The central problem investigated in this field study was whether the working conditions of rural preschool teachers were different from those encountered by urban preschool teachers. And, if so, whether the problems encountered by rural preschool teachers were similar to those experienced by rural primary and secondary teachers. For the purposes of this study, small rural towns were those towns with populations of less than eight thousand and were geographically remote from large rural and urban centres of populations of more than twenty thousand. The data were collected by means of a mail questionnaire. The questions were devised around the issues raised in the literature about rural primary and secondary teachers. The material reviewed was converted into question format and placed in the context of preschool education. Eighteen teachers from rural schools and seventeen teachers from city schools participated in the survey. The statistical package for the Social Sciences was used to analyse the survey data. In all, nineteen hypotheses were tested. Further data, more directly pertinent to preschool education, were derived from four open ended questions. The results of the tested hypotheses revealed the following outcomes which were similar to those reported in the research on rural primary and secondary education: Rural Teachers were younger and less experienced than city teachers lacked resources and back up staff lacked adequate inservice opportunities were isolated from colleagues and advisers had some difficulty coping with the values portrayed by some members of the aboriginal community. Unlike rural primary and secondary teachers, the rural preschool teachers did not appear to have the same problems of adjusting to the rural community and did not lack parental support. The open ended questions suggested that rural and city preschool teachers did not differ greatly in their perceptions of school readiness, the role of parents, and the functions of preschool. However, rural preschool teachers did nominate isolation and lack of resources as their greatest problem. Both groups identified the complex and time consuming administrative tasks as a major problem. Since this is only a pilot study, this particular piece of research should be developed much further. This study has implications for further research in that it has identified a large number of areas to be explored, especially in regard to the working environments of rural preschool teachers, their relationship with their communities and the problems they face.

No description available.

Nowadays, preschool education plays a key role in all aspects of people’s lives. Preschool education teacher training programs need to reform accommodate the requirements of society and parents. This research studies the effectiveness of a new pre-school education teacher training program in Shanghai, using the Art Education Department (AED) of East China Normal University as a case study. The study involves AED graduates, AED lecturers and kindergarten principals, and assesses the effectiveness of the new program based on its course content and balance, its graduates’ work performance, and employers’ evaluations. This research was conducted through questionnaires, interviews and document analysis. A better understanding of the different opinions obtained can further our understanding of the effectiveness of the new pre-school education teacher training program. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-261).

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Oct. 22, 2007). Directed by Judith A. Niemeyer; submitted to the School of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-181).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Judith A. Niemeyer; submitted to the School of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 196-206).

I examined the relationship between teacher effectiveness as measured by the number of learn units students required to meet an objective and the number of competencies mastered within the categories of teacher repertoires composing the CABAS® rank. Twenty preschool teachers participated in the study. A statistical analysis was used to investigate the degree to which these variables negatively correlated with each other. The results showed that the more competencies teachers mastered, the fewer learn units students required to meet an objective. A second experiment was conducted as an experimental analysis of the correlations found in the descriptive analysis. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to analyze the relationship between the number of competencies teachers mastered and the number of learn units their student required to meet an objective. Four teachers and four teacher assistants participated in the study. The teachers and teacher assistants each taught two sight word objectives for a student with bidirectional naming and a student without bidirectional naming. The results did not show a functional relationship between the number of competencies mastered and a lower LUC (learn unit to criterion). Teachers with more competencies mastered did not present fewer learn units for their students to meet an objective when compared to teacher assistants who had fewer competencies mastered. Possible explanations for a lack of a functional relationship found in Experiment 2 are discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Judith Niemeyer; submitted to the School of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-211).