•This study examined the associations between teacher qualifications, classroom quality and child’s outcomes in the community child care centers.•Teacher qualifications were measured by degree, ECE ...credits, and state’s career level.•Teachers without a college degree and ECE credits had lower classroom quality.•Having a BA degree regardless of ECE training did not predict higher classroom quality.•Teacher qualifications were not associated with children’s outcomes.
This study examines the associations of teachers’ levels of education and professional training with observed classroom quality and children’s school readiness in community-based child care centers. Prior research provides mixed evidence about whether teachers’ education predicts early childhood education (ECE) classroom quality and children’s outcomes. Data are drawn from a Midwestern study of community child care centers (typically private pay non-profit or for-profit child care centers that are not directly funded by government programs) and the children ages 3–5 in their care (N=189 centers and 661 children). This study takes advantage of a very detailed set of teacher training measures that includes information on education degrees, ECE credit-based training, and placement on the state’s 17-level professional career ladder (the Registry). Using these measures, the current study is able to examine whether variations in degrees and ECE credit-based training for teachers predict observed classroom quality and children’s school readiness skills. Analyses control for a rich set of variables, including children’s demographic information and fall assessment scores, teachers’ work-related characteristics (e.g., motivation for ECE work), and classrooms and programs’ features. Results from regression models suggest few associations between teachers’ education level, ECE credits, or level on the professional career ladder and observed classroom quality. The key exception is that teachers who do not have any postsecondary education and training in ECE are in classrooms of significantly lower quality compared with teachers who have a college degree. Results from hierarchical linear models indicate that teachers’ education does not predict children’s early academic skills.
Digital media have played a central role in everyday school life, at least since the governments in various competence frameworks define the digital competence areas. With a view to experimentation ...in STEM lessons, digital media offers a variety of opportunities to promote learning processes. A benefit is expected from technological progress when visually imperceptible scientific processes are made visible with software and hardware systems. Augmented reality combines the real and virtual worlds so that the viewer physically moves in a real environment that contains virtual elements. Consequently, augmented reality offers good conditions for expanding students’ subject-specific knowledge regarding substance-particle concept understanding. When a technology like augmented reality is used in the classroom, the learning environment must be accepted by teachers. Teachers are thus actively involved in the modification of digital learning environments so that they can identify, evaluate, and select digital resources. Teachers’ acceptance, therefore, presupposes an upbeat assessment of the usability of the innovation. Attitudes and self-efficacy can influence digital literacy and, thus, acceptance. The study investigates whether chemistry teachers positively embrace augmented reality and accept them as learning tools. Considering the T(D) Pack model, the teachers’ digital competencies are examined concerning the subject- and media-didactic evaluation of digital media. First, self-efficacy and attitudes of teachers (
N
= 157) are assessed. After processing the (non-/HMD-)augmented reality learning environment, an acceptance and usability test (
N
= 122) follows. The data analysis provides reliability and correlation analyses according to classical test theory. The results demonstrated that chemistry teachers saw great potential in using digital media and AR and, in particular, positively evaluated the AR learning environment on the tablet for chemistry teaching. In this context, the analyses revealed significant correlations between attitudes and acceptance.
AbstractThis study describes teachers’ neglect vis-à-vis building students’ civic disposition in civic education learning in junior high schools during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ...pandemic. Employing a mixed methods approach, the research focuses on civic education teachers in junior high schools in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Data collection involved surveys, focus group discussions, interviews, and documentation, subsequently analyzed through descriptive statistical and qualitative methods. The findings highlight three primary facets. First, the teachers did not conduct the students’ civic disposition building in civic education learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically based on the lesson plan, implementation, and assessment, which are inappropriate for values-based education; second, the factors that contribute to such neglect are teachers’ inadequate competencies, online learning, and the assessment system that focuses on cognitive learning outcomes; third, teachers’ neglect has implications for the building of student character, the existence of civic education as values-based education, and the obstruction of the national-character-building program.
Many institutions have found the strength to name racism and seek space for curriculum and other systemic changes. We argue this is happening against a backdrop of curriculum, regulatory and policy ...changes in education, and particularly initial teacher education and training (ITE/T), which are de‐racialised. We propose that a ‘pocket of possibility’ lies within such divergences, and present research leading to the creation of an anti‐racism framework for ITE/T to support action against this emergent landscape. The paper documents each aspect of the research and snapshots of the findings of a global literature review of anti‐racism in initial teacher education, which demonstrated the need for an embedded approach to anti‐racism, informed by critical understandings of whiteness and racism. We share some of the complexities, obstacles, and effective anti‐racism practices revealed in the review. The findings of the review led to the creation and analysis of a survey for ITE/T providers in England, which provided encouraging evidence of useful practice alongside needs of the profession. We conclude with a statement of intent and hope to maximise of the minimum entitlement of the Core Content Framework (CCF) by a purposeful undoing of the perpetual de‐racialisation of education.
