•The present study examined the perspectives of 31 preschool teachers of children with ASD on mathematical creativity and the characteristics of "creative math activities" offered in their ...classrooms.•The preschool teachers perceived mathematical creativity in general as teaching including diverse environments, as well as encourages use of higher order thinking skills (qualitative analysis).•Pedagogical principles extensive attention was given to the children's physical environment, while little attention was given to involving students or, in particular, to the children's psychological environment (quantitative analysis).•The main research findings may serve as a basis for intervention programs that expand the underrepresented knowledge about mathematical creativity.
Mathematical creativity perception has been examined in recent years among teachers and preschool teachers of typically developed children. However, very little is known about mathematical creativity in the context of preschools for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using a semi-structured interview, the present study examined the perspectives of 31 preschool teachers of children with ASD on: (a)mathematical creativity in general and among children with ASD in particular (qualitative analysis), and (b)characteristics of “creative math activities” offered in their classrooms. Creative activities were assessed according to three components: mathematical content, pedagogical principles-psychological environment involving students and physical environment; elements of creativity-fluency, flexibility and originality (quantitative analysis). The qualitative analysis showed that the preschool teachers perceived mathematical creativity in general as teaching including diverse environments, as well as encourages use of higher order thinking skills. Regarding their perception of mathematical creativity among children with ASD, no response uniformity was found. The quantitative analysis showed that the preschool teachers present mainly activities from the field of number concept. Regarding pedagogical principles extensive attention was given to the children's physical environment, while little attention was given to involving students or, in particular, to the children's psychological environment. The main research findings may serve as a basis for intervention programs that expand the underrepresented knowledge about mathematical creativity identified in the current study within teachers’ repertoires and encourage their promotion of mathematical creativity within their curricula. Implementing such changes will help better actualize the creative potential of children with ASD.
Participation is an important factor for preschool quality and with participation comes both possibilities and challenges. The aim is to explore guardians’ perceptions of participation in Swedish ...preschool using Buber’s understanding of dialogue in interpersonal meetings. The research questions are: How do guardians describe participation in preschool? How do guardians perceive their participation in preschool teaching? Conducting interviews with 20 guardians resulted in the emergence of four themes. The results show that guardians have different perceptions about what participation implies. They describe that they want to be participating but settle with being informed. Guardians find it optional to participate in the decision-making concerning teaching. A conclusion is that preschool teachers need to be in dialogue with guardians about how participation can be understood in their specific context. Another conclusion is that competence regarding the importance of continuous dialogues needs to be addressed towards preschool teachers to promote guardians’ participation in teaching.
Comparative pedagogical analyses were obtained on the basis of the
generalised theoretical results. The aim of the study is to discover
theoretical, methodological, didactic principles of a ...professional training
of preschool teachers in the context of socio-political, economic,
socio-cultural and pedagogical determinants in some European Union countries
in order to justify the possibilities of introduction of an innovative
European experience in preschool teachers? professional training in Ukraine
and other countries. The results of comparative pedagogical research on
professional development of preschool teachers? in some countries of the
European Union are generalised; models were characterised; organisational
and pedagogical support for the professional development of preschool
teachers in some countries of the European Union was specified; the
influence of European integration processes on the modernisation of
professional development of preschool teachers in Ukraine and the
comparative analysis of systems of professional development of preschool
teachers in some countries of the European Union and Ukraine were studied;
promising directions were described in the implementation of innovative
ideas of the European experience in the vocational education system in
Ukraine.
nema
This study aims to investigate preschool teacher-directors' sense of professional isolation, and discover the origins of their isolation at work and coping methods. The qualitative paradigm was the ...research method. The sample comprised 25 preschool teacher-directors in public municipal preschools, and the semi-structured interview method was used. The findings of this study extend our understanding of preschool teacher's sense of professional isolation, the origins of their isolation and the coping strategies they use to cope with their isolation such as professional support, professional cooperation, initiating educational projects, and professional development. The results demonstrate that professional strategies possessing aspects of shared leadership and pedagogy are the most effective.
Situated within a cohort of Chinese preschool teachers’ emotional experiences, this study shows that preschool teachers’ emotional labor is characterized by its long duration, high intensity, and ...diversity in emotional interactions. The findings also reveal three rules governing preschool teachers’ emotional labor, including being adept in emotional control, active use of emotions, and keeping smiling service. In response to these rules, preschool teachers regulate their emotions with four major strategies of disguising, restraining, self-persuading, and releasing. The paper concludes with implications on how preschool teachers’ emotion regulation can be better supported.
