Situating ICT in early childhood teacher education

Education and Information Technologies - Preparing the next generation of preschool teachers who can integrate and make use of ICT to capitalise on and develop young children’s digital...     

Attitude and passion: becoming a teacher in early childhood education and care

By focusing on a collective aesthetics based on sensation and affect, researchers, especially in Stockholm, Sweden, are exploring a pedagogy that opens up space for assemblages of desire, acknowledging the expressions of children who transform themselves and their milieus into a weave of bodies, spaces, signs and media. By analysing this pedagogy, against the background of the theories of Henri Wallon and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, I wish to investigate the concept of a ‘thinner skin mentality’. This willingness to transgress one’s own stabilising attitude, to move towards a greater sensitivity to relational and situational affectivity when accompanying the learning of children, may provide a point of reference for a preschool teacher qualification.     

Analyzing teacher narratives in early childhood garden-based education

Learning gardens can provide dynamic learning and developmental experiences for young children. This case study of 12 early childhood teachers explores how teachers describe (1) learning across numerous school readiness domains and (2) how to support this learning by promoting opportunities for autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Participants worked at a university-affiliated early education program with a learning garden in the midwestern United States. Data included 19 narrative, photo-elicitation interviews during two growing seasons. Iterative qualitative analyses informed the creation of a Gourd Tee-Pee Model that describes learning across multiple domains and integrates self-determination theory into early childhood garden education. This framework can inform the design and evaluation of early childhood garden education programs.     

Preparation never ends: Sustaining a mentorship model in early childhood teacher education

Abstract

This paper documents the development of a mentorship project for both inservice and preservice early childhood teachers. This mentorship model was conceived by university faculty who were concerned that developmentally appropriate practice was fast becoming a casualty of the present accountability reform in education, and distressed by the disconnect between the university and the prek‐grade three classroom. The first two years of the model are described with particular emphasis placed on the second year efforts to increase the interaction of preservice and inservice teachers. Central to these efforts has been the two‐way communication resulting from video mentorship, and this paper documents the reactions of the stakeholders to this initiative. The paper closes by discussing the challenges that lie ahead as the mentorship model continues to evolve.     

The new Turkish early childhood teacher education curriculum: a brief outlook

This article aims to describe and reflect on the new early childhood teacher education curriculum in Turkey. The new curriculum is part of a large-scale reform agenda to improve education at all levels. The article begins with a brief history of early childhood education and early childhood teacher education in Turkey. Then, the needs for the curriculum revision and major characteristics of the revised curriculum are discussed. The article concludes with brief discussion about the innovations and suggestions for future research dealing with the implementation and effectiveness of the revised curriculum     

Critical competencies in early childhood administration: A national survey

There has been little consensus to date about the skills needed to administer early childhood facilities. A national survey of state education and child welfare agencies attempted to rate competencies.Rosemarie Slavenas is an Assistant Professor and Charles A. Sloan is a Professor at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb.     

Learning to contribute: text connections in early childhood teacher education

ABSTRACT

Face-to-face time with students in the early childhood college setting is at a premium and often flies by before we begin to scratch the surface of active learning. Building a community of learners is one of our main goals as instructors; therefore, we strive to set up active learning environments optimal for all students. This reflection on practice highlights the text connections learning strategy, describes how four early childhood education instructors use it, and analyzes its theoretical underpinnings to investigate how it helps students learn to contribute to the learning of all. Student examples and reflections from the instructors are included.     

Artefacts and utilization schemes in mathematics teacher education: place value in early childhood education

In this article, I discuss a case of pre-primary and primary school teacher education concerning place value in number representation. In primary school (in Italy, in grades 1 and 2), the topic is usually introduced by means of manipulatives (for instance, abaci and base ten blocks). But it is well known that no artefact is transparent for mathematical meaning, unless the social practices of the mathematics classroom, initiated by the teacher, are effective. The aim of this study is to report on tasks given in a four-session (16 h) workshop for 27 prospective pre-primary and primary school teachers, where the use of artefacts in learning place value in base ten was tackled, within a suitable theoretical framework. Different sessions of the workshop are analysed, focusing on tasks related to different components of mathematics knowledge for teaching. Effectiveness for professional growth is reported, quoting documents written by students and by external evaluators. In a final paragraph, the implication for pre-primary school teacher education is addressed.     

Improving early childhood teacher education: Preservice teachers' beliefs about inclusion

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe early childhood preservice teachers’ beliefs about the inclusion of children with special needs in early childhood settings. Nineteen female undergraduate early childhood education preservice teachers participated in one of five focus groups. Students were divided into three groups based on the courses they were enrolled in or had completed: Beginner (sophomore and junior courses), Intermediate (senior courses), and Advanced (student teaching). Additionally, 6 of the 19 students participated in individual interviews. Data analysis resulted in themes related to students’ beliefs and philosophies of inclusion, as well as their thoughts concerning practice in inclusive programs. This paper describes students’ beliefs within each group and compares responses across the different groups. Implications are discussed in relation to teacher education programs and directions for future research.     

