THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE PRESCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

Research findings suggest that teachers’ education and training is a key factor in improving the preschool quality. Teachers’ qualifications can lead to high-quality preschool education and positive developmental outcomes for the children. This study examines the effectiveness of the teachers’ professional development program “Upgrading the Quality of the Preschool Environment” on improving the quality of the Kindergartens. The research followed a quasi-experimental design and included 26 kindergarten teachers from 23 public Greek kindergartens, who were divided into an Experimental and a Control Group. The quality of the kindergartens was initially assessed using the ECERS-R scale and a five-month professional development program, based on this initial evaluation and on collaborative practices, was designed and implemented to the Experimental Group. Our results show that although the mean scores of quality before the implementation of the program did not differ significantly (t = 6.45, p =.52), the mean scores, for the Experimental Group (M = 4.71, SD = .62) were significantly higher after the intervention (t = 4.30, p <001) than those of the Control Group (M = 3.78, SD = .37). The follow up evaluation one and a half years later showed the maintenance and further improvement of the results of the program in the quality of the kindergartens. Our research provides useful information that can be used in the future for the designing of professional development programs aimed at improving the quality of the preschool environment.  Article visualizations

Applied Curricula and Professional Development

Kindergarten is considered as the first significant educational context that children interface. As a result, it is very interesting to understand the type of learning that they interface in such context. The present study attempts to delineate the actual educational practices that teachers apply, as well as the instructional content that children are taught. To this aim, 77 teachers and a total of 187 pre-designed activities were recorded in systematic observation by trained staff, who were familiarized prior to the research with the observational scale. The analysis of the data uncovered several specific codes, namely, the selected themes that teachers developed, time sequence and repeatability, theme selection criteria, content of educational activities (concerning the learning areas, the exact activities that occurred, the educational material teachers used, and the space of classroom that activities were conducted), and teaching methods. The results indicated that there are considerable similarities among the practices that teachers apply, regardless of the theme or the class of children. More specifically, teachers tended to develop repeatedly specific themes every year without any significant adjustments. Moreover, they emphasized on language education, as they included it in each and every theme they taught, while mathematics and other learning areas (e.g., new technologies, physical education, etc.) were surprisingly contemned. Kindergarten teachers seem to preserve a model of practice that is repeated in every theme development. Such a model includes lecturing the whole class and individual consolidation activities. The model of teaching that emerged from our analysis illustrated that the teacher-centered approach prevails, while teachers' practice is defined by old-fashioned ways. As a consequence, our results show that further investigation should be conducted in order to earn deeper insight on the reasons that lead teachers to conserve this kind of teaching practices and select the instructional content

Neoliberalism and government responses to Covid-19: Ramifications for early childhood education and care

The Covid-19 pandemic has created an opportunity to examine the initial policies developed by Australian, Canadian, English, German, Greek and Irish governments to limit the spread of the virus. This has revealed governments’ conceptualisation of the early childhood sector and its workforce. This paper argues that neoliberal ideology and neoliberal imaginaries have already influenced the early childhood sector globally. During the pandemic, the choices that governments made at the outset of the pandemic has allowed their priorities and underlying ideology to be more transparent. Using an ethnographic methodology, early childhood researchers from each of the six countries, examined their individual governments policy responses and the effects on the early childhood sector during its initial months (between March and June 2020). The authors consider the extent to which this may have implications for the sector in how it should continue its ongoing pursuit of professionalisation of the sector. © 2022, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc.. All rights reserved

Neoliberalism and government responses to Covid-19: Ramifications for early childhood education and care

The Covid-19 pandemic has created an opportunity to examine the initial policies developed by Australian, Canadian, English, German, Greek and Irish governments to limit the spread of the virus. This has revealed governments' conceptualisation of the early childhood sector and its workforce. This paper argues that neoliberal ideology and neoliberal imaginaries have already influenced the early childhood sector globally. During the pandemic, the choices that governments made at the outset of the pandemic has allowed their priorities and underlying ideology to be more transparent. Using an ethnographic methodology, early childhood researchers from each of the six countries, examined their individual governments policy responses and the effects on the early childhood sector during its initial months (between March and June 2020). The authors consider the extent to which this may have implications for the sector in how it should continue its ongoing pursuit of professionalisation of the sector

