On the website, NAECTE, I followed the outside link under Journal. This link takes you to the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education where it welcomes research reports, position papers, and essays on educational issues. When exploring a little deeper, I noticed a side bar on the right hand side that shared the "most read" articles, so I thought I would take a look at those.
The article that I thought best related to our class and study was an article on Historical Themes and Contemporary Issues. This article discusses the increase of investment in prekindergarten education and raises questions of what makes a well-qualified early childhood teacher. In this article, the author explores what is "high quality" and attempts to define quality teaching. It also suggests that there is much to be learned from the history of kindergarten and talks about ideas of best practices. This article touches on the topics of equity and excellence as we have explored this week. In order to reach excellence an early childhood program will have to be of high quality and employee well-qualified, educated teachers.
Tabitha,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! You made an excellent point, it is important to look at the history when moving forward! Can you post the link for the article? I would like to read it!
Thanks
Tabitha,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that in order for us to move forward it is important for us to look back so we can avoid the mistakes of the past and embrace the sacrifices of those early advocates.
Quality teaching definitely impacts on quality learning. Frost (2007) noted that a “perfect storm” is mounting in the early childhood field where business-like approach to education with a focus on accountability is seeking to deemphasize the role of play, discovery and spontaneity so the role of the early childhood teacher should ensure that developmentally appropriate practices are fostered.
Reference
Lasser, J & Fite, K. (2011). Universal Preschool’s Promise: Success in Early Childhood and Beyond. Early Childhood Educ J.
Great Article, I am also exploring this website. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIn our professional journey, it is always so interesting to discover how one resource will link us to another resource, and in this way we discover a world of valuable information that contributes to our understanding and our journey. It sounds like this week's journey was valuable in giving you more insight into what quality looks like in terms of programs and staffing. I did not see any link to the article you mentioned. Is a link to the article available?
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