论多维视野中的教师培训观

随着基础教育的改革与发展,教师从改革的后台被推向了改革的前台,相应地,教师问题亦日益突现出来。基于此,教师培训就越来越被提到了议事日程。但目前的教师培训“让人喜欢让人忧”,还存在着诸多长期性、深层性的问题。解决这些问题已经不是技术和方法问题,而是必须解决教师培训观念的滞后问题。也就是说,必须从多维视角重建教师培训观,塑造新的教师培训文化。     

顺应全球化：教师教育全球观的确立

文章从分析全球化现象入手,全面审视了全球化时代教师教育面临的主要挑战,并以此为切入点。提出应该确立教师教育的全球观,构建新的教师教育项目,从而构建全新的教师教育体系,以期为新世纪教师教育改革指明出路。     

Parent involvement in early childhood: a comparison of English language learners and English first language families

This study evaluated parents’ communication, involvement and knowledge of their children’s abilities in reading and mathematics among parents who spoke English as a first language (EL1) and those who were English language learners (ELL). Forty‐two kindergarten‐aged children, their parents and their teachers participated in the study. Results indicated that EL1 parents communicated more frequently with the teacher than ELL parents. However, there were no language group differences in parents’ involvement in their children’s education (as rated by the teacher). For both groups of parents (EL1 and ELL), parents’ ratings of their children’s abilities in reading did not predict children’s reading scores. However, parents’ ratings of their children’s abilities in mathematics did predict their children’s mathematics scores. Further analyses indicated that this relationship was not mediated by parents’ communication or involvement. It is concluded that parents’ accurate knowledge of their children’s abilities in mathematics may be the result of their involvement at home and particularly for ELL parents, their greater understanding of and emphasis on mathematics learning.     

Child Care and Early Education: Satisfaction with Services Among Rural Families

Parents were surveyed regarding their satisfaction with early childhood services. Participants were 65 families who had at least 1 child younger than 5 years of age enrolled in a child care center or an early education program in a rural county; a majority of respondents were single, African American females with annual incomes below $20,000. Parents responded to the 20 items of the questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The average score for overall level of satisfaction was 4.64 for the child care group and 4.37 for the early education group; the average for individual items ranged from a low of 3.85 to a high of 4.64. Differences between child care centers and early education programs were not statistically significant. Applications, implications, and recommendations for early childhood services are discussed.     

Science Education in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Putting Forward a Case to Enhance Student Teachers' Confidence and Competence

New Zealand is moving towards increased qualification requirements for early childhood educators. There is an underlying assumption that there is a correlation between quality early childhood education, teacher qualifications and quality practices in teaching and learning. Two fields of literature, early childhood pedagogy and science specific pedagogy, are reviewed briefly to provide a framework with which to consider why student teachers' attitudes, misunderstandings and misconceptions in science can limit their ability and willingness to create quality teaching and learning opportunities. The study reported in this paper highlights, in general, that early childhood student teachers' subject knowledge in science was poor. It also emerged that the student teachers were unaware of how little they knew and how this might affect their ability to provide appropriate science experiences for young children.     

美国幼儿教师教育的普通知识标准

美国幼儿教育协会制订早期儿童教育专业的准备标准,提出了各个层次从业者的培养要求。就早期儿童教育专业候选者所需要的普通知识的准备而言,该组织提出了语言和读写能力、艺术、数学、身体锻炼和体育、科学、社会研究等领域的培养要求,可以为我国幼儿教师教育的课程改革提供借鉴。     

‘I understood the complexity within diversity’: preparation for partnership with families in early childhood settings

‘Partnership between parents and teachers’ is a taken-for-granted feature of the philosophy and practice of early childhood education. Yet, the literature suggests this rhetoric belies a more complex and problematic reality for teachers. Making connections with the families and communities they will serve may help teacher education students confront understandings of the realities of family lives and assist them to prepare for their professional responsibilities. Teacher education literature suggests that supported field experiences may assist student teachers to examine their beliefs and reflect on their practices with families. This paper reports on the experiences of student teachers who undertook a community placement in order to interact with children and families outside their normal range of teaching practice experience. Three themes of changes in student learning are discussed: (1) beliefs about partnerships; (2) notions of complexities within diversity; and (3) developing relationships with diverse families. The paper argues that the change in placement setting prompted student reflection in relation to these themes and shifts in beliefs, towards more authentic and complex understandings of partnership.     

美国幼儿教师培养的价值取向流变

自美国幼儿教师培养伊始,其价值取向经历了四种不同的价值取向流变:其一,"福禄培尔主义"技能取向,主张在"福禄培尔主义"影响下,幼儿教师培养需侧重技能;其二,科学主义实证取向,认为在科学主义思潮下,幼儿教师培养需建立在心理学基础上学习多种知识,并懂得实证研究方法 ;其三,人文主义人本取向,关注在人文主义主题下,幼儿教师培养之根本在于成人的过程,关怀幼儿教师个体价值;其四,二元价值观融合的专业取向,强调科学主义与人文主义融合趋势下,幼儿教师培养需符合专业要求,并能促进儿童的学习与发展。     

Young Children's Exposure to Mathematics: The Child Care Context

Four preschool teachers from two preschool settings were observed to explore the contribution of child care experiences on the development of young children's understanding of mathematics. Teachers were also interviewed regarding their attitudes and beliefs about the importance of early education, children's understanding of mathematics prior to formal schooling, and their role in facilitating mathematical knowledge. Although the programs and teachers differed in terms of program orientation, teaching style, student participation, and interactions with students, the programs did not differ in terms of the amount or content of mathematics presented to children. During the classroom observations that were conducted, very little mathematics was presented in any of the classrooms either directly or indirectly to students. In contrast, teachers said that they believed that mathematics was important and that they engaged in mathematical discussions in their classroom interactions. Discussion of the lack of math presented in the classroom and the discrepancy of teachers' beliefs and teaching behaviors are discussed.     

