Preservice Teacher Learning Within a Kindergarten Internship: Insights for Early Childhood Teacher Educators

This study is an examination of early childhood preservice teachers\u27 kindergarten internship experiences to identify the supportive and challenging conditions for their learning and explore in what ways those conditions are productive or unproductive for them, based on ecological perspective as a theoretical framework. Qualitative data were collected from weekly seminar notes and field notes by the researchers, a focus group with the preservice teachers, and course evaluation feedback. Through a constant comparative analysis approach, the findings indicate that both supportive and challenging learning conditions were created by collaborating teachers, preservice teachers, and the university supervisors. The findings illuminate the complex responsibilities of early childhood teacher educators to develop horizontal expertise for both themselves and preservice teachers so they can negotiate the best practices from research and the reality of school contexts

Developing capacity for social and emotional growth: an action research project

This article reports an action research project in which children, their teacher and the author, and an advisory teacher from a Local Authority collaborated as co-researchers in a project to improve working relationships in the classroom. Both appreciative enquiry and emancipatory research informed the project. This article focuses on one aspect of the project: the development of active listening skills. In an initial consultation, the teacher described her difficulty in teaching a mixed-year class of 7–9-year-old children who had difficulties in functioning as a group. During the initial whole class consultation, the themes that emerged as pertinent for making the class more fun to be in were: listening, caring and co-operating. Three strands: greetings, active listening and co-operative activities were explored during eight multi-sensory sessions and applied during class time over a period of three months. The results produced evidence of improvement in promoting listening and social skills. It was, however, the inductive aspects of the Action Research process that were the most illuminating, leading to a better understanding of the complex interplay of factors that contribute to improved working relationships within a class. The knowledge and insights discovered through action research and collaborative working are at least as important as specific skill training and were seen as integral to the emotional and social development of teachers and children