My thesis deals with the involvement of employers in the provision of child care services in the Czech republic, their legislative options, motivations, and challenges associated with providing these services. In addition to the so-called. "firm" kindergartens governed by the School Low, recently there was established new child care in children's groups. I try to describe and explain the process of creating this new legislation using optics of Multiple Streams Theory. The conducted expert interviews and interviews with representatives of employers helped me with the identification of external motivations and influences mainly from the state and the surrounding environment and internal factors directly related to the organization. Problem areas mainly concern the establishment of the service and its sustainability. At the conclusion of the thesis, there are formulated recommendations that could help a greater involvement of employers in the provision of childcare services.

The importance of school readiness and social-emotional development for children who live in poverty is well established. Head Start programs have championed the development of the whole child across all learning domains. The implementation of the K-12 Common Core State Standards (CCSS) focuses instructional skills on reading language arts, and math. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore Head Start teachers' perceptions and experiences of the CCSS implementation. The study was guided by the constructivist learning framework of Piaget and Dewey. Research questions explored the understanding and effects of the K-12 CCSS implementation from a group of 10 Head Start teachers in high poverty schools in a large urban district in Washington State. Data were collected through observations, interviews, and shared documents. Open coding was employed to look for common topics for thematic analysis. Emergent themes were related to goal setting for students, teacher training, and student development. Key findings showed early childhood teachers have 3 different sets of standards, and teachers in Head Start could not access others besides their own. Findings resulted in a document for early childhood teachers combining the CCSS; Washington State early learning standards; and goals used by Head Start teachers, in literacy, math, and social-emotional skills for children ages 4 to 6. With access to all early childhood goals, teachers can set goals for their students that precede or exceed the guidelines used at their own grade level. Implications for social change are the opportunity for teachers to meet the needs of their students, no matter their skill level, and allow students to excel beyond their classroom setting, toward greater educational opportunities.

Recent charter school enrollment trends suggest that many parents are choosing to enroll students in charter schools instead of traditional public schools, even though data indicate public school achievement is equal to or above charter schools. Guided by Rogers and Maslow's humanistic theory, the purpose of the study was to examine reasons why parents exercised their right to educational choice and chose charter schools instead of traditional public schools for their children. The study focused on two charter schools, the Learning Academy and the School of Excellence (both pseudonyms), which are located in a large urban and suburban school district in Georgia. In this qualitative case study, data collection occurred through focus groups and individual interviews. The information was then coded, and themes were identified. This resulted in rich descriptions of the beliefs and perceptions of 13 classroom teachers, 2 administrators, and 21 parents from the 2 schools studied. Parents interviewed considered student achievement, school climate, and parent involvement opportunities when choosing the charter school. The analyzed data led me to develop a policy recommendation highlighting professional development for teachers and administrators as well as suggestions for increased parental involvement in public schools. This study has the potential to bring about positive social change by providing insights regarding why charter schools are becoming a better choice for parents through the perceptions of parents, teachers, and administrators. School leaders have the option to implement policy recommendations in a way that promotes student learning, positive school climate, and parental engagement, benefiting students within the district.

Despite credible research to support a constructivist-based approach in early childhood programs, policymakers continued to push for a more academic-based philosophy in an effort to reach standardized testing goals. Reggio Emilia, a constructivist-based early childhood philosophy that originated in Northern Italy, has been shown to be an excellent model to facilitate optimum learning in young children. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate parental experiences when choosing the constructivist-based early childhood program, Reggio Emilia, for their children and to explore parents' perceived benefits after their children attended. A constructivist conceptual framework was used to provide context for the Reggio Emilia philosophy. A purposeful sampling strategy was used to select a Reggio Emilia inspired program, Foundations Early Learning Center, in the American Midwest. Five parents who had enrolled their children at Foundations Early Learning Center for a minimum of 6 months participated through in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed, categorized, and clustered into similar themes that described the phenomenon. Results indicated parents identified an overall satisfaction for choosing a Reggio Emilia experience for their preschool children. Ten perceived benefits from parents were identified that were associated with their children after they attended the Reggio Emilia inspired program. Findings of the current study have the potential to bring awareness to policymakers and early childhood program directors when making decisions on what type of educational philosophy to implement into early childhood programs with results favoring the choice of a constructivist-based Reggio Emilia inspired program over alternative options.

Early childhood education (ECE) teachers often lack the experience and skills to provide children with supports necessary to foster academic and social skill development. Professional development can improve ECE teachers' skills, but ECE trainers often lack understanding of adult learning principles, known as andragogy. Knowles' conceptual framework of andragogy was used to explore the knowledge and use of andragogical principles of 8 ECE trainers selected via criterion-based purposive sampling. The research questions focused on ECE trainers' knowledge and use of andragogical principles. Three cases, each consisting of 2 or 3 live professional development trainings for early childhood educators, were used in this study. Data sources included (a) observations of ECE trainings, (b) semi-structured interviews with ECE trainers, and (c) content analysis of ECE training materials. Thematic analysis revealed that although participants were not formally trained in andragogy and were unfamiliar with the associated verbiage, most had a strong grasp of andragogy and used andragogical principles to drive the development and presentation of their training materials. The 3 main themes that emerged were (a) lack of training/background in andragogy, (b) training strategies employed, and (c) training design. Findings from this study provide an original contribution to the limited existing research on the professional development of early childhood educators and expand the existing body of research on andragogy. This study contributes to social change by revealing that trainers may benefit from formal andragogical training, which may then improve the education provided by ECE teachers to young children.

