Renovating early childhood education pedagogy: a case study in Vietnam

Since 2003, the Vietnamese government has prioritised curriculum reform efforts and commitment to improving the quality of the national curriculum. The Vietnamese early childhood education renovation has encountered considerable changes and challenges, particularly in the area of pedagogical approaches. Many early childhood teachers continue to favour direct instruction over more appropriate teaching practices for early childhood. This paper reviews the implementation and renovation of the revised curriculum over the past 10 years in Vietnam, and examines the changing realities of early childhood teachers' work to explore ways to implement and sustain changes in pedagogy in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam. The paper explores how changing societal expectations and the changing educational philosophies and resultant pedagogy have impacted on the beliefs and practices of early childhood teachers. The teaching profession, as a whole, is facing ongoing change and challenge; not only are ongoing educational reforms redefining teachers' work, but increasing teacher attrition and turnover also creates problems for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Lam Dong province. The paper concludes with suggestions for areas for future research in Vietnam in the field of ECEC.     

Anthropomorphically speaking: on communication between teachers and children in early childhood biology education

In this study a particular kind of figurative language, so‐called anthropomorphic speech, is analysed in the context of science activities in a preschool setting. Anthropomorphism means speaking about something non‐human in human terms. Can any systematic pattern be seen with regard to when such speech is used? Do children and/or teachers introduce this kind of talking and how is it responded to by the interlocutor(s)? Of 128 instances of anthropomorphism found, 24 were made by the children and 104 by the teachers. Children sometimes respond in line with the introduction of such speech but they also at times reject this way of speaking. Anthropomorphic speech is discussed as a strategy for the teachers in handling the dilemma of how to connect with children’s experiences and terms, on the one hand, and developing children’s understanding, on the other hand.     

More than a shortage of early childhood teachers: looking beyond the recruitment of university qualified teachers to promote quality early childhood education and care

In Australia and internationally, government policies aim to increase the supply of early childhood teachers and thus improve the quality of early childhood education and care services. In this paper, we suggest that such a policy-quality trajectory in Australia is not as straightforward as policy discourses suggest. From industrial relations and broader policy contexts, we argue that the early childhood profession is a profession on the margins and that this marginalisation complicates efforts to enhance numbers of early childhood teachers. Mindful of this marginalisation, we draw upon preliminary findings from a study exploring the motivations, beliefs and expectations of mature age postgraduate students to highlight practical issues pertaining to students and early childhood teacher education programs that further complicate policy drives to increase the supply of early childhood teachers. We propose that the success of such policy drives is dependent on a comprehensive addressing of the complexities raised in this paper.     

男幼师匮乏的原因探析及对策研究

幼儿受单一性别教师影响,不利于身心健康发展。长期以来,受传统观念和对男幼师培养重视不足的影响,加上学校对男幼师教育、管理方法不当,幼儿园对男幼师的发展和需要重视不够等等原因,导致幼儿园男幼师奇缺。随着学前教育事业的发展,人们越来越认识到男幼师对幼儿健康成长的特殊作用;应该从转变观念、政府施策、重构教育管理模式及创造利于施展才能的角度出发,为男幼师创造有利的职业发展空间。     

An exploratory study of gender and male teachers in early childhood education and care centres in China

This paper explores the impact of gender on the employment of men in early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres through the voices of male and female early childhood teachers (ECTs) working in China. Gender imbalance in the ECEC workforce is a global phenomenon, and there has been little research about it in countries such as China. This study was based on online interviews with 16 ECTs from three major cities in China. Findings indicated that ECTs’ perceptions conformed largely with traditional gender stereotypes in Chinese culture. Western expectations that men’s participation in ECEC could challenge traditional gender stereotypes and promote gender diversity were not reflected in either Chinese academic literature reviewed or the participants’ views captured in this research. The appreciation of masculinity in Chinese culture and implied disadvantages are considered within a global context of empowering women and girls.     

Inquiry-based science education: towards a pedagogical framework for primary school teachers

Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) has been promoted as an inspiring way of learning science by engaging pupils in designing and conducting their own scientific investigations. For primary school teachers, the open nature of IBSE poses challenges as they often lack experience in supporting their pupils during the different phases of an open IBSE project, such as formulating a research question and designing and conducting an investigation. The current study aims to meet these challenges by presenting a pedagogical framework in which four domains of scientific knowledge are addressed in seven phases of inquiry. The framework is based on video analyses of pedagogical interventions by primary school teachers participating in open IBSE projects. Our results show that teachers can guide their pupils successfully through the process of open inquiry by explicitly addressing the conceptual, epistemic, social and/or procedural domain of scientific knowledge in the subsequent phases of inquiry. The paper concludes by suggesting further research to validate our framework and to develop a pedagogy for primary school teachers to guide their pupils through the different phases of open inquiry.     

