published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 95-96).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-96). Also available in print.

The developmental appropriateness of the English language arts essential elements for kindergarten children in the State of Texas was evaluated by surveying the opinions of thirty-six kindergarten teachers in one school district. A questionnaire was developed using the essential elements so that respondents could record a yes or no opinion and supply additional comments on each essential element. Ninety-seven percent of the teachers responded. The results indicated rates of agreement for developmental appropriateness by the teachers surveyed to be 100% for language, 95% for listening, 94% for speaking and reading and 81% for writing.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how kindergarten teachers look at their obligation to report and the possibilities and obstacles they see in reporting a child they think might be a victim of maltreatment. This study has a qualitative approach and six interviews were conducted with the help of both managers of kindergartens and kindergarten teachers. To analyse the empirical data that revealed itself during the interviews we used Johanssons (2007) and Svensson, Johnsson och Laanemets (2008) definition of discretion and the concept of “street level-bureaucrats”. The result showed that our informants experienced the meeting with children who they suspect is being maltreated is important and emotional and they thought that they had a moral responsibility towards these children. It also showed that the relationship the teachers had with the children's parents made a difference in how to act about reporting or not. Its also showed that the workplace itself and the knowledge and experience you have could interfere with reporting. In conclusion we think that more studies should be done in this area and that more knowledge about this should be included in education, which our informants also agreed on.

Inspired by the Municipal preprimary schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, two art studio teachers and a researcher have explored experiences and meaning in the atelier. When studio teachers document children's thinking through digital photographs. transcribed audio tapes, quotations of a child's verbal thoughts, and copies of their work, an indescribable moment in teacher thinking interweaves with the child's learning, As teachers capture children's representations, investigate, interpret, and share their ideas with colleagues and community-an underlying question emerges. What are studio teachers' experiences o/teaching-learning in the atelier as they utilize documentation, collaboration, and reflection as a way to inform their practices? From this question, reader and researcher start a journey together into a six-month phenomenological study of studio teaching experiences. As a core member in the teaching team, the studio teacher resides in the atelier to bring teaching and learning together in a profound way, to bridge classroom experiences with representative arts, and to facilitate the community's learning about teaching-learning. The methods used to inform this study include observations, in-depth interviews, electronic journaling, description, photos, and interpretation of studio work. Overall, this study's methods inform the phenomenological research and construct an in-depth look at experiences in the artist's studio. The results of this research are retold through narratives focusing on experiences and meaning-making in the studios. Stories such as living with the cracked egg; isolation in the studio: gifts for others; rough stones polishing one another; and many others, utilize photographs to enhance meaning through picturesque artifacts. Essential themes, conclusions, and implications appear in the webbing of experiences and are explored in the final chapter. The themes include conceptual frameworks such as life eats entropy, serendipity and synergy and more. Conclusions are drawn and findings are made connecting studio experiences to participant voice, disequilibrium, listening, engaging, stepping back, and slowing time; demonstrating documentation as learning, revisiting, representation, and manageability; making meaning of collaboration as struggle, communication, and reconstruction; and reflecting back as purposeful and an act of teaching-learning. Overall, this research study exposes techniques, ideas, and wonderings from two studio teachers' and a researcher's experiences in the atelier.

The Thai government has strongly advocated for the learner-centered education for the past decade. Success For Life Thailand (SFLT), a brain-research-based early childhood education program blended with the theories of the developmentally appropriate practices and child-centered philosophies, has been implemented in Thailand for over 8 years. The purposes of the present study were to: (a) describe the current statuses of the Thai early childhood educators' learner-centered beliefs and practices, (b) identify if the SFLT training workshop affects teachers' learner-centered beliefs and practices, and (c) examine if other variables, along with familiarity with the SFLT program, predict teachers' learner-centered beliefs and practices. Ninety-three preschool and kindergarten teachers participated in the study. Among them, 17 were SFLT trainees in 1999 and 2000 (i.e., the previously trained group), 43 were trained in Year 2006 (the currently trained group), and the others were comparable to the currently trained group by matching the key personal and school variables. The Teachers Beliefs and Practices Survey: 3-5 Year Olds (Burts et al., 2000) and the Learner-Centered Education: the Assessment of Learner- Centered (ALCP) for K-3 (McCombs, 2001) were used to collect data on the various domains of the learner-centered beliefs and practices. Findings reveal that: (a) Thai teachers highly endorse learner-centered beliefs, (b) Thai educators demonstrate relatively low levels of developmentally appropriate practices and high levels of developmentally inappropriate practices (DIP) in comparing with the American early childhood educators, (c) the previously trained SFLT teachers score higher on the DAP domains and lower on the DIP domains than the other two groups, and (d) familiarity with the SFLT program, along with teacher's education level, years of teaching experience, and the total number of students in the classroom do not predict variations on the different domains of the DAP and learner-centered learning questionnaires. Future studies need to use indigenous measurement instruments appropriate to Thai education to evaluate the impacts of the SLFT program on teachers' learner-centered beliefs and practices when more trainees become available, and possibly to include other teacher, student, and school variables.

The thesis on "Development and transformation of Czech kindergartens between 1990 and 2012" maps and analyzes proposals for change and the actual changes that have taken place over 22 years in pre-school education. Czech kindergarten passed in the period changes in several areas. In legislation were an important milestone edition of the Education Act (2004) and the framework education programme for pre-school education (2004). After 1990 there was a change of philosophy of viewing a child and its development - a personality-oriented model of pre-school education began to be applied. Transformed were the objectives for pre-school education and training and also the curriculum changed. The questionnaire survey in the practical part of this thesis investigates the view of kindergarten teachers to changes in pre-school practice in the period. The respondents perceive the change, especially in larger freedom in the planning and implementation of educational activities and the emphasis on child development. Teachers endorse the better equipped schools and a wide range of training possibilities for teachers. Conversely, teachers negatively value high class occupancy and financial evaluation of teachers.

With my study I wish to highlight the importance of encouraging and developing the children's written language in kindergarten. I have through a qualitative study investigated how preschool teachers perceive their role and mission, what skills they have to respond to children's needs for language stimulation and written language development. I have interviewed six preschool teachers in two different kindergartens. The purpose of the study is to see how the interviewees preschool teachers perceive their role in the work of the written language in kindergarten and how their perceptions can be interpreted on the basis of Michel Foucault's theory of power and control. Research shows that children before school starts to develop an interest in texts and symbols, and that the environment is very important for children to have sight of written texts and images already in preschool. The curriculum 98/2016 also highlights the importance of bringing children's interest into the linguistic world they have around them and to give an understanding of their communicative functions. The preschool teacher with his education, profession and clear responsibility of the curriculum has big role for children to develop in written language. The study shows that preschool teachers are aware of their important role but lack the necessary approach. The interviewed preschool teachers say that they do not use any methods consciously working to stimulate and challenge the child in his written language development. They meet a child´s interest in writing only when the child shows an interest. Half of the preschool teachers expressed that they do not make any links to the preschool curriculum. My study highlights the teachers' important role in children's written language stimulation and development in preschool for others interested in kindergarten and school.