Early Childhood Education Course Research Articles

Student experiences of agile-blended learning in emergency online education: insights from a participatory case study

PurposeThis study examined the implementation of an agile-blended learning (ABL) approach in a master-level early childhood research course and assessed its impact on the learning experience. The purpose was to understand how incorporating ABL concepts affected flexibility, learner autonomy, collaboration and technology mediation, the core principles of ABL.Design/methodology/approachA participatory case study methodology was employed to gather insights from 40 students regarding their experiences in the redesigned research course. Data were collected through interviews, observations and document analysis. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed and quantitative data descriptively analyzed.FindingsABL fostered flexibility, convenience and learner autonomy. However, students desired richer interpersonal interactions. Technological integration enhanced learning, but social presence was lacking.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to a specific master-level early childhood education course and focused on a particular group of students. Further research is needed to examine the generalizability of the findings in different educational contexts and student populations.Practical implicationsRecommendations include ongoing professional development and support systems to optimize ABL realization. Sustaining ABL practices necessitates flexible, empowering institutional structures.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by exploring the potential of ABL in the context of early childhood research education. It provides empirical evidence of the benefits of ABL for increased flexibility, learner autonomy, collaboration and technology mediation. The case study design adds to the originality by offering insights into the practical implementation of ABL in an educational setting.

Digital Competences in Cybersecurity of Teachers in Training

The authors have developed a psychometric instrument with the purpose of assessing the digital competencies of teachers in aspects of cybersecurity. From the collection of data, different secondary objectives were carried out: (1) identify if there were significant differences regarding gender; (2) understand if there are significant differences based on various actions (use of different operating systems, two-step authentication, use of different passwords for applications and profiles), for each gender; (3) identify if the frequency of updating of passwords in LMS, emails, RRSS and apps correlate with the digital competencies of teachers in training, for each gender. For this purpose, an ex post facto ad hoc design was used based on a sample of 220 students enrolled in a Primary Education and Early Childhood Education course at the University of Malaga (Spain). The results show that the digital skills of these teachers of the future are at a low level, and that they find it hard to navigate their way in this new world. It is also concluded that there are significant differences with respect to gender in terms of various cybersecurity actions (use of the Mac operating system; two-step authentication). In addition, it was found that the frequency of updating passwords in LMS, emails, RRSS and apps affects the competences of the teachers in training in security and prevention, in both genders.

Research Hotspot and Trends in Pre-Service Training for Inclusive Preschool Teachers in China — A Bibliometric Analysis Based on Cite Space

The purpose of this paper is to help better understand pre-service training for inclusive preschool teachers in China; to grasp the research context, evolution research hotspots and trends of pre-service training for inclusive preschool teachers in China. In this paper, we use the scientific quantitative knowledge graph method and using Cite Space visualization software to analyze 111 studies from 2009-2023 in CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) databases, Such as literature publication trend graph and analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, keyword clustering analysis, research hotspot analysis and research prospects. The results show that the current hot research on pre-service training for inclusive education teachers is mainly focused on: pre-service training for inclusive education literacy of preschool teachers (it includes the research of the concept, connotation, status quo and pre-service training of preschool inclusive education teachers); pre-service talent cultivation models for inclusive early childhood education and design of inclusive early childhood education course; future research on inclusive education for pre-service preschool teachers can actively explore three aspects: First, according to the China’s policy requirements for the training of inclusive teachers in colleges and universities, the preschool education major must clarify the pre-service training plan for preschool inclusive teachers. Secondly, it should analyze the social needs for preschool inclusive teachers and develop and design pre-service preschool inclusive education courses. Finally, pay attention to pre-service practice inclusive education and improve the pre-school inclusive education pre-service curriculum system.