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.     

Relational play-based pedagogy: theorising a core practice in early childhood education

A commitment to long-standing child-centred ideologies and recent emphases on academic outcomes have both perpetuated narrow interpretations of play-based pedagogy in early childhood education. Instead, teachers might proactively and spontaneously deepen children’s thinking and understandings related to children’s own interests and motivations during thoughtful pedagogical interactions that arise from play. This paper draws on findings from a qualitative case study in Aotearoa, New Zealand where teachers used their professional expertise to engage with children’s thinking and understandings. We analyse the professional knowledge, strategies and skills teachers brought to these relational and play-based interactions. We offer new conceptualising of teaching in highlighting the need to position a sophisticated blending of play, learning and teaching within participatory and relational pedagogies as a core practice of early childhood education. Further, we argue that two constructs – everyday and scientific concepts, and the zone of proximal development – position theoretically ways in which teachers’ knowledge, expertise and engagement might contribute to these ‘in the moment’ rich, thoughtful understandings of what we term relational play-based pedagogy.     

Beliefs associated with support for child-centred learning environment among Hong Kong pre-service early childhood teachers

The physical, social and temporal dimensions of the classroom environment have an important role in children’s learning. This study examines the level of support for child-centred learning, and its associated beliefs, that is provided by Hong Kong’s pre-service early childhood teachers. Two hundred and seventy-five students from a pre-service early childhood teacher training programme completed a questionnaire; in general, these students believed that teachers should create physical, social and temporal environments which are child-centred in early childhood education settings. Linear regression analyses showed that the students’ perceived importance of fostering children’s social and communication competence in early childhood programmes, and their belief in children’s competence in self-learning, were significant positive correlates of their level of support for all dimensions of child-centred learning environment. Their self-perceived competence in managing children’s behaviours was, however, a significant negative correlate of their level of support for child-centred social and temporal environment. This study then discusses the implications of these findings for pre-service early childhood teacher education.     

The acceptance of computer technology by teachers in early childhood education

This study investigated kindergarten teachers’ decision-making process regarding the acceptance of computer technology. We incorporated the Technology Acceptance Model framework, in addition to computer self-efficacy, subjective norm, and personal innovativeness in education technology as external variables. The data were obtained from 160 kindergarten teachers, from public kindergartens in Daejeon, South Korea. According to the results, subjective norm had the strongest effect on computer acceptance. In addition, perceived usefulness and computer self-efficacy had a direct effect on computer technology acceptance. On the other hand, perceived ease of use and personal innovativeness in education technology had an indirect effect on computer technology acceptance. The measures accounted for approximately 32% of the variance of intentions to use computers in kindergartens.     

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.     

Physics teachers: a holistic plan for professional education during both the pedagogical stage and the probation year

Despite the Bologna agreement implementation in 2008, teachers' education in Portugal has not changed significantly from earlier practice. The major modification in the requirements of master’s level teacher education programmes was the introduction of a strong component of educational research in a master’s degree; this is designed to replace an educational monograph in the typical 5-year ‘Licenciatura’. Both a professional one-year in-school pedagogical stage and a fifth year as a university student continue to be mandatory, as well as the stage co-supervision of the university and the school. However, existing government regulations imply that in the very near future the full professional education of teachers will have to be complemented with an in-service probation year conducted under the supervision of a school mentor. The current study has been designed to try to determine: (a) how the activities of the probation year should be organised in order to improve this stage of professional education; and (b) how probation years could be used to promote school–university partnerships that could provide for more effective in-service teacher education and/or possible shared educational action research. Drawing on the survey data from pre-service students from four different universities, novice teachers, stage supervisors and school principals, information was collected on the perceptions of the quality and scope of the professional education of future teachers from the beginning of their programmes through their pedagogical stage. A high degree of agreement among all the respondents enables us to point towards the perceived high quality of several components of the teacher education programmes, e.g, teachers’ ability to plan a lesson using different teaching strategies and the high value-accorded school–university collaborations. The results also show the weaknesses of other components, e.g, teachers’ skill with controlling badly behaved students and their ability to capture students’ attention and motivation. Based on these results and on our knowledge about the type of professional support needed to promote teaching practice, we conclude with a holistic plan designed for teachers’ professional education during the pre-service pedagogical stage and the in-service probation year.     

