Against the Unchallenged Discourse of Homelessness: Examining the Views of Early Childhood Preservice Teachers

Abstract

Because of the link between teacher training and higher‐quality classroom practice, early childhood researchers and professional organizations have placed an increasing emphasis on all early childhood teachers—including those in early care and education (ECE) settings—obtaining a minimum of a Bachelor's degree as part of their professional development. Given the differing licensure requirements for ECE teachers, the variety of settings early childhood teachers work in, and the creativity needed to respond to the changing roles teachers play in those settings, however, this paper offers an additional perspective that is sometimes left out of the discussion regarding what teachers need: that of the early childhood practitioner. Using conversations with both a certified, public school teacher and a non‐certified teacher in a private ECE setting in New Jersey, this article reports on these teachers’ professional development experiences, as well as the implications of their experiences for future considerations of what teachers need in order to enhance their growth as educators.     

Technology and Early Childhood Education: A Technology Integration Professional Development Model for Practicing Teachers

Despite the promise of technology in education, many practicing teachers are faced with multiple challenges of effectively integrating technology into their classroom instruction. Additionally, teachers who are successful incorporating educational technology into their instruction recognize that although technology tools have the potential to help children, they are not ends in themselves. This article describes a Summer Institute project that the authors facilitated in a medium sized midwest public university. The summer workshop afforded participating early childhood education teachers exciting opportunities to interact with various instructional tools and technology applications. Further, the practicing teachers explored various strategies to integrate specific technology tools into their lessons in a manner consistent with constructivist pedagogy. This article is intended to stimulate reflections on the need to adopt a suitable technology integration professional development model in early childhood education classrooms to support young learners.     

教育机构在幼教人才培养方面的调查研究——以南阳市幼儿园为例

新时期的社会发展对教育提出了更高的要求,幼儿教育改革和新纲要实施的深入,都对幼儿教师的教育提出了新的挑战,而幼儿教师的职前培养对教师的专业化发展和教育水平的提高发挥着重要的影响作用。因此,通过对在职教师教育现状进行调查和分析,总结在职幼儿教师在职业态度、专业能力、专业观念、专业知识、专业技能和研究能力等方面的情况,可以明确不同类型幼儿教师培养机构在对幼儿园所需人才教师培养方面的优势和不足,为各层次幼儿教师的培养提供一定的参考依据,在制定新的培养方案时更加有的放矢,更加具有针对性和实效性。     

Sigrun Gudmundsdottir’s contributions as a signpost to narrative research: a review of www.svt.ntnu.no/ped/sigrun/

Although action-research is a well-known research methodology in the field of education, in the case of Greece there are few actions-researches carried out by early childhood teachers. The absence of action-research in early childhood education settings is related to the way many early childhood teachers shape their professional role as well as the curriculum of their initial education and in-service training. This paper describes the case study of three Greek early childhood teachers who do action-research for the first time. According to the three teachers, fear of educational research, the children’s age, time pressure, parents’ demands, and colleagues’ reactions are among the main obstacles in doing action-research in early childhood education.     

我国幼儿教师专业化发展探论

文章通过对当前幼儿教师专业化发展的制度操作、实践操作、观念意识三个制约层面的分析,提出"健全幼儿教育政策法规;加大国家对幼儿教师教育的投入,提升幼儿教师生存质量;采用‘开放型’幼儿教师培养、培训模式;去除幼儿教师在思想观念上的模糊认识"四大应对策略。     

以教育叙事研究为切点促进幼儿教师专业发展

幼儿教师专业发展是其教育理论知识与教学实践相结合,不断内化为个体理论知识和实践知识的教育机智的过程。教育叙事研究来自实践,服务于实践,是幼儿教师成为学习者和研究者,是促进幼儿教师专业发展的有效方式和手段。     

Defining Family-centered Early Education: Beliefs of Public School,Child Care,and Head Start Teachers

Reform efforts in early childhood education include recommendations to adopt more family-centered approaches to practice, including greater family support functions. In this study the beliefs of 280 early childhood teachers regarding aspects of family-centered programming were assessed using the written Family Involvement Survey (FIS). Teacher beliefs were compared across public school, child care, and Head Start settings. Results revealed that public school early childhood teachers reported significantly less positive beliefs about parents' childrearing interests and abilities, along with lower self-perceived competence in relating to families, than either child care or Head Start teachers. As compared to Head Start teachers, both public school and child care teachers reported significantly more conflict about providing support services to families through their early education programs. These results were interpreted, in part, as evidence of the need for more in-depth knowledge about the separate professional cultures that characterize various sectors of the early education field.     

Aspects of the professional identity of preschool teachers in Greece: investigating the role of teacher education and professional experience

In this paper, we present the results of a research programme we developed to investigate the professional identity of preschool education teachers in Greece. Our aim was to investigate parameters affecting not only the creation but also the reform of professional identity and to highlight potential differences in terms of professional identity. Contemporary approaches to professional identity – developed since the 80s – raise issues related primarily to participatory processes, reflection, autonomy and emancipation. Teachers’ professional identity is gradually developed through an ongoing process of three interrelated and complementary steps: (a) pre-service teacher education, (b) vocational integration and (c) exercise of professional duties and in-service training. We interviewed 20 teachers on their professional identity. We chose two categories of teachers based on two criteria: (a) their studies, and (b) their professional experience in the field. Tentative findings showed that professional experience was more important than studies in the construction of their professional identity. Professional identity also relates to both their professional experience and the dominant beliefs about early childhood education.     

