Preservice teachers’ perceptions of the importance of children’s early approaches to learning

The Elementary School Journal Volume 81, Number 1 ? 1980 by The University of Chicago 0013-5984/81/8101-0008$0o1.00 In colleges and universities across the country, prospective and practicing teachers and administrators take courses on planning-curriculum-planning and instructional planning. During the courses, teachers and administrators usually study an objectives-first model of curriculumplanning. This model has four steps. Planners are expected to 1. Formulate objectives 2. Choose appropriate learning activities

Stage 1: Survival During Stage 1, which may last throughout the first full year of teaching, the teacher's main concern is whether she can survive. This preoccupation with survival may be expressed in questions the teacher asks: "Can I get through the day in one piece? Without losing a child? Can I make it until the end of the week? Until the next vacation? Can I really do this kind of work day after day? Will I be accepted by my colleagues?" Such questions are well expressed in Ryan's enlightening collection of accounts of first-year teaching experiences (3).

The perceptions of 28 preservice early childhood teachers about the social and cognitive competence of 68 preschool children were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed gender, age, and family socioeconomic stałus biases in preservice teachers’ perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence. Qualitative data from focus group discussions with preservice teachers also supported these findings. In addition, children's actual social and cognitive competence, while not the most significant, also uniquely and significantly contributed to preservice teachers’ perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence. This may indicate that preservice teachers are likely struggling with their biases as they involve themselves in their teacher preparation experiences, focused on developing more accurate views of children's social and cognitive competence. Both race/ethnicity and temperament contributions were not found, possibility due to the limited sample used.

Teachers' Sense of Efficacy: An Important Factor in School Improvement

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in the perceptions of children's rights and problem behaviors between pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers and to explore how perceptions of children's rights influence perceptions of children's problem behaviors. Participants included pre-service teachers (1st to 3rd year) enrolled in early childhood education programs and in-service teachers working in Seoul and Gyeonggi provinces. Data were analyzed using MANOVA and regression analysis. The results indicated the following. First, in-service teachers demonstrated the highest awareness of children's rights, followed by first-year, third-year, and second-year pre-service teachers. Second, perceptions of problem behaviors were highest among third-year pre-service teachers, while second-year pre-service teachers showed the lowest awareness across most subdomains. In-service teachers reported lower awareness than third-year pre-service teachers. Third, a significant relationship was found between the perception of children's rights and the perception of problem behaviors. Specifically, awareness of general principles positively predicted perceptions of problem behaviors, whereas awareness of protective rights negatively predicted them. These findings suggest that teacher preparation programs should adopt a balanced and developmentally appropriate approach to rights and behavior education, integrating theoretical knowledge with meaningful practice-based learning opportunities.

The purpose of this study was to explore the process of change in perception, attitude, and teaching efficacy of pre-service early childhood teachers through young children's literature education, based on “transactional theory.” The research questions was as follows: What is the change in perception, attitude, and teaching efficacy of pre-service early childhood teachers in early childhood literacy classes? 30 students in the third year of a 4-year teacher training institute participated in the study for 4 months. The data collected were a literature image map, a personal journal of the pre-service early childhood teachers, and a teaching efficacy test for literature. The results of the study are as follows. First, the change in pre-service teachers' perceptions related to children's literature is from simple to a detailed and complex knowledge on literature, and from a previous negative experience to a positive experience through a young children's literature class. Next, the pre -service early childhood teachers' attitude change related to infant literature is largely twofold: literature that has come to mean something for an individual and literature that encourages growth as a pre-school teacher. Lastly, pre-service teachers' change in teaching efficacy for literature improved the knowledge of a teacher, by recognizing the importance and influence of role, and connecting with theory and practice. Additionally, teaching efficacy is higher than before taking the class.

