Mindfulness, psychological resilience, and well-being as predictors of professional identity among early childhood teachers.

In the Republic of Croatia, there is not a single overarching professional association for early childhood education (ECE) teachers. Instead, six regional ECE teachers’ associations are actively operating. Recognizing the shared responsibility for upholding professionalism, ECE teachers are proactively seeking a nurturing environment that fosters their professional growth and aligns with their practical requirements. This research was conducted with a sample of 206 ECE teachers in the Republic of Croatia and aimed to explore the role of professional ECE teachers’ associations in shaping the professional identity of ECE teachers within the country. To achieve this objective, a survey questionnaire was designed to assess motivation, self-perception, self-efficacy and attitudes of ECE teachers toward educational tasks and ECE teachers’ professional associations. The findings reveal that both education level and membership in professional associations are predictive factors influencing respondents’ perception of their profession and their professional identity.

ObjectiveTo determine whether psychological resilience and achievement motivation are significant mediators in the relationship between creative anxiety and professional identity among master’s nursing students.MethodsA questionnaire survey was conducted with 366 master’s nursing students from four universities in Shaanxi Province. The survey used the General Information Questionnaire, Creative Anxiety Scale, Professional Identity Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, and Achievement Motivation Scale. Pearson’s r was used to examine the relationships among the variables, and a structural equation model (SEM) was employed to clarify the mediating effects.ResultsIn this study, the mean scores of creative anxiety, professional identity, psychological resilience, and achievement motivation among 366 master’s nursing students were (12.92 ± 3.58), (48.47 ± 12.76), (28.32 ± 7.71), and (6.23 ± 1.83), respectively. Creative anxiety showed significant negative correlations with professional identity (r = − 0.668, P < 0.001), psychological resilience (r = − 0.537, P < 0.001), and achievement motivation (r = − 0.503, P < 0.001). Conversely, professional identity demonstrated positive correlations with both psychological resilience (r = 0.713, P < 0.001) and achievement motivation (r = 0.663, P < 0.001). Mediation analysis revealed that the total effect of creative anxiety on professional identity (β = −0.458) comprised a direct effect (β = −0.124) and an indirect effect mediated through psychological resilience and achievement motivation (β = −0.334). A significant serial mediation effect was observed (β = −0.092), with psychological resilience and achievement motivation serving as sequential mediators between creative anxiety and professional identity. This serial mediation accounted for 8.97% of the total effect, with a 95% confidence interval of (− 0.211 ~ − 0.009).ConclusionThere is a multiple mediation effect among creative anxiety, professional identity, psychological resilience, and achievement motivation among master’s nursing students. Creative anxiety is closely related to professional identity. Therefore, it is recommended that university administrators focus on enhancing the psychological resilience and achievement motivation of master’s nursing students to reduce their creative anxiety and improve their professional identity.Clinical trial numberNot applicable.

