Early childhood teachers spend their professional lives in social interactions with children, families and colleagues. Social interactions shape how people understand themselves and each other through discourses. Teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand negotiate their subjectivities, or self-understandings, within initial teacher education (ITE), professional expectations, education and society. They are shaped by historical and contemporary discourses of early childhood teaching professionalism as they gain status as qualified and registered teachers. Early childhood teachers’ understandings of their personal professional identities influence self-understandings of everyone they encounter professionally, especially young children. This poststructural qualitative collective case study investigates five newly-qualified early childhood teachers’ negotiations of their personal professional identities. My research study is based in postmodern understandings of identities as multiple, complex and dynamic, and subjectivities as self-understandings formed within discourses. In contrast, institutionally-directed reflective writing in early childhood ITE can reflect modernist perspectives that assume essentialist, knowable identities. Tensions exist between my postmodern theoretical framework and my data collection strategy of facilitated self-study, an approach that is usually based on the modernist assumption that there is a self to investigate and know. My participants explored their subjectivities through focus group discussions, individual interviews, and reflective writing, including institutionally-directed reflective writing. Three dominant discourses of early childhood education emerged from data analysis that drew on Foucault’s theoretical ideas: the authority discourse, the relational professionalism discourse and the identity work discourse. Positioned in these discourses, all participants regarded themselves as qualified and knowledgeable, skilled at professional relationships and as reflective practitioners. They actively negotiated tensions between professional expectations and understandings of their multiple, complex and changing identities. I concluded that these participants negotiated understandings of their personal professional identities within three dominant discourses through discursive practices of discipline and governmentality, seeking pleasurable subject positions, and agentic negotiation of tensions and contradictions between available subjectivities.

Research has demonstrated that young children with problem behaviours are at risk of developing anti-social attitudes and behaviours that will follow them throughout their schooling and into their adult years. Effective intervention can alter this developmental trajectory. This needs to include the involvement of early childhood teachers because even early childhood teachers report that children’s inappropriate behaviours are one of the major challenges they face in the classroom. However, many early childhood teachers are unaware of the evidence-based practices that have the potential to decrease problem behaviour. The aim of this study was to uncover the current behaviour management strategies used by teachers at a preschool and to examine the effects of training early childhood teachers in the effective use positive teaching strategies to increase appropriate behaviour and decrease inappropriate behaviour in three and a half to five year old children. A variety of methodologies were employed in this study including direct observations, use of the Canterbury Social Development Scale and reflective teacher questionnaires. The study found that teachers’ initial understandings of simple strategies such as contingent praise and attention were limited and that they would benefit from an in-service training programme. After implementing the training it was found that all teachers increased their ordinary and descriptive praise statements and they increased in their contingent responses following requests. These changes were maintained above Baseline levels for all teachers. The number of discouragements remained consistent across all phases. An increase in teacher praise was accompanied by an increase in appropriate child behaviour and a decrease in inappropriate child behaviour. Though this study was successful in changing both teacher and child behaviour it also raised a number of important implications, including issues of the maintenance of behaviour change and the importance of feedback and the use of one-on-one coaching when conducting professional development in behaviour management at the preschool level.

<p> The White-Black achievement gap still persists, leaving Black children far behind their White peers. Research shows that children who struggle during their early childhood years are more likely to be at risk for academic failure in their elementary and high school years. Educators and social scientists continue to grapple with creating schools that improve Black educational achievement. </p><p> This study is grounded in the premise that racial perception is intrinsically linked to school success. Racial preferences are explored through participant selection in the forced choice questionnaire. Racial perceptions are examined in this study by how children take in racial stimuli and their reactions in response to these stimuli.</p><p> Two themes emerged from the participant responses: physical attributes (or visual cues) and behavioral attributes. Generally, participants perceived the physical traits of the Black doll positively. In the past, the studies of racial perception indicated that Black children were rejecting the visual images (dolls, pictures, etc.) that indicated internalization of negative physical (visual) perceptions of Black images. Unlike these former studies, the participants in this study show positive perceptions of physical characteristics of Black images. The participants ascribed negative behavioral characteristics to the Black doll, especially those related to school. The fact that Black children are ascribing negative behavioral traits to the doll they most identify with should not be overlooked. The consistent assignment of negative behaviors to the Black doll by Black children is problematic because the children identify with the group which they believes regularly behaves undesirably. This presents a conflict in how Black children are developing their racial perceptions and the perceptions of school success that may incorporate into their developing racial identity structures.</p><p> This study has raised several issues for further research and also suggests a need for intervention during the early childhood years. The disconnect between the students identifying positively with physical characteristics of Blacks but assigning negative behavioral traits to Blacks is too great to ignore. Given that racial perceptions are tied to school success, interventions that develop positive racial identity outcomes are necessary in schools.</p>

Dental caries is a very common chronic infectious disease that is preventable and related to dental behaviours. The objective of this study was to develop a parental questionnaire to predict the child’s caries risk without professional evaluation and assess if risk factors worked together and if behaviours changed over time. At baseline, a survey and examination for caries were administered to 100 subjects aged 1 to 3 years old in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Six months later the same survey and examination were administered. Statistical analysis included logistic regression, Pearson Chi-squared, McNemar’s, Fisher’s exact tests and paired T-tests. The main finding was this survey could not predict future caries risk. Parents’ reports of visible cavities/fillings in their child predicted caries. Few risk factors changed significantly over time. A change in developmental delay corresponded to a change in caries. Overall, caries risk was found to be complex and requires further investigation.

