The present study, conducted during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada, addressed the association between family responsibilities and mental health (depression and anxiety) ...among kindergarten educators. Participants comprised 1790 (97.9% female) kindergarten educators (73.6% kindergarten teachers; 26.4% early childhood educators) across Ontario. Results revealed that educators were more likely to report moderate levels of depressive symptoms if they had the responsibility of caring for their own children, and more likely to report moderate levels of depressive and anxious symptoms if they had the responsibility of caring for an older adult. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has not impacted everyone equitably, including children (e.g., Li et al., 2021). The objective of this study was to explore the association between school ...neighbourhood composition and kindergarten educator-reported barriers and concerns regarding children’s learning during the first wave of COVID-19 related school closures in Ontario, Canada.
ApproachIn the spring of 2020, we collected data from Ontario kindergarten educators in an online survey on their experiences and challenges with online learning during the first round of school closures. We asked educators whether they experienced a number of barriers to learning and concerns about returning to school in the Fall. We linked the educator responses to 2016 Canadian Census variables based on the school postal code. Poisson regression analyses were used to determine if there was an association between neighbourhood composition and the number of barriers and concerns reported by kindergarten educators.
ResultsEducators (n = 2569; 74.2% kindergarten teachers, 25.8% early childhood educators; 97.6% female) who taught at schools in neighbourhoods with lower median income reported a greater number of barriers to online learning (e.g., students' lack of access to electronic devices) and concerns regarding the return to school in the fall of 2020 (e.g., concerned about differences in how much students learned during the school closures). Educators also reported a greater number of concerns regarding the return to the classroom in neighbourhoods with a greater proportion of single-parent families.
ConclusionOur study confirms that the educational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic may not have been felt equitably even by kindergarten children, as educators teaching in schools in lower SES neighbourhoods reported both more barriers to online learning, and more concerns about returning to the classroom in September 2020.
Outdoor play comprises a highly significant play category through which children learn, develop, express themselves, socially and physically interact with their surroundings. Research, however ...demonstrates outdoor play is not substantially utilized within Greek preschool environments. This study was conducted during the 2019 academic year, aiming at examining, via questionnaire, the views of current (N:100) and prospective (N:100) Kindergarten Educators regarding outdoor play's importance and utilization as a learning and development asset within Greek preschool environments. Findings establish that current and future educators acknowledge outdoor play's contribution into children's learning and development and promote natural materials playing into Kindergarten. Nevertheless, they fail to exploit exterior settings for organized play activities; prospective educators but occasionally evaluate toy-objects or the play equipment of the school yard. This study, finally, highlights the need for retraining Greek educators towards a better utilization of outdoor play and its incorporation into Kindergarten's educational process.
Research to date has established that the COVID-19 pandemic has not impacted everyone equitably. Whether this unequitable impact was seen educationally with regards to educator reported barriers to ...distance learning, concerns and mental health is less clear.
The objective of this study was to explore the association between the neighbourhood composition of the school and kindergarten educator-reported barriers and concerns regarding children's learning during the first wave of COVID-19 related school closures in Ontario, Canada.
In the spring of 2020, we collected data from Ontario kindergarten educators (
= 2569; 74.2% kindergarten teachers, 25.8% early childhood educators; 97.6% female) using an online survey asking them about their experiences and challenges with online learning during the first round of school closures. We linked the educator responses to 2016 Canadian Census variables based on schools' postal codes. Bivariate correlations and Poisson regression analyses were used to determine if there was an association between neighbourhood composition and educator mental health, and the number of barriers and concerns reported by kindergarten educators.
There were no significant findings with educator mental health and school neighbourhood characteristics. Educators who taught at schools in neighbourhoods with lower median income reported a greater number of barriers to online learning (e.g., parents/guardians not submitting assignments/providing updates on their child's learning) and concerns regarding the return to school in the fall of 2020 (e.g., students' readjustment to routines). There were no significant associations with educator reported barriers or concerns and any of the other Census neighbourhood variables (proportion of lone parent families, average household size, proportion of population that do no speak official language, proportion of population that are recent immigrants, or proportion of population ages 0-4).
Overall, our study suggests that the neighbourhood composition of the children's school location did not exacerbate the potential negative learning experiences of kindergarten students and educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, although we did find that educators teaching in schools in lower-SES neighbourhoods reported more barriers to online learning during this time. Taken together, our study suggests that remediation efforts should be focused on individual kindergarten children and their families as opposed to school location.
In this paper we analyze the role and attitudes of kindergarten educators in the early ICT education. Our kindergarten survey among educators in Croatia showed the positive attitude towards ICT ...literacy in general, but it also showed that more than one third of educators has neither positive nor negative attitude towards the issue of early ICT education. The research results are compared to the most recent findings for other countries – Turkey, Hawaii, Sweden, Belgium, China, Greece, Portugal, UK, Australia, Israel, Chile, Slovakia, Singapore and Malaysia. The conclusion is that educators in countries that are still not obliged to use ICT in the preschool classroom, generally understand the necessity of their own ICT education and motivation to transfer their knowledge to the youngest learners.
This article deals with the results of a questionnaire survey, in which attitudes and beliefs of people working in German kindergarten about 'mathematics,' 'teaching and learning of mathematics' and ...'mathematics in the early years' were evaluated. After a quantitative analysis it can be stated that a schematic view of mathematics of kindergarten educators prevailed and active and constructive learning of mathematics was highly agreed upon. The answers to the 'open question' about mathematics in kindergarten and learning goals revealed a broad range. These results are used to show impacts on pre-service and in-service pre-school teacher education
Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted education, including early childhood education level. Since then, The Indonesian government has asked educational institutions to apply learning from home. Schools all ...over the country are closed. Changes in the way to teach and learn certainly have an impact. The study aims to consider the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the educational process on early childhood education level in Indonesia based on Educator perspectives. Research data were obtained based on a survey and a semi-structured interview with 61 kindergarten educators. All participants were from Indonesia. Data were collected from April-June 2021. Data analysis used thematic analysis of qualitative data. The result revealed four themes: Educators competency Impact, Effect on parents/family, effect on School Management, and effect on educators’ finances.
This qualitative study analyzes the results of a pedagogical and didactic experiment which was focused on the problem of teaching environmentally-friendly behaviours to young kindergarten children. ...It is essential to awaken children's curiosity and desire to know more about environmental issues in their regions so that children develop their own answers to problems. Our research focus was to understand the potential of practical-experimental activities connected to ecology, in a relaxed and entertaining learning context, promotes the learning of environmentally-friendly behaviours. The analysis of the results obtained in the pedagogical and didactic experiment was based on the following categories: (a) teaching and learning methodology and teaching resources; (b) children perceptions. The findings revealed that the built teaching resources have enabled these children to understand the importance of having environmentally-friendly behaviours.