The last decade has been marked by radical curriculum and pedagogical reforms in Vietnamese early childhood education (ECE). In essence, the reforms are paradigm shifts from teacher-centred to child-centred pedagogy, and from fragmented subject-based to a holistic integrated curriculum. Studies (Phan, 2005; Le, 2009, Nguyen, 2009) suggest that ECE teachers are struggling to enact the shifts. One of the reasons is speculated as the mismatch between what early childhood teacher education (ECTE) can offer and what new ECE practice needs. Thus, this study explores how Vietnamese ECTE perceives its professional situation - the challenges and opportunities the profession may face in response to the demands of changing ECE practice. This study employs dialectics and cultural-historical theory (Marx &amp; Engels, 1998; Ratner, 2006, Ellis, Edwards, &amp; Smagorinsky, 2010) as the theoretical tools to explain the current professional situation of Vietnamese ECTE, and the way participants of this study perceive it. In this case study, Vietnamese ECTE’s perspectives on its professional situation are gained from semi-structured, in-depth interviews with three Deans and nine lecturers at three ECTE faculties. Their perspectives are incorporated with the viewpoints of other ECTE stakeholders, including an ECE policy maker, two employers (kindergarten principals) and four ECE teachers (ECTE graduates). This study indicates that Vietnamese ECTE is now in a crisis, characterized by three threads of enormous challenges, relating key professional aspects. The first thread of challenges is ECTE’s difficulties in professional conceptualization - in understanding the new ECE philosophies promoted by the ECE reforms, and subsequently, re-conceptualizing its professional beliefs and practice in response to changing ECE practice. The second thread of challenges is that ECTE’s legacy (in terms of curriculum, pedagogy, and management), established within Vietnamese Confucian traditions and Soviet ethos and relatively unchanged up to now, strongly contradicts with the rapidly changing demands of ECE practice. The third thread of challenges is born out of intensive interaction between conservative ECTE and the fast changing Vietnamese contemporary socio-economic context. Vietnam’s shift to a market economy and responding higher education policies to the changing context have intensified ECTE’s persistent problems and brought in new conflicts. Together, the three threads of challenges indicate tense contradictions between the need to meet the increased demands of changing ECE practice and ECTE’s current capability; between ECTE’s responsibilities and conditions offered to the profession. Nevertheless, this study suggests that the crisis, recognized by the majority of participants, provides enormous opportunities for ECTE to move forward if the profession manages to resolve the contradictions. Resolving the contradictions is expected to be very challenging. Dealing with the new ECE practice means Vietnamese ECTE must, firstly, reconcile the sharp conflict between new ECE philosophies and the cultural-historical legacy deeply embedded in ECTE’s thinking and practice. Secondly, ECTE needs more efficient higher education policies to address its persistent professional problems and resolve competing influences from the fast changing societal context.

To explore the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between general self-efficacy and professional identity of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional design was employed. A total of 982 nurses from four Grade III, class A hospitals in Shandong Province were investigated using general information questionnaire, nurses’ professional identity rating scale, general self-efficacy scale (GSES), and Connor-Davidson flexibility scale (CD-RISC). SPSS22.0 and Amos21.0 were used for data analysis and structural equation modeling. p % counseling The nurses had a score of （27.038±5.933） for general self-efficacy score, 38.290±6.234 for psychological resilience, and （114.99±16.209） for professional identity. A positive correlation between general self-efficacy, professional identity, and psychological resilience (<0.01) was found. The SEM analysis shows that psychological resilience plays a mediating role between general self-efficacy and professional identity. The ratio of the effect is 75.155. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the levels of general self-efficacy and professional identity of nurses was medium, while psychological resilience was high. Nurses’ general self-efficacy can affect their professional identity through psychological resilience. During the pandemic, the psychological status of nurses should not be ignored. Nursing managers should fully utilize of group and cognitive therapy based on mindfulness to improve nurses’ psychological resilience and general self-efficacy, and to promote nurses’ professional identity, so as to ensure the lower turnover rate.

THIS PAPER EXPLORES THE ideas of teacher educator Lillian de Lissa, who established the Kindergarten Training College in Adelaide in 1907 and spent the following 40 years in early childhood teacher education in Australia and the United Kingdom. I argue that de Lissa's enduring concern was the construction of early childhood teachers' professional identities. To this end, the curriculum, teaching methods and culture of the training colleges focused on the ‘all round development’ of the pre-service teacher— that is her head, heart and hand. These historical understandings are used to discuss early childhood teachers' professional identities in contemporary times.

This study reports on a longitudinal narrative case study of Lin, a tertiary level EFL teacher in China, exploring how she exercised her agency and achieved sustainable professional identity development in different phases of her career. Based on narrative data primarily from three rounds of semi-structured interviews and other sources of data, and drawing on the positioning theory, this research was designed to uncover the complex relationships between agency and professional identity transformation in an English teacher’s sustainable professional development trajectory. The analysis of Lin’s narratives was organised into three stages: the initial stage of negotiating exploited and marginalised teacher identities, then becoming a student again, and, finally, reconstructing professional teacher and researcher identities. The findings suggest the significant role of consistent individual agency in an EFL teacher’s negotiation and reconstruction of professional identities. The results also support the existing literature in revealing that identity is not a static or fixed notion, but rather a dynamic and ongoing process that is affected by a range of internal and external factors. The research also shows the vital role of teachers’ emotions and emotion regulation in the agency enactment and identity development. This study has important implications for language teacher agency and identity research. In particular, it may shed light on language teachers’ sustainable professional development, which is crucial in ensuring the pursuit of sustainable development in education and many other sustainable development goals.

