Learning areas for holistic education: kindergarten teachers’ curriculum priorities, professional development needs, and beliefs

Alfredo Bautista,David Múñez,Rebecca Bull,Siew-Chin Ng

doi:10.1186/s40723-016-0024-4

Alfredo Bautista, David Múñez + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-016-0024-4

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Abstract

Contemporary kindergarten curriculum frameworks emphasize the importance of promoting children’s holistic development, thereby focusing on both academic and non-academic learning areas. This exploratory study was conducted with a sample of 123 in-service kindergarten teachers in Singapore. The goals were to investigate the following: (1) how teachers prioritized the importance of the various learning areas of the ‘Nurturing Early Learners’ curriculum framework; (2) teachers’ professional development (PD) needs regarding these learning areas; and (3) the extent to which teachers with different beliefs about children and how they learn differed in their prioritizations and PD needs. Data were collected through an online questionnaire and analyzed using non-parametric techniques. Results indicated that (1) academic and non-academic areas were found to be intertwined in teachers’ priority rankings, although Social and Emotional Development was the top learning area for most teachers; (2) teachers reported high PD needs in all learning areas, especially in Discovery of the World and Aesthetics and Creative Expression; and (3) teachers holding more traditional beliefs tended to prioritize academic areas. No differences were found when comparing teachers’ responses according to their level of education, age, and years of teaching experience. We discuss the findings in light of prior literature, the implications and limitations of the study, and lines for further research.

Highlights

The quality of early childhood education (ECE) has been predominantly defined and measured in terms of two interlinked types of factors: structural factors and process factors (Bertram et al 2016; Ishimine et al 2010)
We investigate the following: (1) how kindergarten teachers prioritize the importance of the various learning areas of the Nurturing Early Learners’ (NEL) framework; (2) teachers’ professional development (PD) needs regarding these learning areas; and (3) the extent to which teachers with different beliefs about children and how they learn differed in their prioritizations and PD needs
Note that the non-parametric correlation analyses conducted to explore the associations between the demographic variables and the three constructs under examination did not reveal any statistically significant relationships

Summary

Introduction

The quality of early childhood education (ECE) has been predominantly defined and measured in terms of two interlinked types of factors: structural factors (e.g., class size, teacher-child ratio, physical environment, teachers’ qualifications) and process factors (e.g., quality of teacher-child interaction, nature of center leadership) (Bertram et al 2016; Ishimine et al 2010). Scholars have emphasized the need to take into consideration a third set of factors that relate to the notion of orientational quality (Wall et al 2015) Such factors include ECE practitioners’ educational and curricular priorities, their learning goals and professional development (PD) needs, the understanding of their own professional roles, as well as their educational beliefs and values (Anders 2015). Teachers’ own views on the curriculum or their beliefs about children and how they learn may have strong influence over the quality of instructional practices and teacher–child interaction (Pianta 2016) This exploratory study analyzes several dimensions of orientational quality with a sample of kindergarten teachers in Singapore. We compare teachers’ responses according to their level of education, age, and years of teaching experience

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