Early Childhood Teacher Education Research Articles

Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs about Children’s Participation and Possibilities for Their Transformation during Initial Teacher Education

Pedagogy emphasises children’s participation in education as a child’s right and a prerequisite for learning and democratic education. However, studies show that participatory practices are not dominant in early childhood education (ECE). This calls for focused interventions during initial teacher education (ITE) to rectify this shortfall. This study examined pre-service teachers’ beliefs about children’s participation, exploring the effects of a targeted intervention during ITE in transforming pre-service teachers’ beliefs about a participatory paradigm in ECE. Pre-service teachers from three universities completed an open-ended questionnaire, both prior to and following the intervention, as well as a self-rating scale with open- and closed-ended questions post-intervention. The results displayed the variety of pre-service teachers’ beliefs, revealing the possibilities for their transformation after the intervention. The shifts observed in the pre-service teachers’ thinking after the intervention showed a shift in terms of the meaning of participation, their recognition of children’s abilities and rights, their ability to criticise the controlling role of the teacher, and their awareness of strategies to enhance co-decision-making processes in ECE. This study provides teacher educators with an understanding of the content of and ways to design interventions to foster participatory pedagogies in ECE during ITE.

Neuroscience-Based Information and Communication Technologies Development in Elementary School Mathematics through Games: A Case Study Evaluation

Universities play a pivotal role in knowledge production and in transforming teaching methodologies across various subjects. This research is a case study detailing the pedagogical implementation of a game-based methodological approach in a dual-degree program for primary and early childhood education teachers. The focus is on integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) tools for mathematics, specifically Scratch and GeoGebra, underpinned by principles of neuroscience. Based on a sample of 28 students, this study adopted game-based learning (GBL) in mathematics exercises, aimed at equipping student-teachers with strategies for educating future students (ages 7 to 11) in the 3rd to the 6th grade. Key areas of focus included plane and spatial geometry, requiring student-teachers to design game-like activities, emulating the problem-solving approaches of children. The culmination of this study involved presentations by the student-teachers, demonstrating how neuroscience principles can enhance the creation of educational games for primary school students. The findings highlight a significant divergence between the reality of teaching mathematics and the preconceived notions held by the student-teachers. This study opens avenues for integrating neuroscience into education, particularly through GBL, but also highlights the need for comprehensive understanding and application of neuroscientific principles to maximize learning outcomes.

Teaching geography in a public daycare center in Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brazil

This study aims to analyze the importance of pedagogical practices in children's development with emphasis on teaching geography in a public daycare in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Imperatriz, second largest city in the state of Maranhão. Qualitative research consisted of applying an open questionnaire to teachers of early childhood education. The data pointed out the importance of interaction between teacher-student, in its personal and professional aspects, observing pedagogical practices from the way children are inserted in the school environment to the games developed as a technique of however, in the geographical scope these practices are not well delimited, but are applied concomitantly with the teaching of other disciplines, through interdisciplinarity.

Early Childhood Education Teacher Training Effectiveness Study

Since 2019, China has endorsed a series of initiatives supporting the training of early childhood education teachers. With numerous higher vocational institutions introducing early childhood education programs, there is a growing interest in assessing the effectiveness of short-term training. This study investigates the efficacy of early childhood education training methods by conducting a satisfaction survey among students. It examines the interconnections between effectiveness and political, economic, and cultural factors. Employing a questionnaire survey approach, participants include undergraduate students majoring in early childhood education, interns, teachers in early childhood education institutions, and university faculty members.

Connect the dots: connecting problem solving and videogames in initial training of early childhood education teachers

Video games, although not originally designed for educational purposes, have the potential to serve as a significant tool in creating an efficient and motivating learning environment that facilitates the acquisition of mathematical concepts or notions. This study aims to examine the responses provided by students (n = 100) majoring in Early Childhood Education to the video game “Connect the dots” concerning the opportunities it offers. These opportunities encompass the knowledge and notions that can be addressed, strategies employed to overcome various stages or levels in comparison to those posed for problem-solving, potential modifications for classroom integration or the exploration of alternative concepts, as well as the emotions evoked in a non-traditional learning environment. The responses were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively to gain a deeper understanding of their alignment with the research objectives and questions. Our data show that the students demonstrated the ability to identify the possibilities offered by a video game for classroom application and to envision alternative approaches to mathematical knowledge teaching.