This article explores how beginner early childhood education (ECE) teachers from migrant backgrounds in Aotearoa New Zealand understand and enact children’s rights. Drawing on narrative inquiry with twelve newly qualified teachers, the study examines how participants’ culturally shaped “images of the child” influence their pedagogical choices and professional identities. Findings highlight the tensions between culturally familiar models of childhood, often grounded in authoritarian or protectionist traditions, and the participatory rights-based ethos embedded in Te Whāriki and the United National Convention on the Rights of the Child. Three themes emerged: the impact of cultural and political contexts on teachers’ understandings of children’s rights, shifts from control-oriented to agency-focused disciplinary practices, and recognition of children as individual rights holders. By foregrounding the voices of migrant teachers, the article contributes to wider conversations about diversity and the enactment of children’s rights in ECE.

The purpose of this narrative study was to examine early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers' narratives of their professional identity. The aim was to use six narrative interviews to find out how ECEC teachers narrate their professional identity and which experiences are relevant in shaping their professional identity. In the study, identity is seen as a social construction and a narratively structured process that takes shape throughout life. As a result of the narrative analysis, three types of stories describing teachers' professional identity emerged: Biographical stories, Value stories and Interaction stories. Based on the findings, the core value of acting in the best interests of the child is an integral part of ECEC teachers' professional identity, while scarce organizational resources and interactional conflicts challenge ECEC teachers' professional identity. Professional agency, that is, the opportunity to act in accordance with professional ethics and one's values in collaboration with a multiprofessional team and colleagues, plays an important role.

Professional identity has been suggested to be decisive for efficiency and high work quality among the workforces. Central in early childhood teacher education is the development of students to become professional actors in a workplace setting upon graduation, thus developing a professional identity. However, the field lacks knowledge about the factors that are associated with professional identity among early childhood teacher students. Thereby, the aim of this study was to investigate the predictive value of learning climate (performance climate and mastery climate) in interaction with professors and academic self-efficacy on professional identity. The study adopted a quantitative cross-sectional approach, whereby data were collected by questionnaire. A total of 190 (first- and second-years students) attending a three-year bachelor’s degree in early childhood teacher education completed the questionnaire. The results show that learning climate and academic self-efficacy are significantly associated with professional identity among early childhood teacher students, indicating the importance of facilitating a learning environment that promotes students’ academic self-efficacy, mastery, and intellectual development. These findings indicate the importance of facilitating an environment that promotes students’ academic self-efficacy, intellectual development, and a mastery-oriented climate, in addition to strengthening the connection and interaction between students and professors.

Recent studies have indicated that early childhood education (ECE) teachers’ responsibilities have expanded to include leadership functions. In school contexts the phenomenon is called teacher leadership and the same concept has recently been adopted in ECE research literature. Additionally, there are other concepts and perspectives connected to leadership performed by ECE teachers. This literature review aimed to explore the conceptualization, characteristics, and enactment of leadership performed by ECE teachers. Leadership that ECE teachers perform in their work is characterized as a multidimensional and contextual phenomenon, and as intentional influencing, which is based on collaboration and distribution. The focus is on pedagogical leadership, although teacher leadership is a broader concept, which can also include administrative tasks. The findings of the review suggest investigating teacher leadership more within the distributed leadership perspective by focusing on ECE teachers’ essential role in enhancing other actors’ participation in leadership. The literature review reflects the need to clarify the conceptualization of ECE teacher leadership for developing teacher leadership research, especially in an ECE context.