유아교육 교수자의 원격수업 운영 현황 및 인식

The purpose of this study was to investigate the teaching practice and perceptions of distance learning among early childhood education instructors who have implemented online-based distance learning due to COVID-19. For this purpose, 139 instructors who taught early childhood education courses participated an online survey. The collected data were analyzed by frequency and percentage.
 The results of this study are as follows. First, about 76% of early childhood education instructors had no experience of distance learning before COVID-19, and the training experience of distance learning was high at about 82%. The early childhood education instructors utilized the combination of real-time interactive classes and video content classes the most, and the frequency of using materials developed by them was high. Second, the early childhood education instructors recognized that the combination of real-time interactive classes and video content classes was the most effective and perceived the effect of non-face-to-face classes and face-to-face classes to be different, and a main reason of the difference was in the interaction between instructors and learners. As the advantages of distance learning, more than 90% of the instructors chose no time and space constraints and convenience due to non-contact. In order to increase the effectiveness of distance learning, they recognized that various improvements were needed, and among them, strengthening learners’ participation was the most necessary. More than 70% of the instructors answered that they are willing to continue at least some of the distance learning after COVID-19. For high-quality distance learning, they perceived that the instructors should develop interaction skills with learners and competencies related to distance learning, while universities should support instructors’ competencies for distance learning and make technical improvements. These results suggest the need to prepare a support system that reinforce instructor’s competencies for distance learning.

Care-full pedagogy: Conceptualizing feminist care ethics as an overarching critical framework to interrupt the dominance of developmentalism within post-secondary early childhood education programs

This article offers a theoretical provocation through conceptualizing a pedagogy of care as a means of caring with students and each other to interrupt the dominance of developmentalism in Canadian post-secondary early childhood education programs. The authors’ conceptualization of care -full as pedagogy is rooted in the premises that education is always ethical and political, and caring about, for and with others is necessary to establish equitable, democratic spaces at the post-secondary level. In contrast to the developmental framework embraced in many Canadian post-secondary early childhood education programs, the authors describe how a critical, care -full overarching pedagogical framework provides room for educators and students to deeply and meaningfully explore developmentalism and other theoretical frameworks. They argue that a pedagogy of care rooted in feminist care ethics and Freire's critical theory can contribute to establishing a safe learning climate where developmentalism can be critiqued and alternative ways to think about children's development can be contested, explored and debated. As the authors are conceptualizing it, a care-full pedagogical framework intentionally supports the intellectual, ethical and political risk-taking necessary for critique and alternative thinking. They follow this provocation through by imagining what a care -full pedagogy might look and feel like in a post-secondary early childhood education course on child development.

Chinese whispers: international Chinese students’ language practices in an anglophone Higher Education context

ABSTRACT This study explored the language practices of a small group of international Chinese students in an anglophone Higher Education context where English was the medium of instruction. The context was the first year of an early childhood education course at an Australian university. Building on findings from research in conversation analysis on language alternation and medium of interaction, the analyses sought to unveil the students’ classroom verbal and nonverbal practices as they switched between Mandarin and English. Findings show that students’ preferred medium was monolingual: English for discussing taskwork and Mandarin for resolving disagreement or confusion, establishing understanding, and selecting a speaker. Alternation to Mandarin was accompanied by whispering and the embodied actions of ‘hiding’ behind the laptop while co-occurring laughter was used to signal a language switch or to index trouble or a delicate situation. These findings suggest that language choice was not simply a practice for restoring the preferred medium. Rather the students continued to speak Mandarin until the interactional motivation for its use was completed, which legitimized the use of their shared language. The paper ends with recommendations to inform pedagogy that is sensitive to the linguistic needs of international students in Higher Education in anglophone contexts.

Design and Application of Preschool Education System Based on Mobile Application

With the rapid development of information technology in recent years, the country’s information reform in the field of education is advancing gradually. As the first link in the chain of lifelong education, the development of early childhood education informatization has become an essential component of the national education informatization construction. In order to better realize the gamification of early childhood education courses and strengthen the management and deepening of course resources, this paper analyzes the significance of the application of children’s games in teaching and the significance of the application of new media resources in children’s course games by combining the actual situation of education and the teaching advantages of new media resources. The paper studies the application of early childhood education teaching and the research on the development of gamification in early childhood education courses. In light of the fact that emerging preschool education products on the market cannot fully meet the requirements of preschool education informatization construction at the level of function and technology, this paper proposes a preschool education system based on mobile applications as well as a child-appropriate recommendation algorithm based on a multiattention mechanism. Experiments conducted on public data sets demonstrate that our algorithm is considerably superior to the benchmark algorithm.