Interactive TV as an option in early childhood teacher education

Abstract

The qualitative study examined the processes and approaches to collaboration, reflection, and dialogue of preservice and mentoring teachers who were engaged in a yearlong internship experience. Within the context of a university course grounded in constructivism, social constructivism, and the concept of teacher as researcher, the study explored the social interactions of the teachers throughout the course of the school day. Teachers were observed in the process of planning and reflecting on daily classroom activities through collaborative meetings with a focus on the teaching and learning process. The preservice teachers were educated in the use of the main principles described by the Reggio Emilia Approach ‐ collaboration reflection, and dialogue (Edwards, Gandini &; Forman, 1998) and thus, served as a guide for the collaborative interactions with the mentoring teachers.     

Personal epistemology and relational pedagogy in early childhood teacher education programs

Over the last decade, research related to personal epistemological beliefs has offered insight into how to promote effective teaching and learning across educational settings. Personal epistemological beliefs reflect an individual's views about what knowledge is, how knowledge is gained, and the degree of certainty with which knowledge can be held. However, there has been no research that specifically investigates the relationship between such epistemological beliefs and early childhood practice. This paper draws together current research findings on epistemological beliefs and tertiary learning to provide a conceptual framework which can be used in early childhood teacher education programs to provide a basis for investigating early childhood teachers' understanding about their own learning and how they use this knowledge in their practice.     

Making sense of teacher leadership in early childhood education in China

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical discussion on teacher leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in Chinese contexts. Since 2010, the Chinese government has initiated a comprehensive education reform in ECE, with strategies for developing teacher leadership and promoting education quality. However, at the school level there is a lack of leadership preparation and development, along with a gap between policy initiative and its implementation. How to narrow this gap between policy and practice in teacher leadership has become a critical issue for ECE in China. This paper suggests that ‘formal role or informal role’ and ‘role or practice’ are important dimensions of teacher leadership in a Chinese, policy-driven context. In this regard, it is worth exploring how teacher leadership is conceptualized and enacted in the process of quality improvement and related contextual factors. In doing so, an agenda could be identified for future research, contributing to theories on the development of teacher leadership in the global discourse.     

Revisiting reflective practice in an era of teacher education reform: A self-study of an early childhood teacher education program

ABSTRACT

The authors describe a major program reform study of an early childhood teacher education program in a large, urban, state university in the United States. Over a 4-year period, our team of early childhood faculty undertook an intentional and reflective program reform study to better advocate for quality early childhood educational philosophy and practice, while ensuring our program aligned with the newer national accreditation policy and state teacher certification standards. In this article, we identify three core problems we encountered, articulate how we approached each of them based on our philosophical framework, and discuss further considerations of each.     

Laura's story: Using Problem Based Learning in early childhood and primary teacher education

Increasingly, graduates across a range of professions are required to possess the ability to critically evaluate information, solve problems and participate in collaborative group work. Problem Based Learning (PBL) is a pedagogical approach to learning that emphasises student centred engagement with real problems or situations, involving learners in active decision making processes and in using theory to inform practice. This paper reports the perceptions a group of pre-service educators had to their participation in a unit of study conducted using a PBL scenario. The paper examines issues associated with teacher education, such as skills acquisition and the notion of the ‘gap’ between theory and practice. The findings reported here indicate that PBL offers the opportunity for pre-service educators to participate in a learning experience that supports them in developing skills appropriate to their profession and in understanding how theory may be related to practice.     

Supporting inclusion in early childhood settings: some possibilities and problems for teacher education

Aotearoa New Zealand, like other countries, has legislation and policies that support inclusion and promote the participation of all children and families in early childhood education. We might expect therefore to see a culture of inclusion resonating through policy and practice in early childhood settings. There are early childhood teachers who support such legislative and policy goals, who are committed to inclusion, and who are developing more inclusive early childhood services. Yet, it is also evident that discrimination and exclusion is experienced by many. Teacher education plays an important role in supporting inclusion and assisting teachers’ development of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will support them to teach all children. In this paper, we write as a group of teacher educators and demonstrate the challenges we took up to move beyond traditional approaches to inclusive education and to open up theoretically and practically diverse possibilities for thinking and doing inclusion differently in early childhood teacher education.     

Remove ‘care’ and stir: modernizing early childhood teacher education in Norway

ABSTRACT

There is growing concern within the field of education regarding how the implementation of national frameworks based on the European Qualifications Framework displaces tacit and less traditionally formalized knowledge from policy. This issue is particularly salient concerning national frameworks that regulate early childhood teacher education, in which knowledge and competencies about caring are crucial, though under-articulated. The proportion of under three-year olds who participate in government subsidized early childhood education and care programs in Norway has risen from 37% in 2000 to over 82% in 2016. Amidst this historic rise, the word ‘care’ was removed from Norway’s most recent National Framework for Early Childhood Teacher Education. Whilst policy analyses generally focus on the content of policy texts, in this article, I examine the circumstances surrounding the curious disappearance of text, namely the key concept of care. Combining a Foucauldian concern with discourse with Malabou’s concept of plasticity, this article reports on a plastic discourse analysis of the removal of care from the newest framework for early childhood teacher education in Norway.