Report
Preservice Teachers' Beliefs about Primary Classroom Practice: Similarities and Differences between Early Childhood and Elementary Prepared Students
Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse
2000
Abstract
Two different professional preparation paths lead to teaching positions in the primary grades, resulting in conflicting paradigms. In early childhood education (ECED), child development theory traditionally serves as the context for decision making regarding instructional strategies and curriculum content. In contrast, elementary education (ELED) historically focuses on prescribed grade-related student outcomes as the context for curriculum and instruction. A study was conducted to examine the beliefs of 119 preservice teachers who were either at the beginning or end of their teacher preparation programs in ECED or ELED. Participants completed a survey that assessed their beliefs about curriculum content, teaching strategies, guidance/discipline, classroom activities, and assessment. Responses indicated that ECED students favored classroom practices that were more consistent with the National Association for the Education of Young Children guidelines for practice than did ELED students. The ECED students, at the end of their program, favored more child-directed curriculum and less frequent use of teacher-directed activities than did students at the beginning of their program. The ELED students, at the end of their program, favored more behavioral classroom management strategies and less frequent use of child-directed activities than did beginning students. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/HTH)
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Details
- Title
- Preservice Teachers' Beliefs about Primary Classroom Practice
- Creators
- Nancy FileDominic F Gullo
- Publisher
- Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse
- Resource Type
- Report
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education
- Identifiers
- 991020531948804721