•The emotional characteristics include long time, high intensity, and diversity.•Preschool teachers’ emotional labor was governed by three set of rules.•Regulation strategies are disguising, restraining, self-persuading, and releasing.•Chinese preschool teachers tend to be downgraded to service-providers.
This study aimed to determine how preschool teachers handle mathematics learning processes in their mathematics activity plans and which contents they include. The study used the document analysis ...method as a descriptive research model. The study examined 200 mathematics activity plans applied by 10 preschool teachers working in preschool education institutions in the 2020-2021 Fall and Spring academic terms. The data of the study were collected with the Mathematics Activities Assessment List (AEL), which the researchers developed. The researchers analysed the data obtained in the study separately by using the coding system without specifying the teachers' names for confidentiality. As a result, the researchers determined that preschool teachers planned mathematics activities mainly in large group activities and integrated them into their activity plans. On the other hand, they also found that teachers included concepts such as number/counting and quantity more in their mathematics activity plans and they planned mathematics activity plans as classroom activity plans. In addition, they included family participation activities in mathematics activity plans.
Based on 33 Chinese preschool teachers' emotional experience, this study developed a taxonomy to specify the functional roles of emotions in Chinese preschool teachers’ identity construction. The ...analysis shows that emotions played three major functions, including a barometer of identity affirmation and disaffirmation, a pedagogic strategy to display situated identities, and a mediator of identity commitment. The findings also reveal individual differences in the fulfillment of these functions during emotional construction of professional identities. Such differences highlighted the importance of teacher beliefs in being a preschool teacher and teacher self-reflection on the interactive nature of emotions in identity construction.
•Three functional roles of emotions in preschool teachers’ identity work were specified.•Emotion can be a barometer of identity affirmation and disaffirmation.•Emotion can be a pedagogic strategy to display situated identities•Emotion can also work as a mediator of identity commitment.•Individual differences in the fulfillment of these functions were also identified.
•Multiple risk factors are used to assess preschool teacher retention and turnover.•Preschool teachers are more likely to quit as they accumulate more risk factors.•A model is built to predict ...preschool teachers who continue teaching and those who quit teaching.•Participant recruitment and retention rates were very high.
Head Start teacher retention and turnover is an important issue, but has been under researched. The aim of the current study was to assess which factors could predict preschool teacher retention and turnover halfway through the school year. Eighty-one newly hired Head Start teachers qualified to participate at the beginning of the school year. However, 12 quit before they could be recruited to participate, and four dropped out of the study, leaving 65 participants to complete a demographics questionnaire and a job satisfaction questionnaire within the first 30 days of the school year. In January, preschool teachers were followed up to see if they continued or quit teaching. In total, 36% of newly hired Head Start teachers had quit. Head Start teachers were more likely to quit if they had: less desire to stay teaching in the early childhood field, did not feel happy, had a worse relationship with their supervisor, did not like their work environment, or had a lower education compared to those who continued teaching. The data further show that the more of these risk factors a preschool teacher possessed, the more likely they were to quit. A predictive logistic regression model was built using these five factors. A post hoc analysis revealed that lead preschool teachers were more likely to have a higher education, be married, perceive their workload to be too high, and perceive that they have inadequate facilities compared to assistant preschool teachers. The implications of these findings are further explored.
The introduction of English language teaching (ELT) at the preschool level has been widely discussed by researchers. While most agree with ELT at preschool level, considerable issues are faced in ...learning a second, third, or foreign language. Therefore, this systematic review discusses the issues preschool teachers face in implementing ELT and their beliefs on how ELT should be applied to young children. Using three renowned databases, namely Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), 34 articles were extracted out of 85 articles, from 2012 to 2022, with exclusion and inclusion criteria taken into consideration. The findings of this study showcased eight main issues faced by preschool teachers in implementing ELT: English language proficiency, pedagogical skills, teacher perception, curriculum, teaching resources, training, socio-cultural, and classroom environment. In terms of preschool teachers' beliefs about ELT, there are four main issues: Bilingual education, children's characteristics, curriculum alteration, and teachers’ experience. Generally, these findings will guide teachers, responsible authorities, and researchers to acquire an overview of the actual issues that occur in the implementation of ELT in preschools as well as the appropriate measures to overcome them, starting from the preschool teachers' beliefs.
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