Abstract
Many developed countries have been concentrating lately on the quality of preschool education. Generally, what is considered one of the most important aspects of quality preschool education is quality teaching performance, which has been focused on in many research studies. Research also investigates the level of reflection in preschool teachers, especially in relation to their professional development. However, none of the research studies have, so far, focused on observing the relationship between the two phenomena. We carried out a multiple case study to investigate the relationship between the quality of reflection and the quality of teachers´ performance. Eight pre-primary teachers were video-recorded in their work, and subsequently, in-depth interviews were conducted. During the interviews, we used stimulated recall over selected video sequences, focusing specifically on selected aims of education. The findings indicate that teachers with a higher quality of reflection reached higher quality in the selected areas of teachers’ performance. The results also showed that the teachers with a university degree reached higher quality performance. The findings can contribute to the discussion on the professional development support of preschool teachers and can initiate a discussion on the need to examine the university preparation programmes for these teachers.
Highlights
In recent years there has been a debate in the Czech Republic regarding initial pre-primary teacher education at the tertiary level
We tried to verify these within each individual interview, but we looked for a relationship between reflection and the quality of teaching performance ascertained in the analysis of the video recordings
This study with its focus and findings is consistent with the European Commission statement “that better educated staff are more likely to provide high-quality pedagogy and stimulating learning environments, which, in turn, foster children’s development leading to better learning outcomes” (European Commission 2014, p. 28)
Summary
In recent years there has been a debate in the Czech Republic regarding initial pre-primary teacher education at the tertiary level. At the moment it is one of the few countries Farrell 2004; Hatton and Smith 1995; Mezirow 1997; Zeichner and Liston 1996), or ways of thinking (Baxter 2004; King and Kitchener 1994) Very few of these studies provide information on the processes and techniques of reflection and its use in improving teaching
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