This article profiles Toni Schweitzer, a parent who has a fantastic kindergarten program for her four-year-old twins. The program runs from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the local community school where certified teachers and early childhood educators work side by side to offer a child-centred program that covers her entire working day. The program is…

The issue of children's transitions from prior-to-school settings to school is a complex one which has been the focus of research for the past 30 years. To ease children's transitions, communication between teachers in preschools and schools is recommended by researchers and educational authorities. However, there are indications that this…

The proliferation of computer software for young children necessitates that early childhood teachers have the knowledge and skills needed to evaluate and select developmentally appropriate software. This article describes the manner in which one university prepares early childhood teacher candidates to analyze software for the young children in…

The field of early childhood education has traditionally struggled to be viewed as a profession. Recent public attention on the importance of the early years in creating a foundation for later learning success has led to a focus on improving education for young children. One aspect of educational reform and renewal--Professional Development…

The activities and guidance in this book will help teachers to develop the confidence and meet the individual needs of young children with English as an additional language across different settings. There are also practical and varied language teaching strategies to promote learning for children working individually or in small groups. The first…

This is the ninth brief in a series of Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) analyses of Head Start Program Information Report data. This brief provides information on Early Head Start programs, staff, and participants; including young children, pregnant women, and their families. It updates a similar brief that CLASP published analyzing data…

Today we often hear that early care and education is becoming or should become a profession. In this article, the authors discuss what it means to be a profession, and a professional and consider how these characteristics apply to the field of early care and education now and in the future. Professionals possess specialized knowledge and…

New Jersey provides a unique context from which to explore the issue of preschool teacher certification and preparation because of the 1998 and 2000 Supreme Court decisions related to the Abbott districts. These decisions ruled that the 30 poorest districts were to create systems of high-quality preschool for all 3- and 4-year-old children…

out new ideas within their own classroom contexts and with the help of skilled colleagues. Professional development from this perspective, therefore, not only involves teachers attending training sessions such as workshops or conferences but also receiving on-site technical assistance and mentoring in new instructional techniques. To ensure that…

Changing times and postmodern perspectives have disrupted the taken-for-granted relationship between child development knowledge and the preparation of early childhood teachers. Despite ongoing exchanges about how best to respond to the critique of the developmental knowledge base, few descriptions of how particular teacher educators have gone…

The presentation is based on the ongoing research project The Pedagogical Formation of Early Childhood Education in Finland. The data of the first stage consists of all written kindergarten teacher training curricula drawn up in 1973-2002. The aim is to discover the nature of the expertise that the kindergarten teacher training programmes…

This study examines teacher conceptualization of multicultural education and describes their approaches to implementation. It examines why teachers experience difficulties implementing multicultural education. This case study of two kindergarten teachers in an urban public school in Northern California uses a collaborative approach to investigate…

This study was carried out within the framework of environmental education (EE) and its object was the recording, categorization and interpretation of kindergarten teachers' conceptions about two basic concepts: nature and the environment, which are key concepts of environmental education. The study involved the participation of 110 public…

The authors of this paper document how federal policy on child care and early education led to a decline in wages and education among staff in early childhood programs. The paper analyzes labor trends for the early care and education workforce over the past 25 years--notably, an overall decrease in educational qualifications, and persistent wage…

The aim of this research was to examine the relationship between exposure to classroom noise and the psychological well-being of full-time teaching staff in 14 preschool settings located across Western Sydney. The participants comprised 25 teachers, each of whom was administered a range of instruments. The results indicated that 40% of teachers…