Education In Early Years Research Articles

The first 5 years of teaching science: The beliefs, knowledge, practices, and opportunities to learn of secondary science teachers

AbstractThe early years of teaching are important for science teachers, but little is known about how science teachers develop professionally in their early years. This mixed methods study took a longitudinal view of the early years of teaching. Following 95 secondary science teachers over a 5‐year period, this study examined the beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and practices of the teachers during and after their induction programming. It drew upon the conceptual framework of opportunities to learn to contemplate the experiences of the teachers in relationship to their beliefs, PCK, and practices. Interviews and observations comprised the data in the study, which were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively and then integrated to understand the teachers' development. The quantitative analysis revealed that the early career teachers experienced no significant change in their beliefs over time but did experience significant change in their PCK and in some of their instructional practices. The qualitative analysis highlighted the difficulty in changing the instruction of the teachers, administrative decisions that constrained or contributed to the learning of the new teachers, and the different professional learning opportunities new teachers drew upon over time. These results suggest that early professional development experiences provided some support for the newly hired teachers, but not enough to challenge their beliefs or establish the instructional repertoires envisioned in the science education reforms. To better support the development of early career science teachers, they need strategic learning opportunities over time that involve administrators, colleagues, and science teacher educators.

Parental Involvement Strategies and Challenges in Development of Pupils’ Literacy Skills in the Implementation of Competency Based Curriculum in Early Years Education in Kenya

Parents are the first teachers of a child and can greatly influence a child’s performance in school. This paper is a report of a study that was carried out in the year 2021on parental involvement strategies and challenges in the development of pupils’ literacy skills in the implementation of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) in Early Years Education (EYE) in Kenya. The study adopted a qualitative research methodology and a descriptive research design. This study was anchored on Epstein’s theory on parental involvement in education. The target population consisted of teachers and parents in Early Years Education level in private and public schools in Kapseret Sub-County, Uasin-Gishu County in Kenya. Stratified and simple random sampling methods were used to select six private schools and six public schools to participate in the study. One parent in every school was selected through convenience sampling method. A total of twelve teachers and six parents participated in the study. Data was collected using interviews. The study found out that teachers were involving parents in the development of pupils’ literacy skills through reading and writing activities, home-work exercises, acquisition of reading and writing materials, and use of story-telling and singing pre-reading activities. From the findings, the most serious challenges experienced were lack of cooperation and limitations of time by some parents; limitations of reading and writing materials especially in the public schools; and limited knowledge and skills by teachers and parents on CBC philosophy and principles. The public schools were more challenged on parental engagement compared to the private schools. The study recommended that the government should escalate capacity building seminars for teachers; schools should organize parental awareness seminars; the government should provide adequate reading and writing materials in public schools; and parents be sensitized to create more time for their children’s education. This study is significant as it informs the implementation of the CBC for Kenya and elsewhere and enhancement of parent-teacher relationships in children’s literacy development.

The interrelationship between pre-primary and early primary school teachers’ learning in the professional community and burnout: a person-centered approach

ABSTRACT Teacher learning is crucial in terms of good quality education in early years and, respectively teachers’ professional communities are crucial for teacher learning. The meaning of engagement in collaborative learning and resources available in professional community are emphasized in educational reforms. In this study, we explored teachers’ perceptions of the resources for learning within their professional community in terms of knowledge sharing, the professional recognition received and a constructive work climate in the beginning of national curriculum reform. Individual variation in these factors was explored using latent profile analysis with a sample of 272 pre-primary and early primary school teachers. Moreover, association with the experience of burnout symptoms was examined. Three distinct profiles were identified: High fit; High recognition; Moderate knowledge sharing and fit. The results showed that teachers in the High fit profile experienced less cynicism towards the professional community. The study sheds light on the role of the recognition received from co-workers and a constructive and enabling work climate for the increased capacity to construct shared knowledge in the context of curriculum reform, and for buffering experienced cynicism.

Supporting and Retaining Early Career Mathematics Teachers Using an Online Community of Practice

This study reports on efforts over several years to design and implement a yearlong intervention intended to support secondary mathematics teachers in their early years of teaching. The intervention is designed to retain early career mathematics teachers in the professions by engaging them in the development of meaningful professional relationships with a school-based mentors, and by creating an online community of practice for support with other professionals. The intervention itself consists of early career teachers and their mentors participating in monthly professional learning activities such as online meetings, videoconferencing panels with experts, and collaborative reading and discussing timely, purposeful, and relevant content. The intervention is designed to not over burden the participants and to be feasible for national implementation with little to no funding. This article presents the purpose, design, and implementations of the intervention, as well as a discussion of challenges faced and potential next steps and future directions for similar work.

