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Children grow up surrounded by numerals reflecting various uses of number. In their primary school years they are expected to grasp arithmetical symbols and use measuring devices. While much research on number development has examined children's understanding of numerical concepts and principles, little has investigated their understanding of these symbols. This thesis examines studies of understanding and use of number symbols in a range of contexts and for a variety of purposes. It reports several studies on the use of numerals by children aged between 3 and 5 years in Nursery settings in England, Japan and Sweden and their understanding of the meanings of these symbols. 167 children were observed and interviewed individually in the course of participating in a range of practical activities; the activities were designed for the study and considered to be appropriate and interesting for young children. The results are discussed in terms of how they complement existing theories of number development and their relevance to early years mathematics education.

abstract: This qualitative study investigates the at-home educational efforts of six immigrant families as they prepare their children for school in the United States. The participants’ at-home educational activities were provided by the Mexican immigrant families using photographs of activities that they judged as skills which developed the child’s ability to engage with other children, teachers, and the curriculum on their first day at school. Photovoice methodology was used in order to provide the Mexican immigrants’ voice. The families were recruited from a large urban city in the Southwest with a large immigrant population. They were recruited from medical centers, social support centers, churches with immigrant communities, and schools that had Mexican immigrant children in attendance. The schools and churches provided the greatest source of participants. The educational level of the parents varied from over fifteen years to three years of schooling in Mexico. The children in the study were citizens of the United States, were from two to four years of age, had not yet attended school in the U.S., but had siblings attending public schools in the United States. The families opened their life to the researcher and provided an insight through their photographs that could not have been gained if only interviews and/or questionnaires were used. The twenty five photographs selected to identify the six educational themes that were highlighted throughout the study are demonstrative of what the families in the study were doing to prepare their children for their first day of school. Mexican immigrant parents have high expectations for their children and are willing to sacrifice for the children’s education. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2015

<p> The research examined kindergarten teachers&rsquo; beliefs and implementation of school, family, and community partnerships (SFCPs) in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. It used Epstein&rsquo;s model of SFCPs including the following practices: parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with the community. Two strands were employed: the quantitative obtained teachers&rsquo; beliefs and implementation of the SFCP practices by surveying a sample of 266 teachers from 126 public kindergartens. The follow up qualitative strand included a purposeful sample of 12 teachers to explore their experiences with SFCPs within three different social and economic areas (SEAs): High, middle, and low SEAs. </p><p> Two-way Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and chi-square tests were used to analyze teachers&rsquo; response to the survey. Thematic analysis was used to analyze teachers&rsquo; responses the follow-up interviews. The results revealed that there were no significant associations between teachers regarding to their years of experience or different teaching areas in terms of their beliefs about or implementation of SFCPs. The teachers believed that all of the six practices were important but gave slightly differences priorities to them. For the implementation of the practices, learning at home ranked the highest of the implementation, 74% of the study sample implemented this practice between once a semester to a weekly basis. For parenting and communication practices, over 50% of the sample implemented these practices between several times a semester to weekly. Collaborating with the community, volunteering, and decision-making were the lowest in implementation. More than half of the participants (49%, 60%, and 66% respectively) never implemented any of them. </p><p> The interviews analysis provided four main themes; partnerships knowledge, establishing partnerships need, partnership obstacles, and partnerships enhancement. The result showed that not all teachers acknowledged the six practices. They provided different stories to show the need (or not) of specific practices. The interviews focused on teachers&rsquo; experiences and highlighted many of the barriers that weakened the partnerships and emphasized the need to enhance these partnerships. This enhancement should be from different levels and parties, including but not limited to the teachers, co-workers, families, Ministry of Education, and the community.</p><p>