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP MODELS IN GREECE: PRACTICES OF PRIMARY SCHOOL LEADERS / ΜΟΝΤΕΛΑ ΣΧΟΛΙΚΗΣ ΗΓΕΣΙΑΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ: ΠΡΑΚΤΙΚΕΣ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΩΝ/ΤΡΙΩΝ ΔΗΜΟΤΙΚΗΣ ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΣΗΣ

One of the most critical factors associated with school effectiveness is school leadership. The purpose of our research was to study the practices of primary school principals regarding school leadership from the perspective of managerial, transformational, and instructional leadership models. The sample of the study consisted of 12 primary school principals who worked in Thessaloniki (Greece). A semi-structured interview was used as a data collection tool. Data were studied and categorized based on the method of hybrid thematic analysis. The results of the study showed that managerial model is dominant. Principals, though, developed the tendency to adopt modern models of leadership as well, the “narrow” version of instructional leadership model and the two of the four dimensions of transformational leadership model, Idealized influence and Ιndividual consideration. The conclusion is that although principals had adopted some aspects of modern leadership models, it is necessary for them to acquire knowledge and skills for the other dimensions also and to act accordingly. The Ministry of Education should design and implement training programs for principals, after conducting an investigation of training needs, in order to acquire more knowledge and skills concerning leadership and management so they can be more effective.Ένας από τους πιο σημαντικούς παράγοντες που συνδέονται με τη σχολική αποτελεσματικότητα είναι η σχολική ηγεσία. Σκοπός της παρούσας έρευνας ήταν να μελετήσει τις πρακτικές διευθυντών/ντριων δημοτικής εκπαίδευσης σχετικά με τη σχολική ηγεσία υπό το πρίσμα των μοντέλων της διοικητικής, μετασχηματιστικής και καθοδηγητικής ηγεσίας. Το δείγμα της έρευνας αποτέλεσαν 12 διευθυντές/ντριες δημοτικών σχολείων της Θεσσαλονίκης. Ως ερευνητικό εργαλείο αξιοποιήθηκε η ημι-δομημένη συνέντευξη και ως ερευνητική τεχνική η υβριδική θεματική ανάλυση. Από τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας προέκυψε πως το διοικητικό μοντέλο είναι κυρίαρχο στις πρακτικές των διευθυντών/ντριών, οι οποίες συνδέονται επίσης με τη «στενή» εκδοχή του καθοδηγητικού μοντέλου και τις δύο από τις τέσσερις διαστάσεις της μετασχηματιστικής ηγεσίας, την εξιδανικευμένη επιρροή και το εξατομικευμένο ενδιαφέρον. Ως συμπέρασμα προέκυψε η ανάγκη υλοποίησης επιμορφωτικών προγραμμάτων για διευθυντές/ντριες, μετά από διερεύνηση αναγκών, υπό την αιγίδα κρατικών φορέων της εκπαίδευσης, ώστε να αποκτήσουν γνώσεις και δεξιότητες και για τις υπόλοιπες διαστάσεις των σύγχρονων μοντέλων ηγεσίας και να ανταποκριθούν στις απαιτήσεις της θέσης ευθύνης που υπηρετούν.      Article visualizations

Effects of Task Organization on the Independent Play of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of task organization, a component of Structured Teaching developed by Division TEACCH, on the independent play of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). On-task behavior, task accuracy, task performance and teacher prompting were measured across independent play sessions in the classroom. An ABAB design was implemented to evaluate the effects of task organization on the independent play skills of two young children with ASD. Results regarding on-task behavior, task accuracy and independence were variable and are discussed. The implications of findings on the use of task organization for increasing