Contemporary perspectives of the child in action: an investigation into children’s connectedness with,and contribution to,the world around them

Childcare within Australia has undergone significant reform as a result of the implementation of the nationally mandated Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework [EYLF] (Department for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR]. 2009. Belonging, Being and Becoming. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations). The EYLF articulates contemporary perspectives of the child through its principles, practices and learning outcomes. Educators are required to promote these principles, practices and learning outcomes with children aged from birth to 5 years. This paper reports the findings from a research project that sought to investigate how educators applied their understanding of learning outcome two of the EYLF (children are connected with and contribute to their world). The focus of this research was educators working with children aged two to three years within childcare centres operating on school sites, in metropolitan Western Australian. The research design was qualitative and situated within the interpretivist paradigm. Observations were used as the method for gathering data and these were analysed through a process of coding. This paper presents the observational findings of educators’ practices within learning outcome two. Composite vignettes from the voice of the child are included to present the observational findings. In centralising the voice of the child, contemporary perspectives are made explicit.     

Parent Surveys for Teacher Evaluation

Parent or guardian perceptions play a specialized role in the evaluation of school teachers. Parents are important stakeholders in teacher success, they are in some instances partners in the teachers' work, parents have unique personal information about student learning, and they can report on the teacher duties to inform parents about the classroom and child progress. This study analyzed the responses of parents to 12 survey items concerning teacher performance in 201 classrooms. The surveys were used as part of an innovative teacher evaluation program in which teachers elected to include parent feedback as one objective data source for annual review. In this study three factors emerged as important concerns for parents: humane treatment of students, support for pupil learning, and effective communication and collaboration with parents. Recommendations for use of specific survey items can be based on the empirical results of this sampling. The data gathered by parent surveys define one dimension of quality which may vary in importance from one teacher to another.     

美国幼儿教师教育标准及启示

制定幼儿教师教育标准是幼儿教师教育的基础性工作。美国全国幼儿教育协会制定了幼儿职业准备标准,提出了“促进幼儿发展与学习”、“构建同家庭、社区的关系”、“对支持幼儿及其家庭的措施进行观察、建立档案、开展评估”、“开展教与学的活动的知识和能力”、“成为一名专业人士”等五项幼儿教师教育的核心标准,还提出了范围广泛的普通知识教育标准。为了适应我国幼儿教育发展的需要,我国应尽快制定专门的幼儿教师教育标准,美国幼儿教师教育标准为我们提供了镜鉴。     

‘Baby teachers’: how pre‐service early childhood students transform their conceptions of teaching and learning through an infant practicum

This qualitative study explores how working with infants changed pre‐service early childhood students’ thinking about important aspects of early childhood education. Through a qualitative analysis of four pre‐service early childhood students’ weekly dialogue journals during a required, one‐semester infant practicum, the authors discovered how the course provided a context for challenging students’ previously held notions about early childhood teaching and learning. Their findings showed that infants’ ways of being were a powerful influence on pre‐service early childhood students’ sense of themselves as teachers and emphasized the value of hands‐on experiences with infants as an important component of early childhood professional preparation.     

Discerning childcare quality: parents as potential informants of policy beyond regulation

In the context of market-based childcare provision, governments in many industrialised countries use regulation to ensure quality standards and practices. Limited research, however, has investigated parents' perceptions of childcare quality and whether what parents value as contributors to quality resonates with regulatory frameworks. This article critically uses the Bourdieuian notion of ‘taste’ to explore the perspectives of parent users of high-quality childcare in Australia. Findings from six case studies show that irrespective of educational attainment, parents conceptualise ‘quality’ in childcare in ways that are consistent with, but also extend beyond, regulation. Parents identified factors such as engagement with the local community, not-for-profit community-based provision, and stability of committed staff who experience high job satisfaction as important to the provision of quality childcare. Identification of these factors highlights regulation as a potential discursive strategy that neutralises demand for other complementary but more contentious policy approaches.     

论早期教育中的游戏与教学

早期教育领域一直存在两种不同的游戏取向,一种是文化传播或文化定位取向,一种是生成式或响应式取向。在早期教育领域,儿童自由与教师掌控之间的矛盾一直难以解决。教师可以采用综合教学法,增加教师与儿童共同建构知识的可能性。     

Exploring the Disciplined Nature of Self-Study Research in Teacher Education

This article reports a study of literacy instruction in our own elementary preservice program. It examines the views and practices of both the preservice faculty who teach literacy and a sample of graduates of the program during their first three years of teaching. The new teachers reported learning many things from their preservice program, including the importance of engaging learners, strategies for developing an inclusive class community, the names of high-quality works of children's literature, and a variety of general teaching strategies. However, there were gaps between what was taught and what the new teachers wanted to learn. The new teachers struggled with program planning, desired more direct instruction on developing a literacy program, and wanted closer links between theory and practice. The teacher educators tried to cover so much material that the new teachers were unable to develop a focused, coherent pedagogy. The authors describe how they are revising their courses in light of these findings, modifying their approach to preservice instruction, and giving priority to certain key aspects of teaching.