<p> Despite being mandated reporters by law, preschool teachers often fail to report suspicion of child abuse or neglect. Although research has been conducted regarding reasons why teachers do not report, no study has yet examined preschool teachers&rsquo; thinking as decisions are being made. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the in-the-moment decision-making process of preschool teachers to report or not report cases of suspected child abuse or neglect. Three research questions guided this exploration of teachers&rsquo; responses to cases of possible child abuse or neglect, the reasons teachers give for their responses, and their confidence in the correctness of their decisions to report or not to report child abuse or neglect. The conceptual framework for this study was the ethical decision-making model of Meneghetti and Seel. The research was a phenomenological study using the think aloud protocol of van Someren, Barnard, and Sandberg. Three scenarios of possible child abuse cases were used as the basis for the face-to-face interviews in which 6 lead preschool teachers described their thought processes. The purposeful sample comprised 6 lead teachers in a major city in the United States with children aged 2 through 5. A thematic analysis method and coding strategy were used to answer the research questions. The findings in this study were consistent with the literature in that most of the teachers did not elect to report their suspicion of child abuse or neglect, but were inhibited by lack of clear understanding of what constitutes abuse and neglect, and by a desire for more information. This study contributes to positive social change by indicating a need for more training of preschool teachers in their mandated reporter role, which can result in more confident decision making and greater success in protecting young children.</p><p>

<p> Previous research indicates that burnout leads to issues such as attrition and poor practitioner health in early childhood education and other helping professions. This study examined self-care as a potential buffering factor against burnout in preschool teachers. Maslach&rsquo;s three-dimension construct of burnout, trauma stewardship, and the coping reservoir model formed the theoretical foundations for this research. This study used semi-structured, open-ended interviews to collect qualitative data from four preschool teachers at different points in their careers to understand how early childhood educators conceptualize and practice self-care, experience burnout, and perceive the relationship between self-care and well-being. The findings show that preschool teachers experience multiple levels of work-related stress, that several types of factors can increase resilience to stress and burnout, and that self-care is highly complex and dynamic. These results point to the necessity of promoting self-care at the individual and organizational levels, treating self-care as a professional imperative, providing burnout interventions at the individual, organizational, and societal levels, and encouraging teachers to practice self-care in dynamic, adaptive ways to best support their unique needs and situations. The field would benefit from further studies exploring the relationship between self-care and burnout specifically in early childhood education, ways in which organizations can promote self-care practices in employees, and what characteristics or practices exist among teachers who have demonstrated resilience in the face of chronic work-related stressors. </p><p>

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the psychological effects on adult mental health of former young caregivers who provided primary care in youth; specifically, the positive and negative aspects of caregiving in youth and how childhood memories and experiences of caregiving affect the former child caregiver's adult mental health. Background: Caregiving is a rapidly emerging public health concern and the incidence of being a young caregiver is on the rise. Research shows the caregiver role effects both the physical and mental well-being of the caregiver; however, there is a paucity of information on the long-term effects of youthful caregiving on adult mental health and its impact on their psychological, social, and emotional development. Research suggests that providing primary care has both positive and negative consequences on children. ` Method: To gain a further understanding into the experiences of former young caregivers, three nurses, a Telemetry nurse, a Nephrology nurse, and a Nurse Practitioner were interviewed to form the case study. A content analysis of the interview data was performed to identify commonalities, emotional memories, past and current triggers, and reflections to provide a deeper insight into the perspectives of each participant as they shared their views on the positives and challenges experienced as a young caregiver, in addition to the impact caregiving has had on their adult mental health. Findings: Common positive experiences shared between participants included benefit finding, social support, and influence of self-identity and career choice. Common challenges experienced involved lack of education and resources, impact on school performance, impact on friendships, impact on physical health, unresolved anger, and depression. Their experiences were dependent on several factors such as their age and gender, school status, gender of the care recipient, progression or severity of the illness/disability, and family closeness; however, the three common variables having the greatest influence on mental health was parentification, social support, and becoming a wounded healer. Implications and Conclusion: The data from this qualitative descriptive study broadens our awareness into the importance of identifying this hidden population and the need for development of effective services aimed and preventing and treating depression.

