Childhood Teacher Education Research Articles

Teacher’s Perspective on Roleplay and Its Positive Impact on Early Childhood Education

Early childhood education focuses on watching children's growth and development during their first five years of existence. To offer early childhood learners a holistic education, educators must meet their needs and promote their mental, physical, and emotional development. To create young generations capable of overcoming all of the issues of the future, instructors and students must collaborate to display rigorous learning that is enjoyable, creative, active interaction, problem solving, and independent decision making at a young age. The primary goal of this research is to investigate the benefits of role-playing in children's development, as well as teachers' perspectives on role-playing in early childhood education. This inquiry employed a qualitative approach. A survey was administered using open-ended questions, teacher observations, and document collecting. The study's survey of early childhood education teachers investigates how role-playing enhances children's cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and language development. The study's findings suggest that role-playing is an effective teaching approach for enhancing children's growth and development, especially in the early years. The study's findings will help not only instructors, but also schools, boards of directors, and Malaysian decision-makers build the best solution for encouraging role-play in early childhood education teaching strategies.

PERCEPÇÕES REFLEXIVAS SOBRE A PRESENÇA DE PROFESSORES NA EDUCAÇÃO INTANTIL: DESAFIOS E PERSPECTIVAS

This paper focuses on reflective perceptions about the presence of male teachers in Early Childhood Education, exploring the challenges and perspectives related to this issue. The research seeks to analyze the male presence in Early Childhood Education teaching, its challenges and perspectives, reflecting on how this presence can influence the quality of teaching and the development of children. This is because our hypothesis is to reflect on the importance of the presence of male teachers in the education of young children, considering gender diversity and the construction of an inclusive and equal education. The methodology used in this study is qualitative in nature, based on a bibliographical review and content analysis of articles, books and documents related to the topic. Renowned authors such as Paulo Freire, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Carlos Brandão, Heywood and Kuhlmann were considered, who contributed to understanding the presence of teachers in Early Childhood Education and to the concept of reflective teaching, which discusses inclusive and equal education. The main references used in this research deal with teacher training, the importance of gender diversity in Early Childhood Education, critical reflection on gender stereotypes and the social construction of masculinity. Also noteworthy are the works of Pimenta and Ghedin who discuss reflective teaching as an important pedagogical approach to encourage teachers to question their practices and reflect on their conceptions. In addition, our study is qualitative in nature and is based on participant research, the data collected from which was also based on the application of a questionnaire to the participants. As a result, we concluded that the presence of teachers in Early Childhood Education is fundamental to promoting quality education, under the reference of “reflective teaching”, when teachers are encouraged to develop a critical and reflective stance in their pedagogical practice, contributing to the construction of a more equal and respectful education. However, there are still challenges to be faced, such as deconstructing gender stereotypes and valuing diversity in the composition of the teaching staff for Early Childhood Education, which suggests a time for reflection, which includes other and new perspectives for the presence of teachers in classes of young children.

PERCEPÇÕES REFLEXIVAS SOBRE A PRESENÇA DE PROFESSORES NA EDUCAÇÃO INTANTIL: DESAFIOS E PERSPECTIVAS

This paper focuses on reflective perceptions about the presence of male teachers in Early Childhood Education, exploring the challenges and perspectives related to this issue. The research seeks to analyze the male presence in Early Childhood Education teaching, its challenges and perspectives, reflecting on how this presence can influence the quality of teaching and the development of children. This is because our hypothesis is to reflect on the importance of the presence of male teachers in the education of young children, considering gender diversity and the construction of an inclusive and equal education. The methodology used in this study is qualitative in nature, based on a bibliographical review and content analysis of articles, books and documents related to the topic. Renowned authors such as Paulo Freire, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Carlos Brandão, Heywood and Kuhlmann were considered, who contributed to understanding the presence of teachers in Early Childhood Education and to the concept of reflective teaching, which discusses inclusive and equal education. The main references used in this research deal with teacher training, the importance of gender diversity in Early Childhood Education, critical reflection on gender stereotypes and the social construction of masculinity. Also noteworthy are the works of Pimenta and Ghedin who discuss reflective teaching as an important pedagogical approach to encourage teachers to question their practices and reflect on their conceptions. In addition, our study is qualitative in nature and is based on participant research, the data collected from which was also based on the application of a questionnaire to the participants. As a result, we concluded that the presence of teachers in Early Childhood Education is fundamental to promoting quality education, under the reference of “reflective teaching”, when teachers are encouraged to develop a critical and reflective stance in their pedagogical practice, contributing to the construction of a more equal and respectful education. However, there are still challenges to be faced, such as deconstructing gender stereotypes and valuing diversity in the composition of the teaching staff for Early Childhood Education, which suggests a time for reflection, which includes other and new perspectives for the presence of teachers in classes of young children.