幼儿教师专业发展的途径与方法研究

对幼儿教师专业发展现状进行调查和分析,以期为幼儿教师教育发展提供最基本的理论依据,更好地促进幼儿教师的专业发展。在幼儿教师专业发展中存在很多问题：师资队伍建设没有规划,专业配置不合理;学历达标率较高但专业程度不够扎实;教育教学教研问题突出;家园合作还停留于表浅水平;园长管理水平不够成熟。笔者提出幼儿教师专业发展的对策：制定师资队伍建设规划,建立和完善幼儿教师任用制度;改革师范院校幼师教育,确保幼师生源质量;加强教师自主专业发展,提高教育教学教研能力;加大宣传力度,推进家园合作;发挥终身学习方式,翻新自身专业素养;提升幼儿园园长的管理理念,为教师创造支持性发展平台;加强与其它教师培训机构的联系,开展多渠道的培训。     

Toward a Model for Early Childhood Environmental Education: Foregrounding,Developing, and Connecting Knowledge Through Play-Based Learning

Environmental education represents a growing area of interest in early childhood education, especially since the inclusion of environmental principles and practices in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. Traditionally, these two fields of education have been characterized by diverse pedagogical emphases. This article considers how teachers in particular see different types of pedagogical play, such as open-ended play, modeled play, and purposefully framed play as providing opportunities for young children and teachers to develop knowledge through experiences about environmental education in early childhood settings. As a result of findings based on our qualitative research study involving early childhood teachers and children, an emerging model for thinking about environmental education in early childhood is proposed as a way of integrating these pedagogical emphases traditionally associated with environmental and early childhood education. Avenues for future research associated with this model are also identified.     

From university to working life: an analysis of field-based studies in early childhood teacher education and recently graduated kindergarten teachers’ transition to work

The aim of this article was to shed light on problematic issues related to the practical element in early childhood teacher education. We approach these questions mainly through scrutinizing and interpreting this part of kindergarten teachers’ university education in Finland. We then expand our analysis to include the broader issues of job commitment and the role of mentoring programmes among newly qualified kindergarten teachers. With the ‘kindergarten teacher as researcher’ as the chosen teacher model, our findings indicate that this aim can only be realistically achieved if all stages of the teacher education process are effectively linked. Key elements begin with the entry requirements for students and include productively connecting practicum experiences with on-campus courses, establishing a ‘double supervision model’, and cooperating with a stable network of early childhood centres for field studies. A further finding is that, despite a successfully completed professional education, the induction phase in the workplace can be a vulnerable time for novice teachers, suggesting an urgent need for mentoring programmes.     

美国幼儿教师专业准备标准述评

制定和实施幼儿教师专业准备标准是促进幼儿教师专业发展的重要策略,也是提高幼儿教师教育质量的基础性工作。美国幼儿教师专业准备标准要求教师能够促进幼儿的发展和学习;能够构建与家庭和社区的良好关系;能够观察、记录和评价,以支持幼儿和家庭的发展;能够运用适宜、有效的方法联系儿童和家庭;能够运用内容知识建构有意义的课程,并成为一名专业者。美国幼儿教师专业准备标准的编制具有民主性和发展性的特点,其内容具有全面性和时代性的特点,其用途具有广泛性和实用性的特点。     

When We Inquire Into Our Own Practice: An Early Childhood Teacher Research Group

Every day, early childhood teachers confront issues, problems, and concerns in their classrooms. Sometimes they do nothing. Sometimes they use trial and error. Sometimes they go to a workshop or read an article. We have found a way to intentionally and systematically research and answer our own questions and to enrich our own professional development through teacher research. Teacher research provides early childhood educators with a strategy that supports reflective thinking and practice. This article describes the experience of a small group of early childhood teacher researchers. How is it different from other required assessments? How is it different from other professional development?     

How teachers and researchers read academic articles

This study looks at language teachers’ and language researchers’ expectations and evaluations of two kinds of journal articles, either researcher-oriented or teacher-oriented. The results show that teachers and academics use different ways of validating information in journal articles and use the information contained in them in distinctly different ways. Teachers also showed a preference for articles written in a clear, succinct, and personal style. Gee's theory of Discourses is used to analyze the results and discuss possible ramifications for teacher education and the practice of publishing research articles.     

Fostering Connections to Nature — Strategies for Community College Early Childhood Teachers

ABSTRACT

How can early childhood teacher educators at the community college level create opportunities for their students to explore and relate to the natural world? This article discusses three learning opportunities in an early childhood associate-degree program that foster connections between preservice and inservice early childhood teachers and nature education — the Goldsworthy project, a local habitat course, and an animal study project in a curriculum course. Each learning opportunity helped teachers develop effective teaching strategies for engaging children with nature education and also a personal and professional disposition toward valuing nature education as future teachers.     

Assessing Thai early childhood teachers' knowledge of inclusive education

An ever-increasing number of children with and without disabilities are attending early childhood programmes and learning together. Early childhood inclusion considers all children with and without disabilities, and their families as full members of the early childhood community. Although many early childhood teachers accept the educational rights of children with disabilities and the core principle of inclusion – that early childhood learning programmes should provide for the needs of all the children in their centres, regardless of ability and disability, there remain significant barriers in terms of teacher professional knowledge in achieving these goals. In this article, we report a study on Thai preschool teachers' knowledge of inclusive early childhood education. Quantitative data obtained through a questionnaire were supplemented by teacher interviews. Both the quantitative and qualitative data focused on the teachers' assessment of their professional knowledge. Findings from this study can inform effective professional development programmes in preparing early childhood teachers for successful inclusive practices.