Sprawstwo nauczycieli edukacji wczesnoszkolnej w pracy z podręcznikiem szkolnym

Introduction: Schoolbooks are the basic didactic tool in early childhood education classes. As evidenced by numerous research reports, their content is significantly diversified in terms of quality. However, empirical research providing insight into teachers’ experiences of working with school textbooks is lacking. Research Aim: This study examines how teachers influence the use of a school textbook. It looks at their views on daily work with textbooks, the advantages and disadvantages they perceive, and their responses to these observations. Method: Six focus group interviews with 37 early childhood education teachers were conducted. The collected material was subsequently subjected to meaning-oriented content analysis. Results: On the basis of the collected data, it was established that teachers construe textbooks as: predestined fate, a stabilizing factor in the didactic process, a tool for everyday work, a subject- matter expert and a surety of their responsibility for the learning process. The work of educators with the school textbook is characterized by conformity, limited flexibility, adaptation to the range of children’s aptitudes, rationalization and, in rare cases, resistance. Conclusions: With respect to working with school textbooks, the agency of teachers manifests itself only as a superficial response to the identified shortcomings, without an autonomous approach to the content as well as tasks and instructions in school textbooks. Such a conclusion may offer grounds for a pedagogical discussion on the limitations and needs of training early education teachers in terms of enhancing their agency while working with a school textbook.

Acknowledging Sámi as indigenous people in early childhood teacher education in Finland – A study in the light of values, knowledge, and competencies

The study examines if and how the Sámi, their languages, culture, and rights as indigenous people are acknowledged in early childhood teacher education in Finland. In addition, it assesses what kinds of competencies connected to language, culture and rights are taught in early childhood teacher training programmes and what competencies future teachers need to develop. The data consists of focus group discussions with teacher educators from two universities. The discussions, led by the corresponding authors, included semi-structured questions, analysed using inductive content analysis. The results show that early childhood teacher educators see a discrepancy between the idealistic formulations in the different steering documents and the, at times, more complex real world. While the languages, culture, and rights of the indigenous Sámi people are acknowledged in different courses at both universities, teacher educators find it difficult to have more in-depth discussions because of their position as outsiders and a lack of knowledge. However, they also see the importance of better acknowledging the Sámi and their rights so that future early childhood teachers have a deeper understanding of the Sámi people, linguistic and cultural diversity within Finland, and additional competencies to support children and their identity construction.

Conceptualisations of multilingualism in early childhood teacher education: Ideological and implementational spaces in policy texts

This paper explores how multilingualism is conceptualised in teacher education policy texts and discuss the ideological and implementational spaces for multilingual pedagogy in teacher education. The main focus is Norwegian early childhood teacher education curricula, and the qualitative oriented content analysis of teacher education curricula documents follows three steps. The first step provides an overview of how the content in Norwegian early childhood teacher education is regulated compared to Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. The second step takes a historical perspective, examining how the conceptualisations of multilingualism in Norwegian ECTE have changed from 1971–2018. The third step involves a close reading of local course plans from 12 different Norwegian higher education institutions. Findings show how curriculum content in Norwegian early childhood teacher education related to multilingualism is far more regulated than in the other Nordic countries. The historical analysis reveals how the ideological and implementational spaces have changed over the years by defining multilingualism differently, and how the current national guidelines open the ideological and implementation spaces for multilingualism. Furthermore, the analysis of the 12 local teacher education programs illustrates how these open spaces are implemented in different ways, either in narrowing further the spaces or broadening the spaces. The discussion revolves around how these spaces require different kinds of competencies for both practitioners and teacher educators.

Factor Affecting Teacher Performance in Jabodetabek

This study seeks to comprehend and assess the factors that affect the performance of early childhood education (PAUD) teachers in the Greater Jakarta area (Jabodetabek). The research sample comprises 180 participants, who are PAUD teachers in Jabodetabek. A snowball sampling technique was utilized for participant selection. The data analysis was carried out using Structural Equation Model (SEM) with the SmartPLS (Partial Least Square) 3.2.8 software, encompassing both outer and inner model assessments to evaluate the research hypotheses. The study's outcomes reveal that self-efficacy, training, and achievement motivation have a substantial impact on the performance of PAUD teachers in Jabodetabek. Furthermore, self-efficacy and training affect the achievement motivation of PAUD teachers in Jabodetabek. Additionally, achievement motivation plays a mediating role in the relationship between self-efficacy, training, and the performance of PAUD teachers in Jabodetabek.

유아교사의 셀프리더십과 교수몰입이 직무만족에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of early childhood teachers’ self-leadership and teaching flow on their job satisfaction, as well as to discover the mediating effects of social support on job satisfaction. The subjects were 357 early childhood teachers who had been asked four questionnaires. The findings of this study were as follows. First, this study revealed positive correlations among the variables of early childhood teacher’s self-leadership, teaching flow, job satisfaction, and social support. Second, this study showed that there were the effects of self-leadership and teaching flow of early childhood teachers on their job satisfaction. Third, there was a mediating effect of social support on job satisfaction of early childhood teachers based on the relationship of the early childhood teachers’ self-leadership and their teaching flow.
 The results of this study signify that self-leadership and teaching flow are important factors to enhance the quality of early childhood education and early childhood teacher’s expertise as well as early childhood teachers’ social support for young children’s development and teacher’s job satisfaction in their experiences.