Expectations and Effectiveness of Preschool Teacher Training Program: A Case Study of Teacher Training Course for the Holistic Music Educational Approach for Young Children

This study examines the expectations and effectiveness of a teacher training program for early childhood music education, specifically focusing on the Holistic Music Educational Approach for Young Children (HMEAYC) and its integration with local cultural frameworks. Participants ( n = 30) from a private university’s Department of Early Childhood Development and Education, aged between 22 and 25 years old, were about to obtain their early childhood education teaching qualification. The 36-week training, consisting of 3 hr per week, employed collaborative teaching methods and collective reflection to gather pre- and post-training data. The results indicate a 90.91% pass rate for participants who successfully obtained the HMEAYC teacher qualification. While overall expectations regarding course identity, musical skills, and pedagogical competence did not exhibit significant changes, participants with better training outcomes experienced significant positive changes in psychological cognition of musical skills and curriculum identity, with no significant difference in pedagogical competence cognition. Furthermore, Spearman’s correlation coefficient analysis revealed positive correlations between cognitive changes in musical skills, course identity, and pedagogical competence after training. Conversely, negative correlations were observed between cognitive changes in musical skills and both course identity and pedagogical competence before training, suggesting a strong association between changes in music skills and other variables.

Human Resource Factors Influencing Gender Disparity in Development of Early Childhood Education Teaching Profession in Kakamega East Sub-County, Kenya

Education determines how well people can relate to and communicate with one another. Despite this view, the gaps in education opportunities in most developing countries are large. Public schools in Kakamega East Sub-County haven’t escaped the waves of gender disparities that have affected both private and public schools in Kenya. This study, therefore, sought to establish the influence of human resource factors on gender disparity among ECDE teachers. The study was supported by social role theory. A descriptive survey study design was used, which is primarily concerned with the generic statistics that derive from the extraction of data from respondents. The area of study was Kakamega East sub-county, situated in Kakamega County, Kenya. The target population was 1,106, including head teachers, deputy head teachers, teachers, program officers, and quality assurance officers (QUASO). Data was collected from a sample of 260, comprising 37 head teachers, 37 deputy head teachers, and 184 teachers, using questionnaires and interviews. A pilot study was conducted to appropriately validate the research instruments in advance before the real research commenced. Cronbach’s alpha (α) as a coefficient method to establish the reliability of the research instruments revealed a coefficient of 0.783, which shows that the instrument was reliable. Data was collected from the teachers in line with the three study objectives using questionnaires and interview schedules. Data obtained from the research instruments were analyzed inferentially and descriptively with the help of a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 22. Quantitative data was summarized to quantify the strength of the association between the variables, and the researcher conducted a regression analysis to establish the effect of selected factors on gender disparity. Results were presented in tables. The findings revealed that human resource factors have a positive influence on gender disparity (t = 14.572, p<0.05) and explain 45.9% of the variance. It was concluded that human resource factors had a significant influence on gender disparity in the early childhood education profession. It was therefore recommended that human resource factors be considered in the recruitment of early ECD teachers. It is hoped that this study may help policymakers consider encouraging males to enroll in ECDE teaching.