The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Educational Communities: Evidence of Early Childhood Education Students.

In the last two years, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools and its consequences for the training of new teachers have been the subject of numerous studies. The pandemic has led to a change in schools and their functioning, as trainee teachers have had to be introduced to a new environment for which university training proved to be insufficient. The pandemic poses shared challenges in which future teachers must be present. The objective of this study is to assess the perception of students enrolled in Early Childhood Education courses at the University of Extremadura (Spain) regarding the impact relationships between the subjects and agents of the educational communities. In order to achieve this goal, we present a qualitative study with a phenomenological design. The results of this research show perceptions in line with what the scientific literature shows: a profound change in the relationships between the different agents. Communication increased, but pedagogical issues were displaced by concerns about the health emergency. This study concludes with the need to broaden the knowledge of future teachers about the administrative functioning of and their relationship with the school, as well as about new resources to address new challenges.

Framework to field: preparing preservice teachers to engage diverse families through science

ABSTRACT The instructional congruence framework has been used to enhance congruence between students’ non-dominant backgrounds and science instruction in upper grades. The purpose of this paper is to propose and model the use of the framework to address two key areas of concern in the field of early childhood teacher education: family engagement and the teaching of science and engineering. This reflection on practice presents (1) the instructional congruence framework (ICF), (2) the rationale for using ICF with preservice teachers, (3) a description of implementation in an early childhood education course and field experience, and (4) implications for instructional practice. Drawing upon prior analyses in multicultural science education, this reflective report illuminates the unique features of this framework as applied with preservice teachers in the preschool field, including strengths and challenges.

Early childhood preservice teachers’ self-efficacy related to inclusion and professional roles via a co-taught field-based course

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the self-efficacy of preservice teachers enrolled in a co-taught early childhood education course on special education. The course was developed to increase awareness and access to special education through a field-based co-taught practicum course. Instructors from general education and special education shared planning and teaching roles to model collaborative practices for future early childhood educators. Data from focus groups, interviews, and a post-then-pre instrument were used to explore preservice teachers’ self-efficacy related to comfort with inclusion, perspective-taking, and professional roles as well as their experiences participating in the co-taught course. Recommendations for research related to supporting self-efficacy and teacher education are shared.

The Study of Work Engagement for Trainees Majoring in Early Childhood Care and Education Course: JD-R Model by Taking Differences in the School Year into Consideration

The Study of Work Engagement for Trainees Majoring in Early Childhood Care and Education Course: JD-R Model by Taking Differences in the School Year into Consideration

Doing projects with young children in a field-based early childhood education course

ABSTRACT This study examined the learning experiences of pre-service teachers completing a project with young children using the Project Approach methodology. The study used a mixed-methods research design to evaluate the teaching efficacy, attitudes, and knowledge of 55 pre-service teachers enrolled in an Early Childhood through Grade 6 certification programme for doing projects with young children, after utilising a Project Approach with kindergarten and first-grade students. Scores indicated a significant increase in feelings of preparedness and efficacy to complete a project with young children (t = −11.32, p <.001; t = −10.55, p <.001). Responses to open-ended questions indicated a significant increase in understanding and confidence through the experience of doing a project themselves. Also, the pre-service teachers’ knowledge of completing projects with young children and their understanding of the perceived benefits of project-based learning increased after completing a project with young children.

