Early Childhood Education Journal最新文献

While the population of multilingual learners (MLs) in the United States has grown rapidly in recent years, many teachers feel unprepared to teach them. The professional development (PD) teachers receive is often misaligned with their particular needs and experiences. This design-based research study examined the development and impact of online PD designed with teacher input to improve writing instruction for young MLs. Data were collected over twelve months from 25 teachers in six Southeastern U.S. school districts. Researchers evaluated the impact of the PD on teachers’ knowledge and self-efficacy for teaching writing to MLs. Findings highlight how teachers made instructional moves to support the linguistic assets of their students and shifted their beliefs toward more culturally responsive perspectives. These shifts were facilitated by the core PD elements of content focus, active learning, coherence, and duration. The study highlights a need for soliciting iterative feedback on PD from teachers themselves, revising PD based on ongoing feedback, and providing practical opportunities to apply new learning.

Children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases. Therefore, the role of early childhood educators (ECEs) is crucial for infectious disease prevention (IDP). This study aimed to define and analyze ECEs’ role in IDP using the Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) method and educational needs analysis. The DACUM analysis revealed seven key duties: Routine Monitoring, Environmental Management, Education and Guidance, Administrative Responsibility, Risk Management, Self-Development, and Medication Management. Routine Monitoring emerged as a critical duty involving continuous surveillance to detect early signs of infectious diseases, indicating its importance in maintaining overall health. Environmental Management highlighted measures for disinfection and securing the necessary consumables, whereas Education and Guidance focused on developing and implementing educational activities to prevent disease spread. Administrative Responsibilities are required to facilitate effective communication between the ECEs and children’s families. Risk Management ranked highly in the education needs analysis and involved responding to infectious disease outbreaks by planning appropriate play activities under restrictive conditions. Self-Development emphasized the need for ongoing learning to ensure continued IDP in pediatric patients. Lastly, Medication Management highlighted the challenges faced by ECEs in administering medications and the need for clear practice guidelines. Establishing an IDP framework based on these key duties enables ECEs to integrate educational and health priorities more effectively. This framework could serve as a foundation for training programs and policy development, supporting safer learning environments and promoting children’s health and development.

A subset of extant data (N=423) from the Family Life Project, a population-based study of Black and White families with low incomes from rural communities, were used to test for associations between teacher depressive symptoms and children's cognitive outcomes at 36 months. A second aim tested whether early care and education (ECE) quality mediated such relations. Results indicated that although the associations were in the expected negative direction, teacher depressive symptoms were not directly significantly related to any child cognitive outcome. However, relations were completely mediated by indirect pathways with ECE quality, meaning that teacher depressive symptoms affected child cognitive outcomes entirely via decreases in ECE quality (ES= -0.04), particularly for receptive vocabulary. Implications for teacher mental health and psychological wellbeing as well as ECE quality in rural communities are discussed.

Despite the legal requirements for families to participate in the education of children with special needs, the implementation of these requirements is often inconsistent due to a lack of awareness among both families and educators. This study was conducted to critically examine the roles, challenges, and effective strategies for family involvement using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory to explain the complex relationship between family and educational systems in supporting child development. Using a mixed-methods research design, this study combines quantitative data from a survey of 157 preschool teachers with qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 16 educators who have experience in inclusive classroom settings. Quantitative analysis showed no significant differences in the implementation of family involvement strategies based on teachers’ professional seniority or gender (p > 0.05). However, educators who implemented classroom adaptations for students with special needs showed higher levels of effective family involvement (p < 0.05). Qualitative findings identified significant barriers to family involvement, such as time constraints due to parents’ work commitments, socio-economic and educational disparities, and inadequate communication between families and schools. Educators proposed solutions, including flexible scheduling, targeted awareness initiatives, and enhanced collaboration among stakeholders to overcome these obstacles. The insights from this study are essential for policymakers, educators, and families working to create inclusive educational environments that effectively address the needs of children with special needs. Recommendations for future research include expanding the study to diverse geographic regions and educational levels and conducting a comprehensive examination of the long-term effects of family involvement on children’s academic and social outcomes, as well as on teachers’ professional development and satisfaction within inclusive education frameworks.

There has been increased attention on teachers’ use of exclusionary discipline with the youngest learners in elementary schools; however, little is known about early childhood teachers’ use of particular discipline practices and social emotional supports. The present study reports results from a survey of 936 teachers working in elementary schools in preschool through second grade classrooms regarding their use of discipline practices and social emotional supports. We found that teachers across grade levels used several positive social emotional teaching supports and overall reported a low use of harsh discipline practices such as suspension and expulsion. However, teachers reported using some exclusionary discipline practices, such as timeout, especially in kindergarten. Several social emotional supports were not well-utilized especially in early elementary grades. Findings are discussed in the context of supporting teachers to use recommended and supportive practices with young children across the early grades.

