{"title":"Characterizing Preschool Teachers’ Use of Teaching Practices to Promote Young Children’s Self-Determination Skills","authors":"Qunshan Zheng, Patricia Snyder, Fang Xu","doi":"10.1007/s10643-024-01705-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Self-determination refers to skills used to experience a quality of life consistent with one’s preferences, strengths, and needs. Theoretical and empirical literature has identified contextual opportunities for children to learn and use these skills in their everyday activities and routines. The present study used an investigator-developed observational coding system to describe and quantify preschool teachers’ use of teaching practices that could promote young children’s foundational self-determination skills. Twenty-one preschool teachers who had children with and without identified disabilities or developmental delays enrolled in their classrooms were observed for 15 min during two types of preschool classroom activities: child-initiated and teacher-directed. Teachers’ use of practices ranged from 6 to 60 occurrences across five self-determination skill categories, with an average of 24.43 occurrences in 30 min. Self-regard, self-direction, and self-advocacy practices were more frequently used than self-regulation and social problem-solving practices. Exploratory analyses of the observational data suggested differences in teachers’ use of self-determination teaching practices across the two types of activities and positive correlations between teachers’ use of self-determination teaching practices and the observed quality of teacher-child interactions. Implications of the study findings for teaching practices teachers can use to promote young children’s self-determination skills during classroom activities are discussed in the context of inclusive and high-quality early childhood education.</p>","PeriodicalId":47818,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Education Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Early Childhood Education Journal","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-024-01705-w","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Self-determination refers to skills used to experience a quality of life consistent with one’s preferences, strengths, and needs. Theoretical and empirical literature has identified contextual opportunities for children to learn and use these skills in their everyday activities and routines. The present study used an investigator-developed observational coding system to describe and quantify preschool teachers’ use of teaching practices that could promote young children’s foundational self-determination skills. Twenty-one preschool teachers who had children with and without identified disabilities or developmental delays enrolled in their classrooms were observed for 15 min during two types of preschool classroom activities: child-initiated and teacher-directed. Teachers’ use of practices ranged from 6 to 60 occurrences across five self-determination skill categories, with an average of 24.43 occurrences in 30 min. Self-regard, self-direction, and self-advocacy practices were more frequently used than self-regulation and social problem-solving practices. Exploratory analyses of the observational data suggested differences in teachers’ use of self-determination teaching practices across the two types of activities and positive correlations between teachers’ use of self-determination teaching practices and the observed quality of teacher-child interactions. Implications of the study findings for teaching practices teachers can use to promote young children’s self-determination skills during classroom activities are discussed in the context of inclusive and high-quality early childhood education.
期刊介绍:
Early Childhood Education Journal is a professional publication of original peer-reviewed articles that reflect exemplary practices in the field of contemporary early childhood education. Articles cover the social, physical, emotional, and intellectual development of children age birth through 8, analyzing issues, trends, and practices from an educational perspective. The journal publishes feature-length articles that skillfully blend 1) theory, research, and practice, 2) descriptions of outstanding early childhood programs worldwide, and 3) quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research. Early Childhood Education Journal is of interest not only to classroom teachers, child care providers, college and university faculty, and administrators, but also to other professionals in psychology, health care, family relations, and social services dedicated to the care of young children.
Areas of Emphasis:
International studies;
Educational programs in diverse settings;
Early learning across multiple domains;
Projects demonstrating inter-professional collaboration;
Qualitative and quantitative research and case studies;
Best practices in early childhood teacher education;
Theory, research, and practice relating to professional development;
Family, school, and community relationships;
Investigations related to curriculum and instruction;
Articles that link theory and best practices;
Reviews of research with well-articulated connections to the field