Efforts to improve education should not neglect to provide the rich play opportunities that benefit children in so many ways. In Tanzania, the pre-primary curriculum, for example, guides teachers to use play as the primary method of teaching and learning. Despite this policy mandate for play, however, abundant evidence indicates that Tanzanian…

American University (AU), developed the Teacher Pipeline Program (TPP), where District of Columbia's (DC) high school students can earn college credit in education (i.e., dual enrollment) and a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. If they become Teaching Fellows, they can apply the college credit to their undergraduate program of study.…

Ensuring that cultural sensitivity in teacher education programs is addressed will enhance new teachers' confidence and effectiveness in the classroom. As the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher candidates have experienced a non-contact environment at every stage of their professional education. Specifically, the pandemic impacted the…

By transforming education to focus on nurturing creativity, teachers can better ensure that their students are receiving the best preparation for a future of rapid change. This article describes how Alla Tkachuk founded MASK (Mobile Art School in Kenya, www.mobileartschoolinkenya.org) to champion art for creativity in Africa. Starting as a small…

The field of teacher education is abuzz with a quest for innovation, with public and private stakeholders seeking ways to improve teacher efficacy, support equity, and address the countless challenges of education in the 21st century. Technology often dominates these conversations. From online learning to virtual reality, "innovation" is…

In the recent past, during the 36 hours of required coursework necessary to become a certified teacher in the state of New York, not a single course deviated from the same model of teacher centered lectures and a long list of "to dos" that would presumably enable pre-service students to face 30 odd children in their own classrooms with…

This study highlights the importance of mentorship focused on reflective practice during preservice teacher education and early years of teaching. Thoughtful reflection about teaching practices during early years of teaching is critical in preparing teachers for a child-centered curriculum. To successfully distinguish between teacher-directed and…

Sustainability is a term with an evolving definition that applies to more than the physical environment. It speaks to the interconnectivity of every action we take (or fail to take) and to human beings' relationships with one another and their environment. A sustainable future is one in which global citizens engage in critical thinking,…

This article addresses a question that is of key importance in preparing early childhood personnel, especially those in inclusive environments: "How do we teach in ways that we want our students to teach?" There is an emphasis on developing a "community of practice" where professionals can share their work-related concerns and…

In this article, the author talks about professional development schools (PDSs), a form of collaboration between schools and universities that have tremendous potential to improve both, and discusses four joint tasks of PDSs, namely (1) improvement of student learning; (2) preparation of educators; (3) professional development of educators; and…

Researchers have noticed a shift in education, with science and social studies taking a backseat to mathematics and literacy (Marx & Harris, 2006; Rodriguez, 2006). Some school districts are operating on a rotating basis with science instruction--one month on and one month off (Marx & Harris, 2006). A better approach would be to encourage students…

Within these last 20 years, professional development schools (PDSs) have emerged and become, for many, the sine qua non of teacher preparation and professional development. Over the past decade, as PDSs increasingly became a focus of reform efforts and a subject of conversation, regional PDS conferences proliferated. As a result of these efforts,…

This article describes an early childhood professional development project that took place in the summer of 2005 in Guatemala City. Located in Central America, Guatemala has a population of approximately 12.3 million people, including more than two million children under the age of 5 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2007; UNICEF, 2004). Events…

Nourishing the young child can be a challenge. This stage of life is critical to the development of positive attitudes toward maintaining a healthy diet and learning to make reasonable food choices. Educators of young children are often the gatekeepers of child nutrition. This article reports on the current nutrient needs of young children,…

Teaching, to a large degree, depends on more than just technical skills. The demands of classroom teaching require interpersonal skills and dispositions that are often ignored when determining a preservice teacher's fitness to teach. This article provides an example of how one university addresses the challenge of evaluating students' skills and…