Taking every opportunity

Sometimes opportunities come up but it is up to us to take them. Poppy Turnock, teaching assistant in a foundation phase and BA (Hons) student (Early Years Education and Care: Early Years Practitioner) shares her journey towards working in the early years and her plans for the future.

ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS ON THE USE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN ESL CLASSROOM IN CAMEROON

Education in the local languages can be one of the means for improving the living conditions of the disadvantaged rural population. The obstacle to Education remains the use of foreign languages for teaching and learning in the early years of primary education. The advent of independence was considered the gateway to complete eradication of the colonial past. On contrary, colonial teaching practices, involving the use of foreign languages, continue to dominate the classrooms. This article revisits the issue of language of instruction in the early years of primary schools in Bafut after many years of mother tongue education implementation. It examines the effect of using English, a foreign language in teaching indigenous Bafut children, in the suburbs who do not have the opportunity to acquire English to the level necessary for effective engagement with the curriculum. The study investigates the opinions and attitude of primary school teachers toward teaching using an indigenous language (Bafut). The researcher used triangulation, involving a variety of data sources including classroom observation, interview, focus group discussion and documentation. Data was collected from twenty four primary school teachers from six purposively selected primary schools in Bafut. The findings revealed attitudinal barriers to using the mother tongue as language of instruction in early years of education. After many years of sensitization, and many admirable polices developed throughout Africa, the efficiency of their implementation is questionable. English and French continue to receive exclusive attention in the classroom as the language of instruction and examinations, whereas the role of Mother Tongue has remained undefined. This had yielded ample evidence to question current practices and suggest the need to adopt new approaches in language use in education.

Moving to The Beats: The Effect of Dance Education on Early Self-Regulation

Self-regulation in children is an important thing that needs to be prepared from an early age. Besides affecting children's school readiness, this also makes it easier for children to have good academic achievements. This study aims to determine the influence of moving to the beat of early childhood self-regulation. This research was conducted on kindergarten group B students in East Jakarta. The research method used is a quasi-experiment method with a sample of 20 students. The data collection technique uses observations by analysing paired t-test statistical data. The results of the study explained that there was a significant effect of moving to the beat of early childhood self-regulation. The significance level is 0.000 < 0.05, which means that H0 is rejected and H1 is accepted, this indicates a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test. For further research, it is recommended to look at the influence of other factors on early childhood self-regulation.
 Keywords: Beats, Early childhood, Moving, Self-Regulation

Relationship between Instructional Leadership and Implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum in Early Years Education in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Globally, learning institutions at primary school level experience a gap in instructional leadership that fosters curriculum implementation. Research has established that those instructional leaders (heads of schools) determine the impact that teaching and learning processes in school has on learners’ academic performance. This study was designed to establish the extent of implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum in early years education in public and private schools. The study was also to determine the relationship between instructional leadership and implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in early years education in Kenya. The study was guided by Michael Fullan’s Theory of Change. The dependent variable was implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum in early years education while the independent variable was instructional leadership. E-questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data which was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods. The results showed there was no difference in the implementation of curriculum between private and public primary schools. The relationship between instructional leadership and implementation of competency-based curriculum was significant at 0.05. The results also indicated that most head teachers focused more on administrative roles than activities that support curriculum implementation. It was therefore recommended that for effective curriculum implementation in early years education, head teachers needed to be intentionally trained on how to support teachers and learners in the related processes

Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge on Drawing in the Acquisition of Communication Skills in Early Years Education in Kenya

Studies globally and regionally indicate a low reading and communication attainment by children, with 90% of them in 3 rd world countries not attaining the average levels required. The majority across Africa struggle to read and communicate, which leads to meagre academic performance, Kenya is no exception to this trend. This scenario has been associated partly with challenges related to communication skills acquisition. Therefore, how teachers' aid learners to obtain the ability to converse is a question in this study. This study sought to explore Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of drawing; The study was guided by Piaget’s Cognitive theory. The study adopted a pragmatic philosophical approach which allows for a mixed method research design. The study's population comprised of 6 ECDE sub-county EYE program officers, 1201 EYE schools and EYE teachers and 53,276 PP2 class learners in Nandi County. The study stratified Nandi County into six sub-counties and used Yamane formula to arrive at the sample of schools. 300 teachers, one per school was purposely sampled out and 15 teachers were selected through convenience sampling for the interviews. Non-Proportionate purposive sampling was used to pick the drawings from the pupils. A census of 6 EYE program officers was picked as respondents. The research instruments used in this study were questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis. A mixed approach research design was used whereby quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data were analyzed using themes. The study found that there is a significant positive relationship between the teachers' pedagogical content knowledge on drawing and use in the acquisition of communication skills in Early years education (β1=0.206, p<0.05). This was supported by views of the teachers and program officers who were interviewed and documents analyzed. The study concluded that the majority of EYE teachers are not adequately prepared with content knowledge on drawing and that drawing is an effective tool in Early Years Education and teachers can utilize it to assist learners acquire their communication skills. Therefore, the study recommends refresher courses and further training, especially on the Early Years Education curriculum design, to improve the teachers' pedagogy in drawing.

