Abstract Two preschool teachers served as participants in this instrumental case study with the purpose of: (1) identifying the emergence of new understandings and processes of joint, shared activity, (2) examining the ways in which the use of two diverse methods (electronic and audio journals) influenced and mediated critical reflective practice, and (3) examining the link between reflection and action. There were two major findings. First, the use of multiple methods to engage in reflection was found to be critical to encourage and support effective, rich reflection. Second, teachers changed the conceptualization of their professional relationships and of reflective practice. When their collaborative reflections were put into action, change in professional relationships and practices occurred. From these findings, two themes emerged. The first theme encompassed the relational and structural aspects of the reflective setting that influenced reflective practice. The second theme involved the use of multiple tools or methods that mediated their processes. Included in the discussion are the ways structural and relational features of the school setting (and research design) influenced teachers’ ability to engage in continual reflection leading toward new knowledge, skills and dispositions. The use of diverse tools was shown to contribute to the participants’ abilities to reflect deeply and critically. Implications for the practice of collaborative reflective practice in early childhood settings include the reorganization of the school context to insure time, space and methods that promote shared reflective experiences.

With data from the NCEDL Multi-State Pre-Kindergarten Study, the relationship between the characteristics of program, classroom, and teachers and classroom quality was examined in this study. Classroom quality was measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System and the Emerging Academics Snapshot. The sample consisted of 227 pre-k teachers in state-funded programs from six states. The percentage of children from low-income families in the classroom and the number of children with limited English proficiency (the only two predictive variables that described children’s characteristics) were found to be statistically significant predictors of classroom process quality. These findings were discussed with regard to the need for more in-depth thinking about research on the relationship of structural quality and process quality in early childhood classrooms. The Snapshot was eliminated from the analyses because of low means and limited variances. In contrast to some literature, teacher qualification variables were not statistically significant predictors in this study. This was discussed with regard to the need for consistent definitions and measures of teacher qualifications and teacher training.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore the present state of the sense of teacher efficacy in public kindergarten teachers as it relates to their background and subjective perception variables. The aim of this study was (1) to understand the condition of the sense of teacher efficacy in public kindergarten teachers, (2) to investigate the differences in teachers¡¦ sense of efficacy among public kindergarten teachers with diverse background variables (the teachers¡¦ attribute and schools¡¦ attribute variables), (3) to analyze the relationships between the subjective perception variables (the job characteristics perception and the social evaluation perception variables) and the teachers¡¦ efficacy sense, (4) to explore the predictive power of the diverse background variables and subjective perception variables for the teacher efficacy sense, (5) to compare the attitudes toward children, instruction and work between high and low sense of teacher efficacy, (6) based on the results of this study, the researcher proposed several suggestions for improving the sense of teacher efficacy in kindergarten teachers. This study adopted both questionnaire survey and interview methods. The participant¡¦s questionnaire survey included 354 public kindergarten teachers in Taiwan. The instruments employed were The Scale of Kindergarten Teachers¡¦ Efficacy, The Scale of Job Characteristics Perception, and The Scale of Social Evaluation Perception. The quantitative data obtained were analyzed by Descriptive Statistics, t-test, Hotelling¡¦s T2, One-Way MANOVA, Product-moment Correlation, Canonical Correlation Analysis and Stepwise multiple regression analysis. The participants in the interview for understanding the different attitudes toward children, instruction and work between high and low sense of teacher efficacy were 10 high and low efficacy sense teachers. Major findings of this study are summarized as follows: 1. The public kindergarten teachers possessed higher teachers¡¦ efficacy sense. 2. There were significant differences in the teachers¡¦ efficacy sense of the public kindergarten teachers with the diverse teachers¡¦ attribute variables. 3. There were relationships between the subjective perception variables (the job characteristics perception and the social evaluation perception variables) and the teachers¡¦ efficacy sense. 4. There were significant differences in the teachers¡¦ efficacy sense of the public kindergarten teachers with the diverse job characteristics perception and the social evaluation perception variables. 5. Number of working years, diploma and class grade background variables, skill variety, task importance, task autonomy, task feedback of the job characteristic perception variables, and the social evaluation perception variables could predict the sense of teacher efficacy of the kindergarten teachers. 6. There were differences in opinions and attitudes toward children, instruction and work between high and low sense of teacher efficacy. Finally, according to the results and conclusions of this study, the researcher proposed several suggestions to the kindergarten teachers, the kindergartens, the teacher education institutes, the educational administration institutions, and for future study.

