The role of opportunities to learn in early childhood teacher education from two perspectives: A multilevel model

Abstract

Early childhood teacher education is considered crucial for the development of professional knowledge. However, little is known about the impacts of teacher educators, especially with respect to domain-specific knowledge in areas like early mathematics education. We investigated the relationship between opportunities to learn as reported by teacher educators and perceived by pre-service teachers and pre-service teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge, mathematics pedagogical content knowledge, and mathematical content knowledge. The sample comprised 909 pre-service teachers from two different teacher education tracks (vocational school vs. university) and their 43 teacher educators. The results provided the first empirical evidence that opportunities to learn reported by teacher educators are highly relevant for pre-service teachers’ knowledge. This strengthens calls to focus on the role of teacher educators in both research and practice.

Preschool teachers' pedagogical content knowledge predicts willingness to scaffold early science learning

“…Interest in early science learning has increased during the last years because preschool children's knowledge is predictive for later achievement and school success (Morgan et al, 2016; Trundle & Saçkes, 2015). There is growing consensus that science education should start early (Anders & Rossbach, 2015; Dunekacke et al, 2021; Möhring et al, 2021) and that early science should include inquiry‐based and child‐centred activities (Gropen et al, 2017). Appropriately structured learning situations are needed to support children's learning (Hadzigeorgiou, 2002).…”

The Role of Intelligence and Self-Concept for Teachers’ Competence

“…Teachers acquire their competencies through a long process of schooling, teacher education, and professional development. This also applies to early childhood (EC) teachers used as a sample in this study ( Dunekacke et al 2021 ). Based on the seminal work by Shulman ( 1987 ), teachers’ professional knowledge can be modelled as a three-dimensional construct that includes content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and general pedagogical knowledge.…”

“…With respect to content, the present study focuses on the domain of mathematics and EC teachers’ task to support children’s mathematical learning in early childhood education. Their professional knowledge then includes mathematics content knowledge (MCK), mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK), and general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) ( Dunekacke et al 2021 ).…”

Differenzierte Beschreibung der Handlungsplanung von angehenden Erzieher*innen mit Blick auf die mathematische Lernunterstützung – Eine explorative Studie

“…Die Daten wurden bereits 2013 erhoben und die Ausbildungsinhalte der angehenden Erzieher*innen könnten sich mit Blick auf die frühe mathematische Bildung weiterentwickelt haben. Dagegen spricht jedoch, dass die von den Fachschullehrer*innen 2013 berichtete Häufigkeit von mathematikdidaktischen Lerngelegenheiten (Blömeke et al 2017) sich deskriptiv kaum von der aktuell berichteten unterscheidet (Dunekacke et al 2021). Zudem scheint eine Re-Analyse vorhandener Daten vor dem Hintergrund der Zumutbarkeit zeitintensiver Erhebungen im Ausbildungskontext eher wünschenswert zu sein.…”