Neuromotricity in early childhood education. Development tables as an interdisciplinary proposal according to the BAPNE method

The aim of this research is to review the basis of neurodevelopment in early childhood education and provide interdisciplinary development tables that encompass cognitive, kinesthetic, and musical aspects. After reviewing numerous authors, and in order to provide early childhood education teachers with a reliable overview of the subject, we present here tables that are always conditioned by genetic and environmental factors. The development tables offer guidance information in areas such as language, motor coordination, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, spatio-temporal relationships, time horizons, logic, numerical relationships, and rhythmic motor, melodic, and socio-musical aspects, among others. Keywords: Neurodevelopment, Neuromotricity, Bapne, Body percussion, cognitive functions, executive functions.

Relationships between pre-service teachers’ self-reported physical activity and their perceptions of physical education in early childhood teacher education

This study aimed to explore the relationships between Finnish early childhood pre-service teachers’ ( N = 274; aged 20–49; 92% female) self-reported physical activity (PA) and perceptions of their own enjoyment of schooltime physical education (PE), self-evaluation of the content of their current PE studies, perceived importance of PE, and perceived competencies in PE. The one-way analysis of variance revealed that pre-service teachers with higher self-reported levels of PA reported higher scores for perceived importance of PE in supporting a child's physical functionality ( p = 0.004), and perceived competencies to support a child's PA ( p = 0.017) and teach PE ( p = 0.023). Results of independent sample t-tests indicated that pre-service teachers meeting daily PA guidelines reported higher scores for enjoyment of schooltime PE ( p = 0.001) and perceived competence to teach PE ( p = 0.001). Findings highlighted that pre-service teachers’ self-reported PA was positively related to their perceptions of PE, supporting the recommendation within early childhood teacher education to encourage pre-service teachers to engage in PA.

Dress like a winner: mathematical investigations in a design workshop in an early childhood education teacher education programme

ABSTRACT This article investigates alternative ways doing of mathematics in an Early Childhood Education Teacher Programme using aesthetic forms of expression, the body and reflections on ethics, gender and responsibilities in the transition from student teacher at university to a qualified preschool teacher of children aged 4–5 years. The purpose of the article is to explore an interdisciplinary mathematics workshop in which student teachers investigate mathematics with body- and hands-on crafting to better understand how young children experience learning situations. The research design draws on feminist activist social science research, including in-making and crafty research methods. Theoretically and methodologically, inspiration is drawn from relational materialism and Donna Haraway’s scientific engagement with ‘speculative fabulations’ and Anna L. Tsing’s development of ‘arts of noticing’. The study shows that learning mathematics through the body, concrete materials, scientific concepts and fiction can be helpful in the transition from student teacher to preschool teacher.

Early Childhood Education and Care Teachers’ Gaze Behavior Across Pedagogical Episodes in Toddler Groups in Finland

AbstractTeacher–child interaction is central in pedagogical activities in early childhood education and care (ECEC). In these activities, teachers’ visual gaze is a valuable tool for communication, but this has received little attention in ECEC research. Recent technological advancements in eye-tracking provide an approach to take a deeper look at how teachers focus their visual gaze during activities. Our study focused on three ECEC teachers’ visual gaze behavior during pedagogical activities in a group of children under three years of age (later toddlers) in Finland, to gain understanding of how teachers use their gaze to facilitate interactions and pedagogy. The data were collected using eye-tracking glasses in two types of activities: play and guided activity. From these eye-tracking recordings, we identified pedagogical episodes (e.g., guidance). To analyze teachers’ visual gaze behavior, we also coded the fixations to the different areas of interest (e.g., teaching materials). The findings showed that the teachers’ aim for interaction with children was associated with their visual gaze behavior on teacher- and child-initiated episodes. Moreover, the activity's structure and the teacher's position also played a role in how teachers focus their visual gaze. In this article, we also discuss the potential of eye-tracking technology in reflection of practices implemented in ECEC and we argue that the use of eye-tracking technology is an area that merits further exploration.

Heeding the Voices of Pre-Service Early Childhood Education Teachers: Their Beliefs about Early Childhood Science Education and Self-Efficacy for Teaching Science

This cross-sectional survey study aimed to explore pre-service early childhood education teachers’ (PTs) beliefs about (a) the aims and scope of early childhood science education and (b) their self-efficacy beliefs in teaching science to preschool children. A survey consisting of open-ended questions was applied to PTs (N = 130). According to the results, PTs were aware of the importance of science education in early childhood. They mainly focused on the roles of early childhood science education in satisfying curiosity, developing questioning skills, and facilitating understanding of the environment and life. However, most PTs associated science education in early childhood with only natural sciences-related activities and concepts. Moreover, PTs reported low self-efficacy beliefs in teaching science to preschool children due to their lack of experience and theoretical knowledge. This study has some implications for PTs to view science education in early childhood from a comprehensive perspective and improve their self-efficacy.