Pattern discernment and pseudo-conceptual development in early childhood mathematics education

In this empirical study, we investigate an early childhood education activity in mathematics on the concept of ‘pattern’. The children participating in the study attend an intermediate form of schooling in Sweden called ‘the preschool class for six-year-olds’, intended to facilitate their transition from preschool to school. Following a prolonged activity over 45 minutes, we analyse for what the children are supported in discerning and what they give as evidence of having discerned in and about patterns. The theoretical point of departure is variation theory, conceptualising learning as increased discernment. The results show that in terms of the important Vygotskian distinction between ‘pseudo concepts’ and ‘concepts (proper)’, the children's discernment and what they are supported in discerning are of the former kind. Pseudo concepts are discussed as integral to the institutional form of the preschool class and premised to be important to the child's further conceptual development.     

A comparative study of teaching efficacy in pre-service and in-service teachers in Korean early childhood education and care (ECEC)

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between pre-service and in-service teachers in terms of their levels of teaching efficacy and teaching professionalism. In addition, the patterns in predictors of teachers’ teaching efficacy were compared between the two subgroups of this study. Five hundred and seventy-three teachers completed self-administered questionnaires. The in-service teachers were found to have higher efficacy than their counterparts in only one of the six subscales of teaching efficacy, the subscale “Teaching Strategies”. Additionally, the college major specialisation and some domains of professionalism were found to be predictive to both groups. Along with the main results of this study, implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Preparing early childhood educators for global education: the implications of prior learning

This paper outlines the increasing cultural diversity of Australia’s education settings and explicates the global education movement and the new Australian Early Years Learning Framework. It discusses the implication of these factors for early childhood education practice and early childhood teacher education. The key research question considered in this paper is what prior learnings do early childhood educators utilise to consider global education? Data are presented on a research project that explores the prior learning of pre‐service early childhood educators at a major Australian university. The paper shows that, unlike primary and secondary pre‐service teachers, most early childhood education pre‐service teachers have significant professional experiences in educational settings. These prior experiences have a significant impact on pre‐service early childhood educators’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes in the area of global education and align strongly with the global education curriculum movement and new national curriculum.     

Here and now: the attendance issue in Indigenous early childhood education

Concern about poor school attendance and participation, particularly of Indigenous children, is a key issue in Australian education; however, strategies to address this issue have been piecemeal and have met with limited success. While much has been written about the issue of school attendance, little attention has been given to absenteeism in early childhood education or its effects at this level. Drawing on data from a longitudinal ethnographic study of Indigenous children in early childhood education in an Australian city, this paper examines the impact of intermittent attendance on the academic, social and personal wellbeing of young Aboriginal children. Explanations for non‐attendance, particularly in the non‐compulsory pre‐school, are considered, and the efficacy of current policy trends to coerce parents to deliver children to school by withholding welfare income is challenged. It is argued that because absenteeism in the Indigenous context is part of the broader complex of social exclusion and disadvantage, policy‐makers and service providers, such as the school, are presented particular challenges involving the balancing of competing principles.     

An integrated system of early childhood education and care governance in Turkey: views of policy-makers,practitioners, and academics

Despite a wealth of evidence showing the benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC), in Turkey participation remains low and inequitably distributed, even though access to services is soaring. Drawing from previous findings, this paper will focus on different stakeholders’ views on a more integrated system of ECEC governance in Turkey. The research shows that Turkey, a country at the crossroads of forming the foundations of early childhood services, should consider the adverse effects of the current split system and focus on the integration of services to foster holistic development with the aim of offering quality and equity for all children.     

论以环境为基础的幼儿教育体系构建理论与实务

本文在回顾重视环境因素的幼儿教育理论基础上,阐述环境是幼儿教育最宝贵的资源。通过分析发达国家在幼儿教育过程中对环境的充分开发和利用,结合我国实际国情,提出改革和发展幼教体系、构建良好的幼儿成长环境等见解,对我国幼儿教育工作有着一定的启示。