<p> Currently, there is a gap in the literature highlighting the need for professional development in the form of mentoring support for first-year directors in Early Childhood Education (ECE). </p><p> The primary purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of first-year ECE directors who took part in the California Early Childhood Mentor Program (CECMP) during the 2015&ndash;2016 school year. Participants came from the northern and northeast regions of the CECMP. Using a narrative approach guided by personalized stories, along with in-depth one-on-one interviews, this study focused on the experiences of four prot&eacute;g&eacute; directors who engaged in a mentoring relationship with an experienced director mentor. By situating the prot&eacute;g&eacute;s&rsquo; experiences within a 4-path framework of Analyzing, Advancing, Acting and Accelerating, this study investigated the impact of the mentoring relationship on addressing challenges and leadership development in an ECE program. </p><p> Findings from this study revealed that when the elements of supportive guidance, supportive resources, self-reflection and supportive relationships are in place, first-year directors can become equipped to address challenges and develop the capacity for leadership. The ECE field must continue to promote the provision of systemic and relevant leadership training and mentoring in order to grow leaders and to sustain leadership capacity. Implications of this study reveal the need to incorporate a professional development system for emerging and future first-year directors that recognizes effective leadership as a vital component to the success of children, staff and families. </p><p> Recommendations for policy include increasing federal funding for mentoring and leadership training programs and the provision of options for an ECE director credential similar to the Clear Induction Tier 2 Standards put forth in K-12 for first-year principals. Recommendations for practice highlight the need for mandated mentoring hours as well as prolonged engagement in quality leadership development programs leading up to the first-year directorship. Recommendations for future research include the use of quantitative survey instruments to determine if first-year directors with mentors identify this study&rsquo;s findings as significant in a mentoring relationship.</p><p>

The purpose of this ethnographic study is to uncover relationships between the development of masculinities, the acquisition of early literacy and classroom processes. These processes include the early stages of the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy. The focus of the study is to examine literacy experiences in the early years classroom with reference to current anxieties about the progress and achievements of boys. The setting is a medium-sized primary school in the North of England. Data are drawn from participant and non-participant observation of adults and children, informal interviews and conversations with adults and the use of a questionnaire as the basis for informal interviews with children. Evidence is presented which suggests that boys in the class are already beginning to develop negative attitudes to literacy; possible factors to account for this are considered. These include administrative organisation, differential teacher expectations of boys and girls, the development of masculine subjectivities into resistance and boys' avoidance of literacy experiences through coping strategies. The impact of the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy on the gendered acquisition of early literacy is given detailed consideration. Findings indicate that all these factors do have considerable influence on differences in children's confidence in their approach to literacy attainment. The paper concludes that, with regard to future school policies, there is scope for greater co-operation between teachers in exploring the connections between gender, literacy attainment and classroom processes. It proposes that such explorations should be focused on both girls and boys. It explores ways in which such discussions might be begun. It proposes some ways in which practice might be modified. Suggestions for further classroom research are also made.

The social ecology of a classroom—comprising settling-level features that emerge from the characteristics and interactions of the people in the classroom—shapes the opportunities a child has for forming relationships, as well as the way children experience these relationships (Bierman, 2004). In this dissertation, I examined how two aspects of the preschool classroom’s social ecology influenced children’s subsequent experience of peer rejection and subsequent development of social competence during elementary school. Unlike the majority of research published about social competence, peer rejection, or preschool classroom characteristics, in this dissertation I took a longitudinal approach and examined the independent and joint contributions of two aspects of the preschool classroom social ecology—the classroom composition of child externalizing behaviors and the quality of the emotional and relational climate of the classroom—to the subsequent development of my outcomes of interest. I found that, on average children’s trajectories of peer rejection did not demonstrate change over time (estimated IRR = 1.00, p = 0.76). I also found that, on average, children’s social competence grew from age four to age five (β = 0.32, p < 0.001). In addition, the preschool classroom composition of externalizing behavior was related to the elevation of children’s subsequent developmental trajectories of social competence from age 4 to age 5 such that children in preschool classrooms with relatively lower proportions of children with externalizing behaviors displayed subsequent developmental trajectories of social competence with higher elevations than did children in preschool classrooms with relatively higher proportions of children with these behaviors. This relationship, in turn, was moderated by the preschool classroom emotional quality such that children had subsequent trajectories of social competence that were higher in elevation when they had attended preschool classrooms with more positive emotional climate compared to children taught in preschool classrooms with less positive emotional climate, providing the level of the preschool classroom composition of externalizing behaviors was held constant. I discuss these findings and their implications in the following thesis.