In recent times, more attention has been directed towards identifying international trends and ‘best’ practice for assessing pre-service teachers’ classroom performance. Previous attempts to assess Oman’s preservice teachers were based on adopting a psychometric/measurement assessment practice, whereby performance was measured by grades. Such an approach, in recent times, has been viewed as being fundamentally flawed in its attempts to measure pre-service teachers’ classroom practices. This is primarily due to its inability to authentically assess teacher’s learning in the classroom setting. Further underpinning this problem, is that Omani pre-service teachers are expected to undertake an International English Language Testing System (commonly referred to as IELTS), as a measurement of their English proficiency. This approach is problematic, in principle, as it is positioned after graduation and therefore forms no connection to the pre-service teachers’ school experience nor does it add to quality teaching and assessment. This recent shift in thinking, as to the idea that educational assessment should be based on psychometric measurements and grades, has evolved into assessment practices which encourage the integration of assessment into the learning and teaching environment. This thesis is concerned with how the pre-service English Language teacher’s classroom performance is assessed in Oman. Drawing on the work of Gipps (1999, 2002), this thesis adopted a sociocultural perspective to investigate the phenomenon of assessment practices associated with evaluating pre-service teacher’s classroom performance during school-based professional experience (also known as teaching practicum). Understanding assessment practices from a sociocultural perspective and its current practices such as authentic assessment and Assessment for Learning (AfL) assists pre-service teachers to learn so as to become professional, qualified teachers. To achieve the aims of this study, the thesis adopted a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology approach to investigate the assessment phenomenon and to gain a deep understanding from the key stakeholders involved in the phenomenon. To enable this, the data collected from three higher education institutions, namely Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Rustaq-College of Applied Sciences (CAS) and Nizwa University and their participating schools. A range of different data sources obtained: assessment texts which position pre-service English Language teachers; three-series of interviews with the different stakeholders: three pre-service teachers, three cooperating teachers and four university supervisors to reveal their experiences; and observing the phenomenon in situ to triangulate with the aforementioned data. Implementing hermeneutic phenomenology, the obtained data analysed using two approaches: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) so that the existing practices for assessing pre-service English language teachers’ classroom performance in Oman were captured. The analyses revealed that each institution has its assessment practices influenced by its socio-political structure, yet SQU, unlike Rustaq-CAS and Nizwa University, is distinguished in relation to its pre-determined set of professional standards for graduating teachers; explicit assessment criteria that are shared and discussed with pre-service teachers; collaboration between all stakeholders in the assessment process; a clearly defined role for the cooperating teacher as mentor; effective feedback provided to the pre-service teacher; using portfolios to record and document the pre-service teachers achievements; and effective self- and peer-assessment strategies. These practices are mostly experienced by stakeholders at SQU due to its international accreditation under the influence of the standards based on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The findings suggest that SQU assessment practices are more aligned with the indicators of international best practice, compared to that of Rustaq-CAS and Nizwa University. Similarly, SQU had a better understanding of assessment practices from a sociocultural perspective. This means that within the context of assessing pre-service teachers’ classroom performance in Oman, the findings are not about each higher education institution but about producing quality teacher graduates by reforming the Omani assessment practices. Having SQU as a model in Oman, the key recommendations for policy and practice from this study are to: 1) set a national professional standards for teachers; 2) have explicit assessment criteria that align with the professional standards; 3) share the assessment criteria for success between all stakeholders in the phenomenon; 4) strengthen the collaboration between schools and universities as well as university supervisors and cooperating teachers,5) make the role of the portfolio more explicit in terms of monitoring and enhancing pre-service teacher development and learning; 6) empower the cooperating teacher to provide a more meaningful mentoring role to pre-service teachers; 7) provide explicit training in effective peer and self-assessment strategies for pre-service teachers in the classroom context and 8) provide explicit training in understanding and delivering quality feedback on classroom performance for all stakeholders.

Courses in teacher training programmes, especially science method courses, play a major role in the development of beliefs. Because children’s science learning starts in preschool years, it is critical to investigate early childhood teachers’ beliefs about scientists and science teaching. The purpose of this study was to describe, document, and then compare the pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers’ beliefs about scientists and science teaching. A causal-comparative design with unequal sample sizes was used. The independent variables were the type of service, pre-service or in-service. The dependent variable was the score obtained on the ‘Draw a Scientist Test’ and the ‘Draw a Science Teacher Test'. The sample consisted of 139 pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers. Pre-service teachers were studying in a teacher-training programme at a major research university and in-service teachers were working in public schools in the south part of Turkey. The results indicate that inservice teachers held more stereotypical images than pre-service teachers about scientists. In addition, pre-service teachers had positive belief of scientists while in the training programme, but in-service teachers lacked this positive belief. A key implication of the study is that more professional training for in-service teachers should be offered within professional development programmes.

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural relationship between life satisfaction, fairness, and perception of children s rights of pre-service teachers, and to investigate the mediating effect of fairness in the effect of pre-service teachers life satisfaction on children s rights perception.
 Methods For this purpose, a survey was conducted targeting 262 pre-school teachers who are enrolled in the department of early childhood education at a four-year university in Gyeonggi and Jeonnam. For the collected data, descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis and path analysis were performed using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 25.0 programs.
 Results First, it was found that there was a positive correlation between the life satisfaction and fairness of the pre-service teachers, and the perception of children s rights. Second, life satisfaction of pre-service teachers had a significant effect on fairness, and no effect was found on the perception of children s rights. It was found that the fairness of the pre-service teachers had a positive effect on the perception of children s rights. Third, it was confirmed that fairness had a complete mediating effect in the effect of pre-service teachers life satisfaction on the perception of children s rights.
 Conclusions This study is significant in that it proves that the fairness of the pre-service teacher is a determining factor in the perception of children s rights, and illuminates the value of fairness as an ethical quality that an early childhood teacher must possess. Based on the results of this study, it is proposed to develop a program to promote perception of children s rights including fairness for pre-service teachers.