<p> Literature that depicts females in restrictive roles may limit girls&rsquo; aspirations and success. Previous studies of award-winning books for young children have found gender-stereotypical role portrayal to be common. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to identify the archetypal roles assigned to female characters in picture books read aloud by teachers in the preschool classroom. The conceptual framework for this study was derived from feminist theory and Jungian archetypes. Data were collected in the form of teachers&rsquo; logs of books they read aloud over a 2-week period. Data were analyzed by employing the 3-read method developed by Madsen, which was revised to assign Jungian archetypes to each female character in a sample of 20 books. According to study results, female characters were portrayed as passive and often silent. Most of the female characters in these books were assigned archetypes typified by low personal agency, passivity, and service to others (orphan, innocent, and caretaker) and none were assigned archetypes associated with innovation (magician, jester, and creator). Of the 106 female characters portrayed in this sample, only 26% were verbal, and of those who spoke, 46% were limited to the one or two words needed to ask for assistance or to offer to serve. Female characters who did advance the plot through dialogue were often in animal form. Gender stereotypes still exist in children&rsquo;s picture books, as evidenced by objectification of females, female servitude, and lack of positive agentic female roles. This study has potential to elicit positive social change, benefiting both boys and girls, through increased awareness of archetypal role portrayal of female characters in picture books and teachers&rsquo; increased care in selecting read-aloud books with regard to the gender-based messages they send.</p>

<p> Many professionals became childcare directors with little or no experience, training, supervision skills, or knowledge that supported teachers. Without those necessary skills that assisted childcare directors in providing a supportive environment, there was a greater chance for teachers to leave their positions, affecting the quality of care provided. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore perceptions childcare directors had regarding the effectiveness of transformational leadership skills taught in Strengths-Based Coaching^&reg; training as well as identify the challenges they faced integrating the transformational leadership skills within their center. There were three sources of data collected in the study: (1) individual interviews with 12 directors; (2) focus groups with 22 teachers who worked with the 12 directors since 2008; and (3) focus groups of eight Professional Development Specialists that consulted or coached the directors at their centers since 2008. Prior to implementing the study, a pilot study was conducted. Although 33 directors were initially identified, the final population for the pilot study was 27 directors; however, only three directors from Kansas City, Missouri, and one from St. Louis, Missouri agreed to participate. Interview questions were adjusted for clarity after the completion of the pilot study. Answers to the research questions were obtained by triangulating data gathered during interviews and focus groups. Findings showed transformational leadership skills taught in Strengths-Based Coaching^&reg; were effective due to better relationships and communication between staff and directors. Results indicated lack of time to practice and needing additional employees were issues that hindered directors from implementing leadership skills learned in Strengths-Based Coaching^&reg; to its fullest potential. Recommendations for educational practice included: Strengths-Based Coaching^&reg; training be expanded to other directors, offer a refresher course, provide additional resources, such as a coach, newsletter with coaching tips, and quarterly meetings for directors. Recommendations for further research included: gather additional qualitative data to measure support provided by directors, extend the population and conduct a cross-comparison analysis, collect quantitative data at different increments after the training, and conduct a longitudinal study to determine the effectiveness of transformational leadership on the organizational climate within childcare centers.</p>

<p> The preschool years are a crucial time for children to develop vocabulary knowledge. A quality preschool environment promotes large amounts of language usage including picture book read alouds and discussions. There is growing research to support the use of nonfiction literature in preschool classrooms to promote vocabulary growth and knowledge of the world for preschool children. This research study compared vocabulary growth of preschool children using fiction and dialogic discussions versus vocabulary growth of preschool children using nonfiction and dialogic discussions following a six week study of autumn and changes that happen during this season to the environment and animals. The quasi-experimental design used the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4, a curriculum-based measure for receptive vocabulary, and a curriculum-based measure for expressive vocabulary to assess vocabulary growth. Results showed that there was significant difference in the vocabulary growth in the treatment group indicated by the curriculum-based measure for receptive vocabulary, but the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4 and the curriculum-based measure for expressive vocabulary did not indicate significant difference in growth in the 6-week research period. The findings of this research have implications for teachers. Using nonfiction literature during read aloud times is beneficial to vocabulary growth. Dialogic discussions used with fiction and nonfiction read alouds provide authentic opportunities for students to use vocabulary in meaningful ways. In order to maximize vocabulary growth during the preschool years, teachers should be aware of the benefits of using nonfiction literature for interactive read alouds.</p>