AbstractThis mixed methods study examined students’ perceptions of EcoJustice and Social Justice curriculum in an undergraduate children’s literature course. Data included beginning-course and ...end-course Likert scale questions and open-ended responses, student reflective writings, and assignments. This study also examined survey responses from faculty teaching children’s literature. Results showed that students, primarily preservice teacher candidates, want EcoJustice topics in the curriculum and believe such teaching is more important than educators do. Students and teachers viewed Social Justice and EcoJustice pedagogy as separate and had much less understanding of EcoJustice topics and pedagogy compared to those of Social Justice; however, after experiencing an EcoJustice inclusive curriculum, the end-course results demonstrate that students had a much better understanding and a stronger belief in the importance of EcoJustice topics. Student participants reported a better understanding of how connected justice topics and pedagogy are and how they could incorporate such pedagogy into their own K-12 teaching using children’s literature. The author made her children’s literature courses more ecologically inclusive and justice-focused and provides brief recommendations for incorporating EcoJustice pedagogy in undergraduate children’s literature courses.
AbstractThe health education in schools became the focus of public attention during the global pandemic of COVID-19. Teaching practice changed to meet the increased demand for pupils’ health, ...triggering a reevaluation of higher education curricula for pedagogical students. Therefore, this mixed methods study aimed to investigate the lifestyle of university students of pedagogy in Slovenia during the COVID-19 pandemic. One hundred and four students (87.4% females and 12.6% males) met the criteria and participated in an online survey in which they self-assessed their physical activity, eating habits, mental well-being, and sleep quality. The convergent parallel mixed methods design was used to obtain qualitative descriptions of student experiences with lifestyle domains and quantitative data on their attitudes towards the impact of lifestyle on physical and mental well-being during the pandemic. The results suggest that the pandemic did significantly impact student lifestyles, especially their mental well-being. Although most students maintained a healthy lifestyle during the pandemic, they also reported a deterioration in other measured domains of health-related behaviour. Particular attention should, therefore, be paid to the curriculum of pedagogical students to develop their competences in health education and readiness to assume an active role as educators for their future pupils’ health.
AbstractThis research article explores the impact of an intervention aimed at enhancing hope among senior secondary school students. The investigation was carried out in the Bokaro district of ...Jharkhand, India. The study focuses on the changes observed in scores on the Children Hope Scale (CHS), Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS), and Self-Worth Sub-Scale (SWS) to assess the effectiveness of this intervention. The results reveal significant increases in hope, life satisfaction, and self-worth among the participants, aligning with prior research emphasizing the positive outcomes of interventions that foster goal-directed thinking and hope. The intervention’s strengths-oriented approach empowers students to identify and pursue meaningful goals, which leads to increased life satisfaction. The limitations of this investigation emphasize the need for future research with larger and more diverse samples to enhance the generalizability of the findings. The study encourages educators and clinicians to consider strengths-based approaches for fostering positive development among school students and creating a more conducive learning environment. The research emphasizes the importance of addressing psychological constructs in educational settings, as fostering hope, life satisfaction, and self-worth can have long-lasting effects on students’ well-being and academic performance. The study serves as a valuable contribution to the field of positive education, paving the way for further research on the effectiveness of similar interventions in diverse educational contexts. Additionally, understanding how different stakeholders perceive the benefits of such interventions can guide the design of future studies, making a significant impact on students’ psychological development.
The current study examined (1) associations among teachers' experiences regarding children with disabilities (i.e., education, specialized training, years of work experience), their attitudes toward ...disabilities, and their classroom practices in relation to inclusion and (2) associations among children's attitudes toward peers with disabilities and child and teacher factors. Ninety-one 4- and 5-year-old children participated in an interview, and their teachers completed a survey. Teachers' specialized training and bachelor's degree in early childhood education (ECE) were positively associated with their inclusive practices in the classroom; teachers' bachelor's degree in ECE and experiences working with children with disabilities were positively associated with their attitudes toward disabilities and inclusion; and children's perceived contact with people who have disabilities was positively associated their attitudes toward peers with disabilities. However, none of the teacher factors predicted children's attitudes toward peers with disabilities. Early childhood teachers need more training opportunities to learn about disabilities to develop positive attitudes toward disabilities and inclusion. Providing frequent contact with people with disabilities may enhance children's acceptance of peers with disabilities.
This paper analyses the laws, rules and education principles which regulated and ensured the establishment of courses to qualify as a gymnastics teacher in Italy in the second half of the 19th ...century. The aim of the research is to point out teaching and learning approaches applied in teachers’ schools (so-called Scuole Magistrali) and special qualifying courses (i.e. Corsi autunnali), in order to provide a better understanding of teacher professionalism. Findings regarding Italian teacher training are compared with those collected in other European states in order to highlight the extent to which teacher education programs developed according to similar paths when gymnastics became a compulsory subject in European schools.
The Swiss teacher education and training system offers a practically and academically oriented path for aspiring commercial vocational education and training (VET) teachers. Although teachers’ ...content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) are considered crucial for teaching quality and students’ achievement, little is known about Swiss VET teachers’ Economics CK and PCK. Using assessments of teachers’ economics CK and PCK as proxies of “quality” we found that teachers regardless of practical or academic preparation were similar in CK and PCK once in the teaching profession. This finding contradicts popular belief that academic preparation with its selectivity and education would produce higher quality teachers.
PDF
