This article summarizes a study of the viewpoints of Bible lecturers in the Kindergarten Education Department while teaching content related to the biblical "other." The study, by two researchers themselves part of the study population, was conducted according to the qualitative approach and included interviews with participants from a…

This study examined the professional and personal transition undergone by eight experienced early childhood (EC) teachers after completing their graduate studies. The data were collected through interviews and online communication. Three main categories arose in the qualitative content analysis of the text: (1) personal process of change; (2)…

Few men around the world work in daycare settings, nursery schools or kindergartens. Yet wherever they are found, men who are perceived to have crossed the gender boundary in their choice of profession are widely acclaimed as gifted educators and excellent caregivers. Policy makers who care about providing quality education for young children need…

Because professionalism in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is measured by standards relating to caring, men in the field are often held to expectations associated with female behaviors. This research examines the tensions arising from this encounter and explores alternative solutions which male ECEC workers around the world have…

This study deals with the way in which kindergarten teachers in state religious kindergartens in Israel tell the Torah stories to children. It examines the influence of the teachers' identity, being part of the religious Zionist society, on the way in which she tells the stories. These kindergarten teachers function at a crossroads of identities.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the components and determinants of preschool teacher organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB), i.e. role behaviours that are discretionary, unrewarded and beyond formal-role expectations. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 12 Israeli kindergarten teachers and four supervisors participated in…

This study investigated 10 Israeli preschool teachers' reasons for choosing their profession and their perceptions of the teacher's role. A narrative approach was chosen because teachers' narratives can reveal their practical knowledge and the meanings they ascribe to their teaching. Data were subjected to content analysis and linguistic analysis.…

This article describes preschool teachers' espoused mental models (EMMs) or, in other words, their naive understanding of young children's learning. Our research goal was to examine differences within the teachers' EMMs regarding the minds and learning of young children from different cultural backgrounds. The subjects included 18 preschool…

The young child's exposure to disaster and trauma through the media or in the social milieu poses a challenge for the early childhood educator who is faced with responding and educating in a developmentally appropriate manner. In the case of public commemoration of a national disaster, the classroom implications are seemingly unavoidable. This…

This research analyzes the attitudes of teachers, children, and parents toward artwork in Israeli kindergartens and the role this attitude plays in the reproduction theory of social status. This micro-ethnographic field research was carried out in two kindergartens. The teacher and the majority of parents of Kindergarten A concurred with the…

Whereas much research attention has been given to the induction stage of beginning schoolteachers worldwide, there is a limited knowledge base on the experiences of new kindergarten teachers at this stage, despite the different work tasks and contexts of both groups of teachers. Based on semi-structured interviews with 15 Israeli kindergarten…

This paper discusses how kindergarten children and their teachers "perform" in kindergartens and how they "account" for their actions. Reported are conclusions from a series of three studies carried out in 15 Israeli kindergartens. Data for the first two studies were collected in non-participant observations, audio-recordings,…