This study investigated the use of instructive feedback for modeling early literacy skills. Instructive feedback is defined as the presentation of additional information during the positive feedback phase of learner trials. Thus, it is a way of modeling additional information when students respond to a trial correctly. Previous studies have demonstrated that instructive feedback can facilitate students’ observational learning of skills, such as sight words, numerals, and vocabulary. Instructive feedback has yet to be investigated when modeling early literacy skills. A modified version of an evidence-based early literacy intervention, PAth to Literacy, was used. Studies examining the efficacy of this intervention have shown it to be effective for teaching phonological awareness (PA) skills, including blending, segmenting, word part identification, and initial phoneme identification. Alphabet instruction is included in the intervention, although effects have been minimal. Instructive feedback was investigated as a novel method of incorporating alphabet instruction within a scripted phonological awareness intervention. Instructive feedback that modeled letter names and letter-sound correspondences was included during the positive feedback in PAth to Literacy. A multiple baseline design across sets of letters was used to determine whether students acquire letter names and sounds through observational learning. Each phase of the study included instructive feedback that modeled names and sounds for a set of four letters. Upon completion of each phase, a new set of four letters was introduced. An Alphabet Mastery Monitor was used to measure student growth on alphabet skills. Student progress on PA tasks also was measured using a researcher-developed PA Fluency Measure. It was hypothesized that students would learn letters modeled through instructive feedback during each phase and would demonstrate progress on the PA skills taught through direct instruction. The six children who completed the experiment demonstrated gains in phonological awareness skills following instruction with PAth to Literacy. However, there were no consistent gains on alphabet skills following instructive feedback. A second experiment was conducted to determine whether changes in the delivery of instructive feedback resulted in gains on the Alphabet Mastery Monitor. Researchers served as interventionists and instruction was delivered one-on-one. The instructive feedback was modified to include a progressive time delay and letters were discriminated from a field of four. Eight children completed the full intervention. All children demonstrated gains on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge following instruction, indicating that a modified version of instructive feedback can be used to teach alphabet skills. Information from this study will inform clinical practice for educators including speech-language pathologists. Instructive feedback is a useful tool for educators and speech language pathologists to use when teaching early language and literacy skills.

While previous studies have examined the educational system in Ghana, there seemed to be very little or no studies that had explored participation and engagement through teacher-child interactions in early childhood education in Ghanaian classrooms (Twum-Danso, 2013). The purpose of this video-based multiple case studies qualitative study of three Kindergarten classrooms in Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana was to identify verbal and nonverbal prompts that related to children’s participation in Ghanaian Kindergarten classroom settings. The data for the study were secondary, having been collected by a team of researchers for the New Civics Grant Program in an initial study to find apprenticeship and civic themes in Ghanaian Kindergarten classrooms. The design for the study was a qualitative video analysis of three early childhood centers in Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana using video cameras to capture classroom interactions to be able to answer the questions: What is the nature of Ghanaian Kindergarten teachers’ verbal and non-verbal prompts that relate to children’s participation during the instructional process? In what ways do children in Ghanaian Kindergartens participate during the instructional process? I applied the sociocultural perspective of Rogoff’s (1990, 1993, 2003) three foci of analysis that provided a useful conceptual tool for analyzing research with young children (Robbin, 2007). It highlights how children’s thinking is integrated with and constituted by contexts, collaboration, and signs and cultural tools (p. 48). The findings indicated that Ghanaian Kindergarten teachers’ verbal and nonverbal prompts that related to children’s participation during the instructional process were the use of questions, appreciation, gestures etc. The findings also showed that the ways in which Ghanaian Kindergarten children participated during the instructional process were verbal/oral responses, doing exercises and activities, and also using gestures. It was also found that pedagogical attitudes such as pedagogical sensitivity and understanding, discussion and conversation, and rules and management related to children’s participation during the instructional process. Ghanaian specific culturally relevant ways and practices of interactions between teachers and children were observed in the participant schools. Teachers used silence to convey messages of disapproval to the children, used eyeing to send messages of disapproval, and also used punishments and rewards to either encourage good behavior or stop bad behavior. Singing and dancing, building classroom community, and value on interpersonal connections were also found to be Ghanaian specific culturally relevant ways of interactions that teachers applied to the classroom interactions. All the teachers in the participant schools showed various forms of appreciation to the children as a way of reinforcing their behaviors and also for praise and redirection of attention. From the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made: 1. Pre service teacher preparation, and teacher education in general should be reorganized so that the contexts in which the teachers operate will then be guided by contextually relevant pedagogy (Young, 2010). Ghana needs a type of pedagogy that will empower teachers intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes (p. 248). 2. The provision of adequate teaching and learning materials would enable teachers engage children more on exercises and activities during the instructional process. The materials would help teachers to provide enough activities to engage the children’s attention during the instructional process. 3. Ghanaian specific culturally relevant ways of interactions between teachers and children must be taught as a course at the University of Cape Coast to help in the preparation of pre-service teachers.