Some children have difficulty communicating due to a lack of age-appropriate language and social skills. Researchers have explored how music and language share features that shape language processing. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological analysis was to explore the experiences of caregivers of preschool children who participated in a music-based program and to understand their perspectives related to children's language and social skill development. Learning style and sensory integration processing theories were used as framework to provide foundations of skills in this study. Research questions addressed caregivers' choices related to this program for their children, their experiences of their children's participation in the program, and how the caregivers perceive their children's language and social skills change as they participated in the program. Data from 8 participants were collected using narrative journals and interviews and were analyzed by identifying relationships and themes. Identified themes included the importance of choice of quality music program, improved language skills, improved social skills, and improvement in other areas. Caregivers reported that their children's language and social skills developed in the early weeks of participation in The Listening Program. Primary recommendations included providing opportunities to educate other parents and professionals about the benefits of music-based programs. Contributions to positive social change include the value of music-based programs as a complementary technique to aid language and social skill development in preschool aged children, and that children who participate become more effective communicators and interact more appropriately with others.

The Use of Reflective Practices in Applying Strategies Learned Through Professional Development in Social Studies Instruction. Montra L. Rogers, 2016: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education. ERIC Descriptors: Reflective Teaching, Educational Strategies, Professional Development, Theory Practice Relationship, Social Studies. This applied dissertation examined how middle school social studies teachers in a large urban school district in Texas described and documented their process of self-reflection as they integrated instructional strategies learned in professional training into their social studies courses. The study further explored how social studies teachers perceived reflective practice as an element of professional development and how a reflective practice model such as reflective journaling helped middle school teachers document their process of self-reflection as they applied new strategies to their instructional approaches. The researcher explored the teachers’ actions through the concept of organization learning theory, conducted face-to-face interviews, and analyzed documents, observation notes, and journal responses to uncover the processes, practices, and perceptions of middle school social studies teachers. This study’s findings revealed that, to implement strategies learned during professional development training, participants incorporated newly learned practices into their existing practices and routines. These practices or routines included creating resources and sharing and collaborating with peers. In addition, social studies teachers documented their process of integrating the QSSSA (Question, Stem, Signal, Share, Assess) conversation strategy into their instructional approach by planning lessons that facilitated the use of the newly learned strategy, implementing said lesson, and assessing student learning. Finally, the study’s findings confirmed that professional learning experiences that include elements of reflective practices, such as professional learning communities, provided middle school teachers a greater sense of self-efficacy as they worked to integrate the QSSSA conversation strategy into their instructional routines. Furthermore, a reflective practice model such as journaling provided teachers an avenue to consider both their own practice and the individual needs of their students.

The aim of my master ‘s thesis is to elaborate the project documentation of kindergarten as nearly zero – energy buildings. The project consists of three parts. The first part (main part) presents the civil engineering design of the building. Kindergarten is single storey-building. The vertical load-bearing structures are designed from lime-sand blocks (above - ground floor) and the hollow concrete blocks filled with C20/25. Horizontal load-bearing structures are designed from the prestressed Spiroll floor panels. The roof consists of a flat roof with extensive greenery. The second part presents technical equipment of buildings. The third part presents acoustic assesment outside Kindergarten. The building site contains also an outdoor playground. I am using AutoCad software for drawing and Deksoft to calculate Energy Performance Certificate. All structures comply with the regulations and valid standards.

The subject of this diploma thesis is design documentation of a kindergarten building. The structure is situated in Velká Bíteš on Lánice street in Žďár nad Sázavou district. The building consists of two above ground floors and partial basement. The second floor is only above the central part of the building. The first floor is divided into three sections. On the left and on the right side there are classrooms for children with capacity of 20 children. On both sides there are staff facilities. These two sides are connected to the rectangle in the middle, where there is a staircase that connects all the floors and the basement. In this part there is also a school canteen where the meals are going to be prepared, storage and staff facilities. The structure can accommodate up to 40 children aged 3-6. The building plot which is flat is situated among detached houses and buildings for public services. The external wall in basement is designed from concrete blocks covered with concrete. The external wall above the ground is designed from Porotherm clay blocks. The floor structure is designed from prestressed concrete floor slab Spiroll. The structure is roofed with a flat roof.

This work seeks to verify the possible construction of a kindergarten in very confined conditions in the courtyard so that children can take dignified first steps in educational facilities and at the same time to economically use the land in the city center.