Relationship between School Climate and Early Years Teachers Professional Identity in Kenya

This mixed methods research examined the relationship between school climate and early year’s teachers’ professional identity. Using a sample of 220 teachers in 44 schools, the researcher established that early years teachers’ professional identity was weak and school climate had an effect on the teachers’ professional identity. This article’s findings confirmed that among school climate variables safety in school, high teacher-pupil ratio, lack of adequate physical facilities, teachers not involved in decision making, poor working environment, heavy work load and lack of enough teaching-learning materials, as having a negative impact on the teachers professional identity. Lastly, in order to boost EYET (Early Years Education Teachers) professional identity, provision of positive climates in schools was found to be imperative.

Assessment of Oral Health Behaviour & Self Practice among Hazrat Bari Sarkar Medical & Dental Students using the Hiroshima University - Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU - DBI)

Objectives: To assess oral health behaviour & self-practice among HBS undergraduate medical & dental students in Islamabad, Pakistan & to evaluate the variations in oral health behaviour & self-practice based on age, gender, academic program (MBBS/BDS) & education year.Methods: Hiroshima University Dental Behaviour Inventory (HU-DBI) questionnaire in English version consisting of 20 dichotomous responses (Agree/Disagree) was self-administered among 300 undergraduate medical & dental students of HBS Medical & Dental College in Islamabad. Three hundred medical and dental students were selected by convenience sampling. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the month of October 2019 & 38 questionnaire forms were excluded from the study which was incomplete & data was analysed on 262 (51 from dental & 211 from medical students) student's responses using SPSS Version 24 and statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.Results: The mean age of students who participated in the study was 21.26 ± 1.90 years with a total number of 109 males & 153 females. A significantly higher HU-DBI score was observed among students from higher years of education only (p-value of 0.015). The majority of students (80.1%) brush their teeth daily. About 64.5% of students mentioned that they use toothbrushes & 15.6% used miswak on daily basis for cleaning their teeth. About 88.6% of students did not use mouthwash & toothpicks regularly.Conclusion: It can be concluded from the results that students belonging to higher years of education showed improved oral health behaviour and attitude as compared to the early years of education. Overall health behaviour observed was adequate.

Difficulties in Learning and Teaching Programming at Lower Secondary Level in Mauritius

The rapid evolution of technology around the world has created a rapid growth and efficient learning environments. In Mauritius, for example, the government is investing huge amount of money in the educational sector with initiation of programming at an early stage. The ideology behind this push is to strengthen the link between the younger generation and the technological growth that will continue to have an ever-increasing impact on their lives and to fuel the pace of innovation. One of the core themes of this area is that of computer programming, which has now become a mandatory subject in early years’ education. As a result of this change, many challenges are being faced by educators and students; for example, educators require more training and students need appropriate tools that suit their level of learning. Therefore, this research aimed at exploring the difficulties in learning and teaching programming at lower secondary schools in Mauritius. Consequently, it can be interpreted from the research findings that an automated teaching and learning programming system that supports the right pedagogical aspects, example, assessment-driven learning with the inclusion of game-based learning, would make the learning process more successful and enjoyable for students in early years of education. Students with higher problem-solving abilities find programming easy and they can master programming with no or little difficulties regardless of the programming environment. On the contrary, students with lower problem-solving abilities find programming difficult to understand and are often unable to master it.

