Early childhood Teachers' Beliefs and Practices Concerning Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association 1997;35(6):221-234.

논문편 : 발달적으로 적합한 유아교육 실제에 대한 어린이집과 유치원 교사의 신념과 실제 교수 활동

김선영

명지대학교 생활과학·식품영양학부

Early childhood Teachers' Beliefs and Practices Concerning Developmentally Appropriate Practices

김선영

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were (a) to ascertain early childhood teachers' beliefs and practices relative to the developmentally appropriate practices, and (b) to determine the relative differences of child care center teachers' beliefs and practices and kindergarten teachers' beliefs and practices. Although interest in obtaining information regarding teachers' beliefs and practices for developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood education is not new, it has commanded considerable attention recently, reflecting concern about growing fragmentation and discontinuity between the early childhood education and care services. A questionnaire measure of 4-and 5-year-old classroom teachers' beliefs and practices based on the guidelines for developmentally appropriate practices of the National Association for the education of Young children, which was consisted of the Teachers' Beliefs Scale(TBS) and the Instructional activities Scale(IAS), was administered to 215 child care center teachers and 215 kindergarten teachers. Positive correlations were found not only between teachers' beliefs and practices but also between developmentally appropriate belief and activities, and between developmentally inappropriate beliefs and activities. There was significant difference between child center and kindergarten teacher groups on the mean scores of each subscale, revealing that kindergarten group had a greater mean score on both TBS and IAS than child care center group. The results of this study implies that there is a great deal of teaching in either child care centers or kindergartens which is not congruent with developmentally appropriate practice. Also, the information obtained with the questionnaire has supported the contention that early childhood education and care services are need to be amalgamated based on the developmentally appropriate practices.