Preschool teachers’ endorsement of instructional practices: an interprofessional exploration

Abstract

Background: Preschool teacher’s instructional practices are one component of high-quality early education classrooms that have the potential to directly influence young children’s school readiness and success; therefore, the type and quality of instructional practices used by preschool teachers should be explored.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to expand our understanding of instructional practices reported by preschool teachers as most or least characteristic of their classroom teaching across three domains: classroom climate, emotional socialisation and language and literacy.Sample: Participants in the present study included 150 teachers from early educational settings across the state of Arizona.Design and methods: Teachers completed a demographic survey and Q-sort task. The Q-sort comprised 80 instructional practices that have been shown to influence children’s school readiness in terms of specific skills and later school outcomes.Results: Descriptive analyses revealed the least and most endorsed practices across and within the domains of interest. The key finding was consistent with previous research revealing that the most commonly endorsed practices were those that target children’s skills via the classroom climate.Conclusions: Implications for professional development and early childhood teacher preparation are discussed alongside the interprofessional nature of this research.