교육놀이욕망과 놀이중심 유아교육과정에 관한 소고: 뒬레즈와 가타리의 욕망이론적 접근에서

교육놀이욕망과 놀이중심 유아교육과정에 관한 소고: 뒬레즈와 가타리의 욕망이론적 접근에서

Incorporating Elements of Active Learning in an Early Childhood Education Course: The Case of the Use of Children’s English Songs

Incorporating Elements of Active Learning in an Early Childhood Education Course: The Case of the Use of Children’s English Songs

Comparison of North and South Korean early childhood education

본 연구는 남 · 북한 유아교육과정을 비교 분석하여 통일대비 유아교육과정의 방향성 정립과 통합을 위한 시사점을 제시하는데 그 목적이 있다. 남 · 북한 유아교육과정 비교는 4가지 비교준거, 즉 유아교육목표, 유아교육과정 영역 및 일과 운영, 교수 · 학습방법, 평가의 측면에서 이루어졌다. 연구결과 남 · 북한 교육이념의 차이로 인해 다양한 영역에서 유사점보다는 차이점을 보였으며, 통일대비 유아교육과정 정립을 위해 다음과 같은 시사점을 도출하였다. 첫째, 남 · 북한 유아교육과정에서의 통합을 이루기 위해서는 교육의 고유한 기능과 목적을 반영한 새로운 교육이념 정립이 필요하다. 둘째, 남 · 북한 유아교육과정 영역 및 일과운영 비교에서 가장 차이를 보인 영역은 정치사상교육으로, 통일 후 정치사상교육을 통해 공고히 형성된 북한의 정치사상의식을 극복할 방안이 마련되어야 할 것이다. 셋째, 통일대비 남 · 북한 유아교육과정의 통합을 위해서는 유아교육과정에명시된 유아교육관련 용어정리 및 표준화작업이 이루어져야 할 것이다. 결론적으로 통일대비 남 · 북한 유아교육과정 비교에서 유사점을 보이는 영역부터 점진적인 통합을 시도하는 것이 필요하며, 남 · 북한 간 상호교류를 통해 이질성 극복을 위한 노력이 지속적으로 이루어져야 할 것이다.This study was conducted to compare and analyze the curriculum of early childhood education in South Korea and North Korea in order to establish the direction of early childhood curriculum. Based on this, the purpose of the study is to propose educational alternatives for possible integration. The comparison of North and South Korean early childhood education curriculum was conducted in terms of educational goals, early childhood curriculum area and daily management, teaching and learning methods, and assesment. As a result of the study, there were more differences found than similarities in various areas due to differences in the educational philosophy between South and North Korea, and the following implications were drawn. First, in order to integrate North and South Korea’s early childhood curriculum, a new educational ideology that reflects the unique function and purpose of education should be established first, and specific curriculum and contents should be developed accordingly. Second, the most significant difference in the content and operation of North and South Korean early childhood education curriculum is political ideology education, which is the most important content of the North Korean early childhood education course. Third, in order to integrate the South and North Korea early childhood education curriculum in preparation for unification, it is necessary to organize and standardize the terms related to early childhood education in order to unify them. In order to do this, it is necessary to try to integrate them gradually starting from areas showing similarities, and to endeavor to overcome discrepancies through mutual exchange between South and North Korea.

'Invisible Obstacle' to Gender Equality: Gender Stereotype Messages in Early Childhood Education Books in Kenya

Globally, research on gender stereotype messages or 'invisible obstacle' in the teaching and learning materials especially for primary and secondary schools is well documented. Findings from studies show illustrations, images, pictures and language that negatively portray males and females, boys and girls in learning materials and which tend to impact on students’ behaviours, aspirations, experiences, participation, achievement and expectations. The aim of the current study was to find out how gender messages are portrayed in 10 purposively selected Science and English language Early Childhood Education course, supplementary and workbooks using a documentary analysis checklist. Findings from the current study reveal that although authors of the analysed books have to some extent made the books gender responsive, however, gender stereotype messages expressed in masculine and feminine discourses are still visible. Two series of the books analysed are gender blind. Use of gender responsive books is likely to help children appreciate each other's gender, thus, create more equitable learning outcomes. Thus, it is important that any gender stereotype messages or information in learning and teaching materials are dealt with during early years of a child’s life.

