Attitudes of Early Childhood Teachers Toward Family and Community Involvement

This investigation examined early childhood teachers' attitudes towards families and their involvement with schools, and specific variables that influence these attitudes. Teachers' perspectives about school and family partnerships were assessed using the School and Family Partnerships: Questionnaires for Teachers and Parents in the Elementary and Middle Grades (Epstein & Salinas, 1993). This survey was administered to 92 elementary school teachers in Follow Through classrooms in the southeastern and pacific northwestern United States. Results indicated that teachers' attitudes about family and community involvement were highly positive. Additionally, African American teachers had a more positive attitude than European American teachers. Furthermore, teachers who taught large proportions of low ability students had less positive views of family strengths.     

Helping Student Teachers Understand Conflict among Preschool Children

A growing number of early childhood teacher educators are attempting to apply principles of good early childhood teaching to the preparation and professional development of adults. Rogers and Sluus (1996), for example, call for the application of developmentally appropriate practices to the teaching of adults. Hamilton and Hitz (1996) applied principles of constructivism to an early childhood teacher education course they co-taught and assessed the effects on student beliefs.     

How Early Childhood Teachers Perceive the Educational Needs of Military Dependent Children

Military dependent children remain a largely unexplored subject, particularly in early childhood education. In an effort to fill the gap in the current literature, this research study focuses on how early childhood teachers perceive the educational needs of military dependent children. Previous research in the areas of geographic mobility, parental separation, and socioemotional needs are reviewed and used as a platform for this study. The study includes a survey developed by the researcher used in conjunction with Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation—Checklist to further examine the needs of these children from the perceptions of their teachers. The results of the study demonstrate that while early childhood teachers do not perceive a significant difference between military and nonmilitary dependent children in the socioemotional domains of prosocial behavior, concentration, and disruptive behavior, they do believe there is a difference related to stability. Additionally, early childhood teachers noted a negative socioemotional and academic impact related to parental separation and a negative academic impact related to geographic mobility. Teachers’ responses indicated mixed beliefs about the social impact of frequent relocations.     

师范生教师职业态度及其差异比较

本研究被试为普通师范院校大学生675名。自编“师范生教师职业态度”问卷，问卷由职业认知、职业声望、职业情感、职业行为倾向、职业吸引五个因素组成，共28个题。结果显示：师范生教师职业态度均分属于中等偏上水平，未达积极水平。男生与女生在职业声望因素上有显著差异，后者高于前者。来自农村与城市的学生在职业声望、职业情感、职业行为倾向上有显著差异，前者高于后者。文理科、不同地区的师范生教师职业态度无差异。并针对调查结果，提出提高师范生教师职业态度方法。     

An Examination of Mathematics Professional Development Opportunities in Early Childhood Settings

This study investigates how and to what extent preservice and inservice early childhood educators are being prepared to develop mathematics skills and processes in young children, age birth to five, in one southeastern state in the United States. Utilizing a multi-phase mixed methods study and a follow-up survey central to the research question, findings from this study indicate that professional development in mathematics is inadequate. Few of the professional development opportunities focus on specific mathematical content areas or address the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. In addition, the majority of the professional development opportunities are short, hourly sessions with little to no follow-up. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Early Childhood Teachers Finding Voice among Peers: A Reflection on Practice

This reflective narrative explores the voices of two participants in the Early Childhood Professional Mentoring Group (ECPMG), created in response to our graduates’ concerns about their lack of support as they entered the field of inclusive early childhood education. Building on their existing relationships with each other, and with us as their former instructors, the group fostered a community in which our graduates could engage in reciprocal peer support and group problem solving, developing their skills as educators, professionals, and reflective change agents. This model contrasts with other forms of professional development that follow a set agenda facilitated by an assigned leader. The open structure and lack of hierarchy in the group invited spontaneous discussions of daily practices and challenges, and allowed different styles of expression to emerge. Our reflective narrative on our work with the ECPMG highlights the power of peers in providing induction and mentoring support, and the value to teacher educators of listening to multiple voices in hearing new teachers’ stories. We suggest that this type of mentoring be considered as an essential element of early childhood teacher education.     

孔子的教师观及其现代价值

本文从“温故而知新,可以为师矣”、“温而厉,威而不猛,恭而安”、“爱之,能勿劳乎?忠焉,能勿诲乎”、“君子不器”等四个方面探讨了孔子的教师观及其现代价值,正确认识孔子的这些教师观,对当今教育有很好的借鉴意义。     

High School Teachers’ Attitudes towards the School Library

One hundred and eighty‐nine Israeli high school teachers filled in questionnaires in which they were asked about their philosophy of education and their attitudes toward and the use of their school library. When asked about their philosophy of education many answers reflected the progressive approach, although most of them gave undecisive answers. When asked about their practical work different answers were given. Only 26% of the teachers regularly give their students individual assignments, and only 14% see the contribution of the library to the learning process as very important. There were significant differences among the different departments’ teachers. More social sciences and humanities teachers view the library as an important part of the educational process and use it than the science teachers. The smallest use is made by languages, mathematics, and technical and vocational teachers.     

