pre-school settings. Although different curricular frameworks are used around the world, there is increasing agreement that emerging academic skills should be supported by a playful pedagogy.The ECQRS–EC substantially updates the ECERS–E, which was the first observational scale to focus directly on the development of emergent academic skills.This evidence-based tool also includes a subscale dedicated to diversity and inclusion to help educators support gender and cultural differences in children aged 3–6 years old who are developing at different rates. This revised quality rating scale recognises the important role of the adult in providing children with high-quality interactions and can be used for research, teacher self-evaluation, and programme improvement, audit and regulation.