Despite large‐scale studies demonstrating the benefits of teacher interaction to support young children's learning, intentional teaching (IT) in early childhood education (ECE) remains a contested concept. Given the different perspectives associated with IT, the purpose of this study was to undertake a scoping review of the literature focused on IT in ECE. A systematic approach was adopted to map the evidence to identify key concepts, theories, sources and knowledge gaps. Such a review has the potential to assist researchers, practitioners and policy makers to make informed decisions about the different approaches to IT. The 101 items reviewed were selected according to the following criteria: investigated IT in some way; focused on learners aged birth to 8 years; made a conceptual contribution to understanding IT in ECE; full text availability, and published in English between 2010 and 2019, inclusive. The search incorporated a range of items including peer‐reviewed journal articles, research reports, professional journals, an unpublished thesis and books. Results foregrounded the difficulties involved in reconciling IT and child‐led learning through play, and that these difficulties were most fiercely experienced in the 3–5 age group. An overarching conclusion was that theoretical differences influenced how learning was understood, and determined which learning outcomes were articulated and measured. This review suggests that decisions about IT in ECE are dependent on how the purposes of ECE are defined in and through policy. Context and implication Rationale for this study: There appear to have been no systematic reviews of the concept of intentional teaching (IT) in early childhood education (ECE). This scoping literature review sought clarity about the nature and role of intentional teaching. It investigated issues about what, how and when IT is applicable for young children’s learning. Why the new findings matter: Intentional teaching in ECE is a contested concept despite large‐scale studies demonstrating the need for a balance between child‐led and teacher directed learning. This scoping review maps the evidence to identify key concepts, theories, sources and knowledge gaps. Implications for educational researchers and policy makers: This scoping review assists researchers, practitioners and policy makers to make informed decisions about the various approaches to IT. Decisions about IT were related to the purposes of ECE that were identified in policy, making policy influential. Theoretical perspectives framed how learning is understood and the role of educators in that learning. The disjuncture between IT and child‐led learning prevailed especially for children aged 3–5 years.

Psychological wellbeing in teachers. Study in teachers of early childhood and primary education

This article focuses on the professional identity formation of six beginner teachers (three in early childhood education and three in the foundation phase), involved in the teaching of Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST). Attention is in particular being paid to the role of professional identity in how they applied innovative teaching methods such as enquiry-based teaching. The study is based on the personal narratives of the six teachers, regarding their own learning experiences in MST, the impact of their professional training at an institution of higher education, as well as their first experiences as MST teachers in the workplace. A qualitative research design was applied and data was obtained through visual (photo collages) and written stories, observation and interviews. Whilst all the teachers held negative attitudes towards Mathematics, this situation was turned around during their university training. The three teachers in early childhood education experienced their entrance to the profession as positive, due mainly to the support of colleagues in their application of innovative teaching methods. Two teachers in the foundation phase, however, experienced the opposite. The findings emphasise the complex processes in the moulding of a professional teacher identity and how teaching practices are influenced by these processes.

In this article, we explore and discuss Swedish Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers’ professional mandates related to recent policy of teachers’ responsibility for leadership in teaching activities. Through written descriptions and group interviews, data were compiled on ECE teachers’ experiences and visions of leadership as well as evaluations of their leadership practice. The results show that the ECE teachers’ enactment of leadership consists of both professional responsibility and accountability logics in different fields of tension. ECE teachers stressed trust in characteristics such as children’s needs and interests to be part of leading teaching activities, simultaneously as they emphasised trust in predefined evaluation through systematic quality work. We interpret the ambiguous emphasis on trust as an expression of “in trust we trust”. This ambiguity might hinder the development of a good ECE practice. We conclude that leadership in ECE as a concept needs to be discussed to avoid a fixed and predefined leadership practice. The responsibility for what direction this discussion will take must be shared among ECE practitioners, policy makers and researchers in the field.

Interactions among children requiring varying levels of support in general group settings within Early Childhood Education centers can be complex and challenging. Despite the importance of inclusive practices, limited research exists on the specific factors that trigger or enhance peer interactions. Interactional triggers refer to pedagogical strategies, specific practices or environmental conditions that promote interaction among children. In the Finnish context, special education teachers play a central role in supporting inclusive practices, drawing on their pedagogical expertise and the Early Childhood Education Core Curriculum. This study investigated the perspectives of Finnish early childhood education teachers and special education teachers regarding the triggers that facilitate children's interactions. Data were collected through semi-structured group discussions and individual interviews with eight early childhood education teachers and twelve special education teachers. The data were analyzed using the phenomenographic method to identify variations in teachers’ conceptions of interaction triggers. The findings revealed several perceived practices that promote children's interactions, including inclusive participation strategies, small group activities, content-specific and pedagogical approaches, environmental and resource-based support, and the involvement of familiar adults—such as substitute teachers and practical nurses—within the learning environment. These findings offer valuable insights for early childhood and special education teachers, as well as for universities responsible for teacher education and professional development.&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/edu/0217/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;