<p> This teacher research study examined the pedagogical practices and conditions for learning that supported the literacy learning of the children in my kindergarten classroom during the 2006-2007 school year. An additional focus was to determine the meaning-making strategies employed by effective young beginning readers in this classroom. </p><p> The participants were 21 children, 12 girls and nine boys, who were students in my kindergarten. They were also representative of the primarily Caucasian population within a school district on eastern Long Island that included a small percentage (less than 5%) of other ethnic groups. </p><p> Data collection included ethnographic observations (kidwatching), along with still and video, digital photography. These data were examined within the literacy events in the classroom that included reading to children, reading with children, and children reading by themselves or to others. Portions of the video collection included the children reading the morning message with me. Video of children reading to me was also transcribed and examined using miscue analysis to determine the meaning-making strategies used by five effective young beginning readers. </p><p> Findings indicate that the tenants of whole language, along with Cambourne's (1988) conditions for learning, were in place and supported the pedagogical practice during the literacy events studied. Miscue analysis of the readings done by the children indicated that the children avoided any reliance on the surface features of text (phonics) and employed complex, meaning-making miscues to produce a reader's text that also maintained a high syntactic and semantic relationship with the author's text. </p><p> The implications are that similar literacy development could be realize for children within other classrooms where this pedagogy and conditions for learning are in place.</p>

<p> An emergent area of research pertains to early numeracy, or number sense. Early numeracy plays a significant role in the development of mathematics skills, and researchers have recognized its importance for overall academic achievement. This study surveyed practicing school psychologists to investigate current early numeracy training and practices. A nationwide sample of 279 school psychologists completed a Web-based survey modeled after the available early numeracy research. The majority of individuals reported receiving at least one professional development training for academic concerns per year. A larger number of participants had training for reading and early literacy compared to early numeracy. Related to early numeracy practices, more respondents reported being involved in screening and assessment in contrast to intervention and progress-monitoring. Typically, students were screened in kindergarten through fifth grade using measures such as AIMSweb: Computation and AIMSweb: Problem-Solving. The most often utilized early numeracy instrument was AIMSweb: Number Identification. Most frequently, group academic assessments used were comprised of state tests, and individual measures were often broadband or screener-type measures. Commonly used curricular interventions have demonstrated limited to moderate levels of evidence. Only Classwide Peer Tutoring had a strong level of intervention effectiveness. Intensive interventions that were noted as being regularly implemented (e.g., Board Games, Explicit Instruction, Peer Tutoring, Touch Math) were mainly instructional in nature. The results for consistently used progress-monitoring tools were similar to those for screening (computation, problem-solving, and number identification). Perceived facilitators of participants' early numeracy involvement entailed administrator support and the topic being a current need in schools. School psychologists noted lack of resources and time as two main hindrances for their involvement in early numeracy activities. The implications of this study include increased early numeracy training, involvement in intervention and progress-monitoring, screening practices, alignment with the Common Core Standards, and time allocation and resources. Limitations of the current research were: low response-rate, lengthy survey, and non-response for specific early numeracy components. Finally, potential future research includes investigating progress-monitoring instruments for students in earlier grades, interventions for students with mathematics disabilities (e.g., retention, generalization of skills), home-school partnerships for early numeracy skills, and validation of technological applications. </p>

<p> The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Position Statement of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (2009) serves as a pedagogical framework for best practice among early childhood educators. Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) is guided by what is known about how children develop and learn. Teachers draw upon these principles to make decisions about planning experiences which promote learning and optimize children's growth. The DAP statement is accepted in the early childhood field as the standard by which quality early learning experiences are defined and is used as a guidepost for planning (Copple &amp; Bredekamp, 2009).</p><p> Copple and Bredekamp (2009) state that "intentional teachers are purposeful and thoughtful about the actions they take, and they direct their teaching towards the goals the program is trying to help children reach" (p. 10).</p><p> This qualitative descriptive study explored preschool teachers' perceptions of DAP and their use of DAP in planning learning experiences. Semi-structured interviews and document analyses were utilized to examine potential gaps between preschool teachers' perceptions and more fully understand daily planning decisions related to DAP. Utilizing Rubin and Rubin's responsive interviewing model (2012), (<i>N</i>=7) degreed preschool teachers employed at NAEYC accredited group care facilities were interviewed. Findings revealed inconsistencies among teachers' descriptions of key learning experiences for preschool children, implementation of learning experiences, and planning practices, thus, indicating a disconnect between theory and DAP.</p><p> The findings of this study may benefit pre-service and in-service teacher training programs as well as administrators of childcare centers. It is useful in identifying ways in which preschool teachers' understandings of developmentally appropriate practice can be further supported and developmentally inappropriate perceptions can be challenged.</p>