A context-specific exploration of teacher agency in the promotion of movement and physical activities in early childhood education and care settings

ABSTRACT Early childhood teachers utilise a variety of strategies to promote movement and physical activity (MOPA) in ECEC settings. However, less is known about the processes that underpin these strategies. Using the ecological view of teacher agency, we explored how early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers from the Philippines actively contribute to MOPA promotion. Through in-depth interviews, 25 teachers from public and private early childhood centres in the Philippines shared their teaching experiences relating to the MOPA of young children. Through reflexive thematic analysis of the interviews, we found key experiences among ECEC teachers that illuminate their agency in promoting MOPA. The findings suggest that teacher agency involves processes such as fostering a supportive class atmosphere for MOPA, creating novel MOPA ideas, sharing MOPA with others, and finding solutions to apparent MOPA concerns. We propose that teacher agency deepens our current understanding of ECEC teachers’ contributions in promoting MOPA in ECEC settings. The practical implications of these new ideas are also discussed.

Competências digitais dos futuros professores do ensino pré-escolar e do ensino básico: um estudo de comparações múltiplas

Digital competence is an essential element for the initial training of teachers, as it allows them to integrate digital technologies into their teaching practice. Therefore, the purposes of this study were: (1) to know the self-perceived level of future teachers of Primary Education and Early Childhood Education regarding their digital competences; (2) to compare if there are significant differences in the digital competences between the future teachers of both educational stages; and (3) to identify if there are significant differences in the competences of the future teachers between the different academic courses of the educational degree, for each educational degree. To achieve the objectives, a non-experimental ex post facto study was carried out with a sample of 897 students from the Infant and Primary degrees. The results showed that future teachers have a medium-high self-perceived level of digital competence in both educational degrees, finding significant differences between future teachers of Early Childhood Education and Primary Education, being the latter those who obtained higher scores. For future teachers of the Early Childhood Education stage, significant differences were found between the students of the first and fourth year, while for those of Primary Education, differences were found between all the academic courses, except between the third and fourth. These results suggest that initial teacher training should focus on the development of the digital competences of future teachers, with special attention to the first academic courses.

The arts in early childhood teacher education in China: a question of curriculum balance

ABSTRACT Art education is important for young children, yet the place of the arts in early childhood teacher education (ECTE) has been an unresolved issue. Framed within the conception of curriculum balance, the study aimed to navigate and make sense of the diverse perspectives on how early childhood pre-service teachers should be taught the arts. In the context of ECTE in China, qualitative data were collected from 10 early childhood teacher educators from six universities, 16 early childhood in-service teachers from 11 kindergartens, and four groups of pre-service teachers from four ECTE programmes. Reflexive thematic analysis generated a multi-continuum model that illustrates multi-faceted and gradational curriculum balance in terms of the place of the arts in ECTE.

Within-Year Teacher Turnover in Head Start and Children’s School Readiness

Teachers in early childhood education (ECE) settings are central to providing children with high-quality experiences that promote both early development and long-term well-being; unfortunately, rates of teacher turnover are high in ECE settings. There are strong theoretical reasons to assume turnover is negatively linked with children’s academic and socioemotional development, but few empirical studies test this hypothesis. Using an econometric fixed effects approach in two waves of data from the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, this study provides the first national estimate of the relationship between within-year lead teacher turnover and children’s development in Head Start. I find an annual within-year turnover rate of ~9%, about twice that of K–12, and that turnover is negatively associated with children’s language outcomes alongside suggestive evidence for behavioral outcomes.

Cross-Country Document Analysis of Play-Based Learning in Early Childhood Education in Zambia and Beyond

This research examined the incorporation of play-based learning in Early Childhood Education (ECE) policies across Zambia and twenty other diverse countries. Through document analysis, it uncovers commonalities and disparities in play-based learning principles. While both Zambian and global documents emphasise the significance of play in child development, they differ in scope, regional practices, and emphasis on global advocacy and cultural variations. Zambia’s documents highlight specific practices, while global perspectives offer a broader international view. Both stress the multifaceted benefits of play in physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth. In summary, the findings underscored a global consensus on the significance of play-based learning in early childhood education, emphasising its role in holistic child development. Additionally, they highlighted the imperative of recognising cultural diversity and aligning policies with child rights, particularly in the Zambian context. Furthermore, the recommendations were aimed at bolstering the effectiveness of play-based pedagogies in early childhood education. They advocated for celebrating diversity, fostering holistic development, and ensuring the availability of appropriate resources and guidelines to support this approach. These recommendations ultimately seek to enhance the quality of early childhood education in Zambia by embracing cultural diversity, promoting global collaboration, and aligning play-based pedagogies with local and international best practices.