An Examination of the Sibling Training Hypothesis for Disruptive Behavior in Early Childhood

Sibling training for disruptive behavior (one sibling teaching another disruptive behavior) is examined during early childhood. We used a conservative, recently developed, statistical model to identify sibling training. Sibling training was operationalized as the cross‐lagged association between earlier child behavior and later sibling behavior, and differentiated from other reasons that contribute to sibling similarity. A three‐wave longitudinal study tracked 916 children (M_age = 3.46, SD = 2.23) in 397 families using multi‐informant data. Evidence for sibling training was found. Earlier younger siblings’ disruptive behavior predicted later lower levels of older siblings’ disruptive behavior. Thus, the sibling training found in early childhood was producing greater dissimilarity, rather than similarity, on disruptive behavior.     

Growing Early Childhood Education Teachers in Rural Areas

Currently in South Africa, there are over 20 000 underqualified Grade R teachers who are enlisted into service to ensure that Grade R teaching can continue. The aim of the study reported on was to investigate the challenges and needs faced by underqualified teachers in order to promote the professional development of teachers teaching in rural areas. Phenomenology was used as the research design. By means of a qualitative research approach, purposeful sampling selected only underqualified early childhood education (ECE) teachers teaching in rural schools for more than five years or more in three provinces, as well as their school principals. The findings revealed the following needs and challenges: the need for resources; poor infrastructure; lack of parental involvement; overcrowded classrooms; the need for in-service training; needs of the rural communities; and support from an open distance learning (ODL) institution.     

Evaluative Conditioning and the Development of Attitudes in Early Childhood

Many attitudes are acquired in early childhood. However, due to a lack of experimental research, little is known about the processes of how they are acquired. Two experiments were therefore conducted with 153 German kindergarten children aged 3–6 years that provide first evidence for childhood attitude formation in terms of evaluative conditioning. Specifically, it was found that children preferred novel stimuli previously paired with liked stimuli over novel stimuli previously paired with disliked stimuli. This effect occurred independently of age, generalized toward similar novel stimuli, and did not depend on children's recollection of how stimuli were paired. The findings are discussed in terms of the processes underlying childhood attitude formation, and implications for related research areas are highlighted.     

美国学前教育师资培养的方式、特点及其启示

在学前教育受到政府高度重视的背景下,美国学前教育教师培养已形成一个起点高、体制完备、操作性强的有机体系,重视职前培养、新教师入职培训与在职教师专业发展培训的一体化,具有以下突出特点:政府立法确保学前教育师资培训的实施,并给予资金保障;采用专业权威团体研发的标准化评估体系保证学前教育师资培训质量;将教师培训与教师资格认证制度相结合,促使幼儿教师不断追求卓越与优秀;职前培训、入职培训与在职培训的密切联系规划了幼儿教师的专业成长生涯.在实际实施中,美国学前教育师资培养体系也存在一些不足,如评价标准与资格认证制度的推行存在一定难度;所采用的标准化评估体系也并非完美无缺;专业发展培训的实效不是很令人满意.立足我国国情,我们还是可以从美国学前教育师资培养中学到以下宝贵经验:应尽快制定我国幼儿教师教育标准,设立以实践为目标,以教学为核心的评价体系和考核制度,提高幼教师资整体质量,促进幼儿教育职业的专业化;加强师范院校与幼教机构的联系,实现教育理论与实践的融合,确保学前教师的专业质量;大力培养高级幼儿教育导师,建立健全覆盖所有在职幼儿教师的专业发展培训体系.     

Value Preferences of Teachers and their Attitudes towards Individuals with Disabilities

The article presents results of a study on the correlation between value preferences and attitudes towards individuals with a disability. Five hundred and eighty respondents took part in the research, among them 300 special needs teachers (SNT) and 280 general teachers (GT). Attitudes towards Individuals with a Disability Scale and Brzozowski’s Scheler Value Scale were used in the research. Significant correlations (Pearson’s r) between attitudes towards individuals with a disability and value preference were found only in the group of SNT and solely in terms of vital values. Canonical analysis showed significant complex correlations between value preferences and attitudes towards individuals with disability in SNT. Preference for the lower values and the rejection of the higher values correlate with ambivalence and with negative attitudes towards individuals with a disability. In the case of GT, the canonical variable is not statistically significant.     

Early Childhood Education in Societal Context: Teachers in Three Countries Speak About Early Childhood Education

Building on the cross-cultural patterns and systems research as well as social constructivism, in-depth interviews were conducted with key informant early childhood teachers in three regions with similar characteristics in Sweden, Russia, and in the United States. Inductive analyses revealed differences in responses among Swedish, Russian and American informants related to the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels of societal system. United States teacher informants had a great number of separate topic comments and distributed them more evenly across all levels than did Russian and Swedish teacher informants who had more emphasis at the meso level. United States and Russian teacher informants discussed the lack of societal support for young children and their families, while Swedish teacher informants seemed to almost take this support for ranted. United States teacher informants suggested that early childhood programs were important in developing support networks among parents, while Russian teacher informants often gave information to parents and Swedish teachers spoke about mutually sharing information. United States teacher informants desired both strict rules with strong academic content and extension of the child's initiations through play; they emphasized activities and materials. Swedish teachers discussed a child- centered approach to social learning and creativity and desired to be with children rather than do activities with them. Russian teacher informants emphasized the importance of obedience, aesthetic education, and preparation for school and the labor of the larger society. These study outcomes deepen understanding about the multidemensional relationships between early childhood programs and societal contexts in which they are embedded, and they suggest alternative approaches to working with young children and their families.