The effect of specialized education and job experience on early childhood teachers' knowledge of developmentally appropriate practice

Early childhood teachers’ (N=73) level of education, length of employment, number of content areas covered in child development courses taken, and supervised practical experience were examined as factors affecting their knowledge of developmentally appropriate practice. Background information concerning each teacher's education, employment, content areas covered in child development courses taken, and supervised practical experiences was gathered in the Teacher Information Report. Knowledge of developmentally appropriate practice was assessed by having each teacher listen to 12 audiotaped vignettes describing situations typical to teacher-child interactions in preschool classrooms. They were asked to determine if each vignette described appropriate or inappropriate practice. A 3(level of education) x 3(length of employment) factorial analysis of variance revealed a significant level of education effect on developmentally appropriate practice scores F(2,2)=3.23, p < .05. Post-hoc comparisons indicated that those teachers with formal degrees in the area of child development (M=8.68) scored significantly higher than those with other types of training (M=7.62). There was no significant length of employment effect on developmentally appropriate practice scores. A 4(number of content areas covered) x 3(length of employment) factorial analysis of variance yielded a significant effect for number of content areas covered F(3,2)=6.18, p< .001. Post-hoc comparisons indicated that participants who had covered 10 or more content areas (M=8.91) scored significantly higher than those who had covered fewer than 10 content areas (M=7.10, 7.42. 7.75). A 4(number of content areas covered) x 3(supervised practical experience) factorial analysis of variance yielded a significant effect for number of content areas covered F(3,2)=8.921 p < .01. and an effect for supervised practical experience F(3,2)=3.153, E < .05. Tukey Multiple Comparisons Test indicated that of those participants who had both student teaching and fieldwork experience, those who had covered 10 or more content areas in child development scored significantly higher (M=9.00) than those who had covered fewer than 10 content areas. Of those participants who had covered 10 or mere content areas. those with both student teaching and fieldwork experience scored significantly higher on the assessment of developmentally appropriate practice (M=9.00) than did those who had no student teaching or fieldwork experience (M=7.00). Implications for teacher training are discussed in the thesis.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Family and Child Development

Department dc:contributor.department

Family and Child Development

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1988

Author dc:creator

• Snider, Margaret Hardy

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-10132010-020320

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/45188