본 연구는 예비유아교사의 교수효능감 수준에 따라 교사 직무 중요도를 분석하는 것이다. 이를 위해 G광역시의 유아교육과에 재학 중인 예비교사 173명을 연구대상으로 선정하고, 교수효능감과 직무 중요도 설문 조사를 실시하였다. 수집된 자료는 SPSS 21.0 프로그램을 사용하여 Cronbach s α, 평균과 표준편차, 독립표본 t검증을 실시하였다. 연구결과를 제시하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 예비유아교사의 교수효능감 수준은 ‘보통’정도인 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 예비유아교사는 교사가 수행하는 대부분의 직무에 대해 ‘중요하다’고 인식하였다. 특히, 유아교사의 직무 중에서 ‘유아 보호’, ‘교수-학습 실제’, ‘교수-학습 계획’, ‘교수-학습 평가’, ‘학부모와의 협력 및 연계’의 직무에 대한 중요성 인식은 높았고, 상대적으로 ‘유치원 행사’와 ‘유치원 사무’ 직무에 대해서는 중요성의 인식이 낮았다. 셋째, 예비유아교사의 교수효능감의 수준에 따라 교사 직무 중요도 인식에서 통계적으로 유의미한 차이가 있었다. 따라서 교사교육기관에서는 예비유아교사의 교수효능감 수준을 향상 시킬 수 있는 다양한 방안을 모색하고, 유아교사로서 수행하게 되는 직무 영역에 대한 올바른 이해 및 교육이 제공될 필요가 있다.The purpose of this study is to analyze the differences of job importance according to pre-service early childhood teachers’ levels of the teaching efficacy. Participants were 173 pre-service early childhood teachers in G city. The survey data about teaching efficacy and job importance were collected. The data were analyzed conducting cronbach’s α, mean, sd, and independent t-test using the SPSS 21.0 program. The results are as follows; First, the level of teaching efficacy among pre-service early childhood teachers are average. Second, pre-service early childhood teachers perceived that most of the duties performed as ‘important’. In particular, the importacne of duties with regard to ‘child protection’, ‘the virtuality of teaching-learning’, ‘the teaching-learning plan’, ‘the teaching-learning evaluation’, and ‘the cooperation and connection with parents’ are perceived highly. In contrast, the perceptions of the importance of job related the events in kindergarten’ and ‘ the office job in kindergarten’ were relatively low. Third, there were a statistically meaningful differences in the degrees of the importance of duties recognized by pre-service teachers according to the levels of teaching efficacy. Therefore, the teacher training institutions need to seek ways to improve pre-service early childhood teachers’ levels of their teaching efficacy and their understandings of early childhood teachers’ duties and jobs.

The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of pre-service early childhood teachers' awareness of child abuse and ethics in teaching and to provide basic data for the development of programs that can enhance pre-service early childhood teachers' awareness of child abuse by analyzing the relationship between pre-service teachers' teaching ethical awareness and child abuse awareness. This study surveyed 180 students part of an Early Childhood Education Department at a university in Busan.According to the analysis, the results of this study are summarized as follow : First, there is a significant positive correlation between teaching ethical awareness and child abuse awareness in pre-service early childhood teachers. Second, the pre-service early childhood teachers who have a high ethical consciousness for teaching ethics highly perceived emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect as sub-factors of child abuse awareness. Third, in pre-service early childhood teachers, as the ethical awareness for infants, family, colleagues and society became higher, the perception of child abuse became higher.These results suggest that it is necessary to strengthen education to raise awareness of teaching ethics at institutions and related universities that train early childhood teachers and ultimately raise the awareness of child abuse.

The challenge of better preparing pre-service early childhood teachers to deliver appropriate science learning experiences in the classroom poses complex yet relevant issues. An innovative strategy to solve this problem has been a unique cross-discipline and collaborative approach. The purpose of this innovation was to provide pre-service early childhood teachers with the best possible chance of acquiring the requisite science content to merge with their pedagogical skills and thus increase their confidence to teach science in the classroom. The collaborative approach involved teacher educators and science/engineering academics together developing science resources and implementing them through team-teaching within the pre-service teachers’ science methods course. Data collection from the pre-service teachers included pre- and post-questionnaires, open-ended questions, poster analysis and semi-structured interviews. Across the course, the pre-service teachers’ confidence to teach science increased due to being shown how to teach science to young children, the wide range of ideas and activities presented that could be transferred to the early childhood classroom and increased science content knowledge. Science content knowledge increased due to active participation within the science methods course, access to science/engineering academics to explain concepts and information presented within the new science resources. This collaborative approach to developing and implementing science resources within a science methods course increased pre-service teachers’ accessibility to science and encouraged the teaching of science in the early childhood classroom.