Executive function encompasses various cognitive skills that govern our thoughts and actions when completing a task. The skills include self-regulation, memorisation, and cognitive flexibility to ultimately foster autonomy, planning, and problem solving skills. Various interventions have been used to develop executive function skills; however, the use of structured play has not been adequately assessed. Therefore, this qualitative study explored how the development of executive function skills can be supported in preschool settings using structured play. Since acquiring new knowledge and skills is particularly effective during social interaction, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory was the conceptual framework. A qualitative approach was deemed the most suitable choice as it relied on direct observation of the phenomenon. Eight South African preschool teachers were selected from four preschools with different curricula (National Curriculum Framework, Independent School Association of South Africa curriculum, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia). Research data was obtained using semi-structured interviews and lesson observations. The data was then analysed and coded to arrive at six themes. The themes include: (1) guiding, (2) modelling, (3) instructing, (4) repeating, (5) incorporating child-led activities, and (6) considering children’s interests. Overall, the data supported active engagement through social experiences as a route to develop executive function skills. Given the psychosocial benefits of acquiring executive function skills at an early age, the contribution of this study suggests that play-based strategies are effective in enhancing executive function skills. These strategies are applicable in different learning environments.

Given disruptions to early care and education following the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to mitigate long-term impacts of the pandemic on child development among ethnic and racial minority children. Our team is implementing an early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) model, or a multi-tiered intervention to support young children’s social-emotional development, that utilizes mental health consultants to deliver a virtual toolkit to ethnically and racially diverse early care and education centers. Understanding the perspectives and ongoing needs of center directors, teachers, and parents is critical to intervention delivery. Between February and April 2023, 18 participants (n = 6 center directors, n = 6 teachers, n = 6 parents) across 12 early childcare centers completed individual interviews in English or Spanish. We used a rapid qualitative analysis to generate four themes related to participants’ perceived impact of COVID-19, including how it (1) exacerbated existing financial and administrative challenges, (2) increased their need for adaptability, (3) highlighted the importance of support for staff facing educational challenges during a public health emergency, and (4) highlighted the value of partnerships between parents and centers. We generated five additional themes specific to participants’ ongoing needs and suggestions, including (1) increased financial support, (2) outside behavioral support, (3) enhanced center staff self-care, (4) balancing in-person interaction with planned virtual delivery, and (5) use of existing smartphone applications for communication with parents. In addition to informing adaptations to our model, including expanding upon program pillars (e.g., expanding our safety planning pillar to include financial safety via linkages to community resources), these data may be used to inform the delivery of other ECMHC programs for diverse populations.

Computational thinking CT is central to computer science, yet there is a gap in the literature on the best ways to implement CT in early childhood classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how early childhood teachers enacted asset-based pedagogies while implementing CT in their classrooms. We followed a group of 28 early childhood educators who began with a summer institute and then participated in multiple professional learning activities over one year. Examining a subset of the larger group, findings illustrate how teachers intentionally created learning communities that empowered students and utilized their expertise to guide CT learning in their classrooms. Teachers recognized that asset-based approaches to CT instruction empowered not just their students but also themselves. By using asset-based CT pedagogies, early childhood teachers can better support students from marginalized communities, reducing achievement gaps and inequities in digital learning.

The need for cross-disciplinary collaboration to meet the diverse needs of young children in Early Childhood Education and Care [ECEC] is evident. When multi-disciplinary professionals work together collaboratively, children with special educational needs are more likely to receive child-centred, holistic, and integrated support. This scoping review systematically (1) identified the research evidence available on cross-disciplinary collaboration initiatives that include inclusive ECEC settings as one collaborating party; (2) compared and clarified key terminologies and definitions around collaboration; (3) categorised the enablers and barriers reported towards cross-disciplinary collaboration within ECEC; and (4) explored the preliminary outcomes of cross-disciplinary collaboration. A total of 20 articles were included. Findings contribute to the emerging field of cross-disciplinary collaboration in ECEC, offering valuable insights for future research and implementation efforts aimed at optimising outcomes for young children.

Publishing scholarly papers can be difficult and authors may not get their work published due to technical flaws with their writing (e.g., literature review, methodology, results, or discussion). This article provides a self-assessment strategy for writing a quantitative research article. It outlines ten technical aspects of a quantitative research manuscript and provides a checklist for writing and reviewing a journal article. The final section shares recommendations for supporting the writing process. This article is meant to be used by authors, reviewers, and graduate students for creating scholarly writing that gets published in an academic journal.