Teaching Religion OR about Religion: The Paradox of Religious Education in Secondary Schools in Uganda

The article reviews the teaching of Religious Education in schools in Uganda. Uganda is a religiously pluralistic country with Christianity and Islam the most popular. Ugandans are theists, their worldview is religious and they are passionate about their faiths. Therefore, Religious Education is a fundamental subject since the early years of education as it marked the beginning of formal education in Uganda. However, whilst Uganda has a diversity of religions such as Christianity with its different sects, Islam and its sects, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, the education system considers only Islam and Christianity. Therefore, the article discusses whether the teaching of Religious Education where only Christianity and Islam are considered is justified to be referred to as Religious Education. The article concludes that there is a mismatch between the NCDC (2008) stated goals, objectives and content of Religious Education. The objectives and goals portray a false image that RE is intended to expose learners and to achieve educational purposes. Yet, the content, approaches and teaching methods are quite contradictory. The implementation of RE in Uganda is purely confessional; it does not aim at educational goals but at deepening learners' faith distinctively. Instead of teaching about religion, learners are taught religion. The article is based on documentary analysis of the Religious Education curriculum, syllabi and teachers' and learners' handbook documents. In addition, the article analysed literature about the teaching of Religious Education including the aims and goals of Religious Education, the pedagogical approaches, methods and techniques in Religious Education in modern pluralistic communities. In identifying the appropriate literature, suitable databases were identified and used Boolean operators and proper search terms, phrases and conjunctions were used. To further ensure the credibility of the reviewed publications for analysis, only peer-reviewed journal articles with ISBN numbers and Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) were used

Parents’ Beliefs and Attitudes on Their Children’s Distance Education Performance during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greek Preschool Settings

Background: Current research and the bibliography suggest that both synchronous and asynchronous distance education in the early years of education is a new era to explore the teaching of young children.
 Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the extent of use of online classroom platforms in early years, both in the private and public sector, and to correlate parents' attitudes towards children’s behavioral changes during the pandemic lockdown in Greece.
 Methodology: The participants were 216 parents with preschool-aged children (between 2:6 to 4:0 years) in Greek pre-school settings in two cities of North and West Greece. A questionnaire on the use of ICT during the pandemic Covid -19 and its’ outcomes was distributed online to all parents. The parents' perception was generally negative and was not preferred to frontal teaching, while they were not satisfied with the results.
 Results: A remarkable percentage of children did not participate in online education due to their parents' attitude on the appropriateness of their age to participate in online education. However, the deterrent attitude of parents was not related to their level of education and willingness to help their children. The parents' perception was generally negative and was not preferred to frontal teaching, while they were not satisfied with the results. As far as the implementation of distance education is concerned, private broadcasters have introduced more synchronous distance education compared to public ones. Finally, there were positive correlations between asynchronous distance learning of 1-3 hours per day and children's irritability, as well as feelings of stress and anxiety and asynchronous distance learning of more than 6 hours per day. The correlation between children's distraction and asynchronous distance learning for 1-3 hours per day was negative.
 Conclusion: Further discussions for policy makers and teachers are planned.

How many men work in the English early years sector? Why is the low figure so ‘stubbornly resistant to change’?

AbstractThis study draws on data from the GenderEYE project, research conducted in England between 2018 and 2020, which aimed to examine the recruitment, support and retention of male teachers within early years education (EYE) with a view of developing a more gender diverse workforce in this sector. Data collection was by means of a survey, 9 case studies with early years settings and interviews with key stakeholders. In this study, we examine a key finding about the persistently low numbers of male EYE professionals, linking this to another finding concerning a lack of specific strategy to recruit and support men.

Polish Medical Students' Knowledge Regarding Human Papillomavirus's Ways of Transmission, Risk of Cancer Development and Vaccination, and Their Intention to Recommend Vaccination.

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with six types of cancer in men and women. A vaccine against HPV, preferably administered before initial sexual intercourse, has been proven to be highly effective in preventing these cancers. An effective healthcare provider recommendation has significant influence on HPV vaccine uptake; therefore, it is critical that medical students receive comprehensive training in this area. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of medical students regarding Human Papillomavirus’s (HPV) ways of transmission, risk of cancer development, and vaccination against HPV. This study also investigated factors among medical students that would affect their intention to recommend HPV vaccination to others. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among 1061 (678 women and 383 men) medical students who filled in our questionnaire. The medical students were divided into two subgroups: (1) pre-clinical medical students (MS pre-clinical; first-to third-year students; n = 683) and (2) clinical medical students (MS clinical; fourth-to six-year students; n = 378). Results: A total259 (24.41%) of the 1061 medical students were vaccinated against HPV. We found a significant improvement in the general level of knowledge in the later years of education (4–6) compared to the early years of education (1–3). However, it was demonstrated that, despite medical education advancements, there are still significant gaps of knowledge about the relationship between HPV infection and cancers other than cervical cancer, as well as in relation to the routes by which HPV is transmitted. Medical students’ intentions to recommend HPV vaccine to others were related to their own HPV-related knowledge and their own vaccination status. Conclusion: Medical students have gaps of knowledge regarding particular issues and aspects of HPV. It is necessary to further educate medical students in the field of prevention and in the treatment of lesions caused by HPV infection. Medical students’ intention to recommend the HPV vaccine can be improved by including them and members of their families in the HPV vaccination program.