This study attempted to investigate pre-service and in-service EFL teachers’ levels of knowledge in content, pedagogy, and technology in relation to their gender, Internet access at school, and technology training in Saudi Arabia. The Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework was utilized to (1) examine pre-service and in-service EFL teachers’ levels of TPACK; (2) investigate the differences between pre-service and in-service EFL teachers’ levels of TPACK; (3) scrutinize whether gender, Internet access at school, and technology training had any significant effect on pre-service EFL teachers’ levels of TPACK; and (4) analyze whether gender, Internet access at school, and technology training had any significant effect on in-service EFL teachers’ levels of TPACK. The participants in this study were (111) EFL pre-service teachers and (106) EFL in-service teachers. The descriptive statistical analysis (mean and standard deviation) revealed that the pre-service teachers’ overall level of TPACK was moderate scoring highest in TK, TPK, and TCK and lowest in CK and PK respectively. On the other hand, the in-service teachers’ overall level of TPACK was moderate scoring highest in CK, PK, and PCK and lowest in TK, TPK, and TCK respectively. The inferential statistical analysis (t-test) indicated a statistically significant difference between pre-service and in-service teachers’ levels of TPACK. All the seven sub-domains of TPACK were significant, with pre-service teachers scoring higher in TK, TCK, and TPK while in-service teachers scoring higher in CK, PK, PCK, and TPACK. The inferential analysis also showed that gender, Internet access at school, and technology training had a significant effect on both pre-service and in-service EFL teachers’ levels of TPACK. The study concluded that both pre-service teacher education programs and in-service teacher training courses need to focus on the connections and interactions between content, pedagogy, and technology in order to help EFL teachers integrate technology effectively into their teaching process. The study recommended investigating other factors that might be predictive of teachers’ levels of TPACK.

Digital storytelling is an innovative pedagogical approach that can contribute to more engaged teaching and learning. Despite the existing research on technology use in tertiary education, there is limited scholarly literature on the use of digital stories in education or the effective design of digital stories specifically for educational settings. This paper aims to explore the perception of pre-service early childhood education teachers in designing digital stories by employing qualitative research. This research involved the researcher working independently on an in-class project with 45 second-year undergraduate students. The pre-service early childhood education teachers were required to create a digital story on child safety. The findings from the thematic analysis suggest that the pre-service teachers held favorable views regarding developing digital stories. Four themes emerged from the analysis of the pre-service teachers’ reflections and the researcher’s observation notes. The themes were: (i) creating digital stories generates impactful experiences for pre-service early childhood education teachers, (ii) self-empowerment through digital storytelling, (iii) technology integration in pedagogical innovation, and (iv) qualities of good digital stories. Ultimately, this research contributed to advancing innovations in teaching and learning within the context of early childhood education.

The earthquake and tsunami experienced in Aceh created the importance of disaster preparedness. Efforts to improve disaster literacy, including knowledge of its effects, should be conducted. The aims of this study are 1) knowing the level of student’s disaster preparedness knowledge, 2) obtaining gender differences in disaster preparedness knowledge, 3) knowing the difference in academic level on disaster preparedness knowledge, 4) knowing the effect of interaction between gender and academic level on disaster preparedness knowledge. This research involved Geography pre-service teachers on STKIP Al-Washliyah. The results were quantitative data obtained from a disaster preparedness knowledge test, and data collection used multiple-choice tests. A knowledge test instrument was created and validated for data validity and reliability using a wondershare quiz generator. Data were analyzed using an index to decide the extent of knowledge on disaster preparedness. The ANCOVA approach was evaluated to examine the relationship between gender and educational degree. The results indicate that 1) the score for knowledge of disaster preparedness is 49.11, which indicates that knowledge is still in the low category, 2) there is a difference in knowledge of disaster preparedness between male and female pre-service geography teachers with a significant value of 0.004 (<0.05), 3) there is a difference in knowledge of pre-service geography teacher with different academic levels and significance value of 0.000 (<0.05), 4) when viewed from the interaction between gender and academic level, no significant relationship was found on knowledge of disaster preparedness with a score of 0.185 (p> 0.05). According to the findings, it is crucial to increase disaster preparedness knowledge in basic and advanced courses of geography education study programs. Therefore, pre-service geography teachers have good knowledge and skills in disaster preparedness. One of the steps to increase knowledge is providing teaching materials and disaster simulation programs.
 Keywords : Disaster preparedness knowledge; Pre-service teacher; Gender; Academic levels
 
 Copyright (c) 2022 Geosfera Indonesia and Department of Geography Education, University of Jember
 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share A like 4.0 International License