Increasing early childhood preservice teachers’ intercultural sensitivity through the ABCs

ABSTRACTWhile the early childhood student population has become increasingly diverse in the U.S., its teaching force remains primarily European American. The diverse student population demands that early childhood educators possess intercultural sensitivity in order to teach their culturally diverse learners effectively. This study examined the implementation of the ABCs of Cultural Understanding (the ABCs), a multicomponent instructional activity to promote intercultural sensitivity, in a preservice early childhood education course. Twenty-two early childhood preservice teachers participated in the study. The findings suggest the ABCs helped the participants develop intercultural sensitivity and strengthened their awareness and appreciation of other cultures. Despite the positive impact, the findings show most participants were in the early stages of intercultural sensitivity development. It is recommended that consistent exposure to and experiences with assignments like the ABCs are necessary to further promote intercultural sensitivity among preservice teachers.

Transforming early childhood educators’ conceptions of “dark play” and popular culture

In an online graduate-level early childhood education course, the authors sought to playfully disrupt and transform educators’ conceptions of children’s “dark play,” as provoked by contemporary popular culture. Embracing the imaginative potential of darkness and liminality, the course participants problematized and expanded their thinking concerning what constitutes children’s play scripts focused on themes of fear, power, and violence. Cognizant that some educators are reluctant and even refuse to allow children opportunities to engage in play centered on troubling social issues, the educators co-authored a fantastical tale, inspired by the Disney animation film Frozen, and included course topics, classroom observations, and their own childhood memories of “dark play.” Vivian Paley’s ideas about the connections between storytelling and play provided a creative impetus to the fictional narrative-imagining exercise, as did Hans-Georg Gadamer’s notion of Spiel. Eliciting the literature of children’s play experiences through fictional story-writing, and “play” as a contemporary aspect of creative thinking, the educators entered imaginary worlds of their own making. Unlike a traditional online graduate course format that often incorporates textual readings, posts, and responses, the authors strived to foster a virtual space in which the educators buttressed theories about play and imagination in a deeply felt, experiential, and playful manner. In creating an imaginary story based on the film, the participants gained a different understanding of the nature of play, and came to recognize how popular-culture play themes can provoke and strengthen children’s imaginative and abstract thinking, problem-solving skills, and emotional development. Likewise, this narrative experience showed the potential and role of “dark play” in initiating new ways of thinking and talking with children about the complex issues of the modern world.

Rethinking Instructional Technology to Improve Pedagogy for Digital Literacy: A Design Case in a Graduate Early Childhood Education Course

Digital literacy is an important aspect to consider within teacher education as a way to address twenty-first century learner needs, particularly in early childhood contexts where developmental concerns should be paramount in making instructional design decisions. This article is a design case of a graduate level early childhood education instructional technology course revision, including course design elements and learner feedback. Collaboration with P-12 instructional technology experts on the re-design yielded a fluid course more in line with current conversations and professional development happening on the P-5 level.

Teacher engagement in core components of an effective, early childhood professional development course: Links to changes in teacher–child interactions

ABSTRACT This study built on prior research regarding the effectiveness of the National Center for Research in Early Childhood Education (NCRECE) course by exploring the individual course components. Core aspects of course engagement and performance were described and examined in relation to improvements in the observed quality of teacher–child interactions. Teacher characteristics were also examined as predictors of course engagement and performance. A sample of 150 preschool teachers participated in a semester-long, credit-bearing, college course designed to improve the quality of their emotional, organizational, and instructional interactions with children. Teachers’ participation and performance in the course were high on average. Teachers’ skill level in accurately and specifically explaining other teachers’ instances of effective teacher–child interactions was related to improvements in their own observed teacher–child interactions. Finally, teachers with an early childhood major and those endorsing child-centered beliefs displayed better skills in detecting other teachers’ high-quality interactions with children. Results are discussed in relation to designing more effective early childhood professional development programs.