The purpose of this autoethnography was to explore the experiences, both successes and challenges, as I worked to teach mathematics using a social justice framework in a summer enrichment camp with four and five-year-old children. Drawing from both critical approaches (Freire, 1968) and sociocultural approaches (Rogoff, 2008), this dissertation outlines critical perspectives within Early Childhood Education, as well as trends in teaching mathematics for social justice to frame the research study. Autoethnography was selected as a methodological approach in this study as I examined my own teaching experiences and journey engaging in teaching mathematics for social justice. Primary data sources include researcher reflective journal entries and videotaped lesson implementation while secondary sources include student work samples and artifacts. From the story associated with my engagement in teaching mathematics for social justice presents insights into my experiences with this work both crafting and teaching lessons. I then offer reflections and question areas of my work related to power and control, perpetuating deficit views, relationship construction and finding a balance between math and social justice within the lessons.

Given the importance of emotional self-regulation to a child’s ability to develop social competence and prosocial behavior, and the significant role early childhood teachers play in supporting young children’s emotional self-regulation, it is important to explore the concept from the perspective of teachers, or from the socio-cultural context through which they (i.e., teachers) make sense of the world. This study used an exploratory case study methodology to explore the understandings of emotional self-regulation among three Head Start teachers working with varying socio-cultural contexts and to identify the socio-cultural perspectives that influenced their ability to effectively apply their understandings. Findings indicate that while the participants’ definitions of emotional self- regulation were aligned with those that are commonly used in the field, it was their implementation of strategies that diverged, reflecting the influence of learning goals and varying socio-cultural contexts.

There is a limited understanding of the practices provided by interventionists under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part C, and there is no knowledge of how providers deliver services for children who have challenging behaviors. In particular, few studies have examined the extent to which Part C interventionists use evidence-based practices. Decreasing occurrences of challenging behaviors in early childhood is particularly important, as there are many negative ramifications associated with untreated challenging behaviors, including troubled peer and adult relationships, academic failure, and increased antisocial behaviors in adulthood. Research has shown that Positive Behavior Supports and the Pyramid Model are empirically supported frameworks for treatment of challenging behaviors among young children. Thus, interventionists should be utilizing PBS when serving young children with challenging behaviors. The purpose of this study was to gain a preliminary understanding of Part C interventionists’ knowledge and understanding of evidence-based practices for young children with challenging behaviors and to identify interventionists’ process of intervention identification and implementation. Also examined were the challenges associated with service-delivery and the role of Part C in alleviating such challenges. This understanding was gained through semi-structured interviews with a sample of 10 interventionists who served young children with challenging behaviors. A thematic analysis resulted in 15 themes and two subthemes. In addition, interventionists were evaluated using a 4-point rating scale, which provided additional insight regarding the level of evidence-based practice utilized by interventionists. Themes and ratings revealed interventionists have a limited understanding of best practice associated with identifying appropriate evidence-based interventions for young children with challenging behavior. Moreover, a number of barriers hindered consistent implementation of behavioral interventions. Results indicated a need for a wider scale study of Part C interventionists’ practices. In addition, results demonstrated a critical need for ongoing professional development for Florida Part C interventionists.

The amount of time that children spend in child-directed activity can increase the frequency and quality of teacher–child interactions, which can decrease challenging behavior in children. The problem is that preschool children are being expelled and suspended at a high rate, and additional research is required to examine the prevention of behaviors that lead to expulsion and suspension. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether the percentage of the day that children spend in child-directed learning stations, the quality of activities offered during child-initiated time, and the education level of the lead teacher predict classroom suspensions or expulsions. The theoretical framework for the research involved Piaget’s child development theory and Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. A quantitative method was used to examine the predictive relationship between the percentage of the day spent in child-initiated learning activities, the quality of the child-initiated activities offered, and the teacher qualifications in a classroom and the number of expulsions and suspensions in a child care program. A sample of 39 preschool classrooms licensed by the Office of Children and Family Services were selected for inclusion. A significant correlation between suspensions and expulsions indicated that the more programs suspend students, the more likely they were to expel students. A stepwise regression indicated that neither of the 2 independent variables was found to be a statistically significant predictor in the models for either suspension or expulsion. Further research is recommended with a larger sample. This study may lead to positive social change by informing stakeholders on ways to prevent challenging behaviors and informing future research on this topic.

Diploma thesis "Teaching assistant and his application in preschool" discusses the profession of a teaching assistant, his work in educating not only children with special educational needs, but also children without special educational needs and his collaboration with other educators. It deals with everything that an assistant should do and it also provides a summary of opinions and practical experiences of teaching assistants. The thesis is divided into theoretical part and empirical part. Theoretical part consists of five chapters and research part consists of four chapters. The first chapter defines the concept of a teaching assistant, the second chapter points out the differences between personal assistant, teaching assistant and school assistant. The third chapter is dedicated to the importance of a teaching assistant in inclusive education and the fourth chapter deals with cooperation between teachers and teaching assistants. The empirical part contains of the research carried out from a combination of qualitative method, which has the form of a semi-structured interviews, and quantitative method, which was done through a standardized questionnaire. A qualitative method was carried out with selected teachers and teaching assistants, whereas parents attended quantitative method too. A method...