Instructional illustrations in children's learning between normative and realism: An evaluation study.

Many studies indicate the importance of including the instructional illustrations (pictures, drawings, concrete objects …etc.) in childhood education learning materials and employing them in a way that suits the psychological and cognitive levels of young children. In this context, the current study aimed to develop a list of standards to be considered and adopted in designing instructional illustrations, and to reveal the perceptions of childhood teachers about the extent to which these standards are considered in instructional illustrations used in children's learning materials. The participants were childhood education teachers in the Jordanian region of Irbid, who were randomly selected. Two hundred thirty-four teachers completed the questionnaire online. The scale consisted of a total of 34 items distributed over four dimensions. The results showed that the scores of teachers' estimation about employing design standards in the instructional illustrations used in childhood education came at low levels, ranging from average to low, and did not reach high ratings. The study also revealed that there is an impact attributed to teaching experience on teachers' perceptions about the extent to which these standards are employed in instructional illustrations, while there is no impact of gender, academic qualification, or the classes taught by the teachers.

Teacher self-correction of conceptual error: Fictionalisation and shifting epistemological stance in early childhood education teaching

Teachers making errors in explanation that require subsequent self-correction is presumably common in education. However, it may be difficult to capture in research. In this study, teacher self-correction in the context of early childhood science education within a fictive frame was captured on video when documenting science activities over a prolonged time. How the teachers address the error they discover in their teaching and work in correcting it in subsequent activities are analyzed. The error identified and addressed concerns the distinction between a tornado and a dust devil (dust vortex). The empirical data consist of video recordings of teachers-children interaction in Swedish preschool. The participating children are 4 to 5 years old. The findings clarify how the teachers in addressing and correcting the conceptual error uses different semiotic means, with a particular emphasis on the coordination of gesturing and verbal explication when contrasting and explaining the different phenomena. The analysis also clarifies how the fictive character employed leads to a shift in epistemic status of the teachers to becoming co-learners with the children. How addressing and amending errors in explanation may function in deepening meaning making rather than working detrimental to it is discussed.

Factors influencing the selection of university studies in early childhood education

This research analyzes the factors that may influence the moment in which students opt for university studies oriented to Early Childhood Education teaching. An exploratory and descriptive cross-sectional research was designed, under a non-experimental quantitative approach and with a non-probabilistic convenience sampling. A total of 157 university students from public and private institutions participated in the study, which was conducted using a questionnaire with 4 dimensions and 31 items. The vast majority agreed that the Early Childhood Education stage is important for children's development, this being the most important factor when opting for university studies leading to teaching at this stage. It is concluded that intrinsic motivations are the most influential on students, although the family and close context can also be determinant.

Introduction to Research-Based Practice: A Study of Students in the Early Childhood Education Teaching Degree Programme

This article analyses the projects and evaluations of certain students seeking a degree in Early Childhood Education regarding research-based practice. Three academic years are studied using different students each year and different databases and scientific resources. In the final year, problem-based learning (PBL) is introduced to offer a more practical and professional context. The data are collected yearly through a quantitative and qualitative study of the students’ projects and a student-completed survey. The results differ depending on the databases used, the resources selected and the methodology used to start the task, among other factors. Four scales are categorized: usefulness, learning, interest and difficulty. In general, the results improve year over year, highlighting the very high perceived usefulness of research for future professionals and a high degree of learning about searching for and understanding certain research resources. Issues such as the influence of research-based practice on the continuous training of students and future teachers, the advantages and difficulties, the importance of active learning methodologies, the need to understand research topics and the implications in the educational context are presented and discussed.
 