English education in Turkey: Why are we ‘very low level’?

In the education policy of countries, FL education has never played such an important role as it has recently done. Most of the countries decreased FL learning age to the early years of education with a wide array of reasons ranging from the increasing interactions among nations to finding a prosperous occupation. Whatever the reason, every stakeholder expects the results of FL education to be satisfying. However, though some countries achieve better results, some others still fail to succeed as in Turkey. In Turkey, even at tertiary education most of the students are not so good at English which is also officially registered by some tests. Therefore, the current study aimed to scrutinize primary and secondary level English education in Turkey, to compare it to the countries that are among the most successful in learning FLs and in this respect to make suggestions for the improvement of FL education in Turkey. This qualitative study hinged on document analysis of relevant research and texts. As a result, it was found that on paper there are not so many differences among countries. However, having a centralized curriculum in all levels of education, problems in teacher education and training, and incompatibility of FL assessment practices to international tests and to the aims of language teaching are the issues that come into prominence in Turkish FL education and they require immediate action.

Folk Pedagogies of Change: Developing an Early Years Education Development Strategy for China

ABSTRACT Reform initiatives are common throughout the Chinese early years education sector. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of a folk pedagogy of change as a perspective on the systemic barriers to the development of practice which foregrounds some of the tensions within and across these barriers. Our analysis is based on three commissioned literature reviews and site visits with practitioners and parents to Chinese Kindergarten and early years settings. The use of situated learning theory as a perspective for analysing interconnected and interdependent organisations is offered as a way of extending our understanding of educational change. This enables a move beyond a simplistic and essentialist notion of culture which locates implementation problems at the incompatibility of varied cultural perspectives. A folk pedagogy of change can help to understand why a range of educational contexts might be resistant to externally generated ideas for educational change.

Influence of Implementation of the Government Policies on Transition Rate of ECDE Children from Public Preschools to Public Primary School in Kapseret Sub County; Uasin Gishu County

A child’s transition from public preschool to primary is not a single event of change that has only immediate consequences but has its effects on transition rate. The purpose of this study was to assess influence of implementation of the government policies on transition rate of ECDE children from public preschools to public primary school in Kapseret Sub County; Uasin Gishu County. The study was guided by Jean Piaget’s Construvist theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The researcher sampled 171 respondents; including 86 Grade one; two; three teachers; 57 preschool teachers; and 29 headteachers. The research instruments used were questionnaires and interview schedule. The analysis of data was done using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Data from questionnaires was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative method involved descriptive and inferential analysis. Descriptive analysis such as frequencies; percentages were used to present quantitative data in form of tables. Qualitative data from interview schedules were analyzed thematically based on the content of qualitative data and then presented in prose form. The findings were presented in frequency distribution tables. The study findings indicated that implementation of government policies has a positive and significant influence on leaners transition. The study concluded that free primary education policy has improved learners’ transition rate to Grade one. Adoption of Early Years Education Policy has influenced transition to Grade one. Finally; free primary education policy has increased the number of learners in public pre-primary school. The study recommends that primary schools should implement all the government policies by preparing Early Child Development (ECD) children in terms of classrooms; toilets; furniture and adequate qualified teachers.

The mathematics teacher identity of two early career mathematics teachers and the influence of their working communities on its development

To better understand the critical early years of teaching and teacher identity development, this study explored the mathematics teacher identity of two early career middle school mathematics teachers and the influence of their working communities on its development. Emel and Berk graduated from the same reform-oriented teacher education program and were working in fundamentally different working communities that could be characterized as reform-unsupportive (Emel) and reform-supportive (Berk). They were interviewed three times and were observed extensively in their working communities. Findings revealed two different teacher identities: Emel exhibited a mathematics teacher identity that was more reform-oriented than non-reform-oriented, and Berk exhibited a non-reform-oriented mathematics teacher identity. Their working communities had influenced their mathematics teacher identity in ways that were both theoretically expected (positive effects of supportive conditions and negative effects of unsupportive conditions) and surprising (positive effects of negative conditions and no effects of positive conditions). The findings are discussed in detail with implications for teacher education programs and supports for early career teachers.