The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand, describe, and
make meaning of the experiences of early childhood educators of young foster care
students. The researcher examined the experiences of teachers regarding the attachment
behaviors of their foster care students. This study also sought to explore how early
childhood teachers implement their curriculum and how they design their classroom
environment to meet the needs of young foster care children.
Data collection and analysis included 20 questionnaires and 20 face-to-face semistructured
interviews. Data analysis consisted of a three step process. The first step began
by reading interviews through a holistic approach. During this step, the researcher read
the entire transcript as a whole before digging deeper. The second step in coding was a
selective reading. In this step, the researcher read through each transcript by finding key
words and/or phrases. The third step in the coding process was a detailed reading. The researcher read the text word-by-word. This step aided the researcher in finding those
words that captured the phenomenon of the teachers.
The researcher found three major overarching themes: social and emotional
behaviors, triad relationship, and classroom accommodations. This study revealed three
main themes: attachment-related behaviors of social and emotional development, teacher
relationship strategies with student and caregiver, and classroom curricular and
environmental adjustments. Within all three of these themes was an underlying theme of
a teacher-as-mother perceived attachment from the teachers. The teacher-as-mother
perceived attachment was embedded in the experiences of the teachers. It is
recommended that this main theme be explored in future research. The experiences of the
teachers were completely based on their experiences in this study. The way they
intervened on behalf of their foster care students did not appear to relate to any
professional development or training; it was entirely based on their experiences. It is
recommended that the arena of early childhood would benefit immensely with a course,
training, or professional development in learning about the foster care system and dealing
with young children in foster care. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_40850 |
| Contributors | Rushing, Jacqueline Marie (author), Bhagwanji, Yashwant (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), College of Education, Department of Curriculum, Culture, and Educational Inquiry |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 144 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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