 Received: 20 October 2022 / Accepted: 2 February 2023 / Published: 5 March 2023

Developing and Sustaining a Gender-Balanced Early Childhood Teaching Profession

There is a need for gender representation, equality, inclusion, and professional balance in the Early Childhood Education teaching profession just the way it is done in other professions. A mixed team in the provisions for young children has the potential to contribute to a new culture in childcare, with men and women dividing the tasks evenly between them. This is an important step towards equal opportunities for men and women, in which the future generation will also be involved. This study examined developing and sustaining a genderbalanced early childhood teaching profession. The explanatory sequential design of a mixedmethod approach was adopted for this study which involves the integration of quantitative and qualitative research approaches where the qualitative method is designed to further explain the quantitative results. In this study, the quantitative approach was explored more extensively than the qualitative one. The qualitative data was used in the subsequent interpretation for clarification of the results from the quantitative data analysis. In light of the findings from the study, it is recommended that the education workforce must challenge stereotypes and demonstrates gender equality opportunities for young children, and provides them with a more accurate reflection or example of the gender mix of their community. Training programmes, conferences, and school-toschool workshops will be organized by the researcher and other experts in the field of early childhood education to sensitize schools, educational recruiting firms, and institutions about the importance of developing and sustaining a gender-balanced early childhood teaching profession. Also, schools should encourage more participation of fathers in academic and non-academic activities so they can be more involved, and the children will in turn gain and experience substantial support.

Exploring preservice teachers’ belief changes during early childhood education teaching practicum in China: A case study

ABSTRACT This study explored changes in preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching in early childhood education during teaching practicums in China. Data from four preservice teachers’ beliefs were collected through interviews and reflection journals. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s theory, an ecological system framework was used to explore the change factors. The findings indicated two change orientations: elaboration and integration. Elaboration incorporated situated reflection, positive emotions, and interactions with children and mentors to explain belief change. Consistency between practices and beliefs with positive emotions and strong agency reinforced their beliefs. Integration of beliefs can be ascribed to teaching dilemmas that arouse negative emotions, parental expectations, and the field school’s culture, which weaken agency and social culture in the ecological framework’s nested system. Therefore, belief change can be attributed to individual factors that interact with the ecological system. The study elucidates how changes occur in preservice teachers’ beliefs. Teacher education programmes should address the constraints and enabling factors during teaching practicum.

O estágio de docência da educação infantil: uma experiência em tempos de pandemia

This work aims to report the experience of the Early Childhood Education Teaching Internship held virtually during the year 2021, space-time of the Covid 19 pandemic. Is configured as an essential curricular component of the pedagogical project of the pedagogy course. Through the reading of articles, meetings, dialogues with the advisor and interview with the supervising teacher, the need arose to develop a Practical Guide for Conducting Guided Play in the Nursery, with the objective of expanding the possibilities of work of the supervising teacher with directed games that promoted the development and learning of children as a guiding axis of pedagogical and curricular practices. The results point to indications that during the development of the games proposed in the Practical Guide in the day care center, it was possible to identify through the teacher's report that the games provided the children's movement, affection and interaction. In these collective games, they learned to share situations of gain and loss with others, where they are linked to facing situations of frustration that are common to adult life. From the wealth of experiences in the supervised internship, we understand that the description of the experience can corroborate for reflection and planning of the supervised internship, as well as stimulate pedagogical actions that have play and interactions as their axis.

Characteristics of classroom space as educational settings shown in drawings of freshmen in early childhood education and inservice teachers

Characteristics of classroom space as educational settings shown in drawings of freshmen in early childhood education and inservice teachers

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.

Who’s teaching the teachers? An exploration of early childhood teacher preparation program faculty’s cultural competence, work burnout, and teaching efficacy

ABSTRACT Over recent decades, the demographic composition of children in the United States has rapidly shifted, culturally and linguistically. Concomitantly, there has been an increased need for early childhood education (ECE) teacher preparation programs to develop a culturally competent ECE workforce who are equipped to provide equitable learning experiences for culturally and linguistically diverse children and families. Given increasing attention and calls from education researchers, policymakers, and other partners to develop a culturally competent ECE workforce, the current study sought to explore program faculty’s cultural competence, specifically their culturally and linguistically responsive (CLR) teaching practices, and its association with feelings of work burnout and perceived teaching efficacy – two factors likely to be influenced by such heightening demands and to impact pre-service teachers’ own teaching competencies. Using structural equation modeling, the current study examined survey responses from 117 program faculty measuring their cultural competence and its association with feelings of work burnout and teaching efficacy. Analyses indicated that, overall, program faculty with higher levels of cultural competence reported minimal feelings of work burnout and higher teaching efficacy, and vice versa. Findings from the current study provide important research and practice strategies for the field of ECE teacher preparation.

Supporting language, culture and identity using Pacific picturebooks

In Aotearoa New Zealand, populations of Pacific peoples increased by 45% between 2006 and 2018 (Statistics New Zealand, 2018). Consequently, teachers need to be equipped with knowledge, skills, and resources to be able to respond to Pacific learners and communities appropriately and effectively. This article presents findings from a research project that identified 90 picturebooks featuring Pacific peoples and stories published since 2013, and analysed them for representations of Pacific culture, values, and languages. In this article, we present a thematic analysis of 10 picturebooks exploring their potential as pedagogical resources to support early childhood education (ECE) teachers in developing cultural competencies for working with Pacific learners and their families.

Artificial Intelligence applied to smart interfaces for children’s educational games

Games for entertainment and fun are consolidated on the market. In this sense, using games to develop teaching material can help in the early childhood education teaching process. Students can learn content in a practical and fun way. A common problem in educational games is the way the game interface is presented to the player. Some developers do not give much attention to the adaptive details of children’s game interfaces. Each child has a different motor evolution to play and the game interface shown on the mobile device screen should adapt to this. This factor can help or hinder the student’s learning process when applying teaching methodology through an educational game. This paper describes an experimental study on artificial intelligence techniques used to customize educational game interfaces according to the player’s profile. Thus, the game components are adapted in real-time for a better player experience. The empirical results indicate that children who used the proposed approach achieved superior performance compared with those who did not use the approach. Aspects related to the number of correct answers by the child were evaluated with regard to visual aspects, soundtrack, positioning of objects on the screen, and mobile device rotation. Other points evaluated were the patterns related to where the child made mistakes and the automatic adjustments made to improve the number of correct answers of the players participating in the study.

Early Childhood between a Rock and a Hard Place: Early Childhood Education and Students' Disruption in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan.

Looking through the lens of ecological system theory, this paper used a mixed-method approach, based on 20 interviews and 208 Early Childhood Education (ECE) teacher questionnaires, to elaborate the position of ECE in Pakistan. The study indicates that ECE is between a rock and a hard place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The findings further show that ECE is provided by less qualified and inexperienced teachers, who give less attention to the physical and psychological needs of the students. The classrooms are overcrowded and lack relevant teaching–learning materials. Moreover, the single-teacher policy and overcrowded classrooms hinder students’ motivation, the delivery of quality education and the development of good behaviors. These challenges are also the main causes of students’ dropouts. This paper increases people’s understanding of ECE and its challenges in Pakistan. For ECE development, the paper recommends separating ECE from primary schools and giving it a budget to purchase adequate and relevant resources.

When less expected problems become critical: first-year teaching in early childhood classes

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to explore preservice early childhood education (ECE) teachers’ expectations and concerns before they started their careers and the challenges they faced in the first year. Sixteen preservice ECE teachers from the same teacher education programme in Turkey were interviewed about their expectations for their first year before their graduation. Then, they were interviewed at the end of the first and the second semesters about their experiences and difficulties of teaching in public schools, and the positive aspects of their work. Although participants were aware of many difficulties in public schools, some of the challenges they faced in disadvantaged school settings, such as infrastructural inadequacies, non-curricular tasks, and material shortages, were beyond their initial anticipation and not in line with their teacher education programme experiences. Teacher education programmes should provide pre-service teachers with experiences in disadvantaged school settings to be better prepared.

Comparative analysis of digital competency between current teachers and pre-service teachers of early childhood education

Comparative analysis of digital competency between current teachers and pre-service teachers of early childhood education