Contribution
Attitudes toward a profession in early childhood have been always negative in the society mostly because the professional status and working conditions for early childhood education professionals. Early childhood education is not widely recognized as a distinct and well-articulated field of education. It is perceived as "women's work," with concomitant low status and low pay (Rust, 1993). Behind these negative profiles are varied histories and varying ideas about how societies view the role of early childhood institutions and the people who work in them. These views in turn shape the images that early childhood professionals have of themselves. A well-prepared early childhood teacher is one of the keys to young children's successful learning and development in early childhood settings.Teachers' personal factors such as knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes should be considered in teacher preparation programs because these factors play significant roles in determining not only how teachers teach but also how their students learn (Buldu, 2005). Koballa and Crawley (1985) claimed that attitudes are thought to influence future behaviors of teachers. Although a one-to-one correspondence between attitudes and behavior is yet to be definitively proved, the ability of attitudinal characteristics to influence behavioral outcomes cannot be categorically denied (Wareing, 1990).Although there is as yet no research evidence available to show that attitudes toward early childhood profession and quality early childhood programs are related, it seems reasonable to assume that they are. Research has shown that negative attitudes in adults affect children (Cummings, Lannotti, & Zahn-Waxler, 1985; Cummings, Zahn-Waxler & Radke-Yarrow, 1981). Negative attitudes may generate negative emotions which may affect both teachers' teaching and their relations with the children in their classroom, and ultimately the quality of the services they provide. It is therefore important to gain an understanding of the attitudes of early childhood preservice teachers as they are the future teachers of young children. The current study investigated the attitudes of preservice early childhood teachers toward teaching to young children in the U.S. to investigate whether variables such as class standing at college, the age group the preservice teachers wish to teach make a difference in preservice early childhood teachers' attitudes toward their profession. An analysis of such attitudes may provide important information and direction for preservice early childhood teacher education reform in the US. Specifically, the researcher sought to answer following questions: (1) What are the attitudes of pre-service early childhood teachers toward early childhood profession? (2) Is there a significant difference in attitudes toward early childhood profession among early childhood pre-service teachers? (3) What are the influential factors on pre-service early childhood teachers' attitudes toward early childhood profession? Sample For this study a convenience sample of 148 pre-service early childhood teachers was used. Participants included pre-service early childhood teachers between the ages of 18 and 48 years from a Northeastern public liberal arts college in the US. Instrument The attitudes of pre-service early childhood teachers were assessed by the data gathered using Pre-service Early Childhood Teachers Attitude Scale (PECTAS), a 37-item Likert type scale with 4 subscales, a profile, and a reflection section. Analysis The quantitative data for this study was analyzed employing a series of descriptive statistics and t-tests, and ANOVA using SPSS 14.0 statistical package. Pre-service teachers' responses to the open-ended questions were analyzed using a phenomenological procedure.Results of analysis of attitude measure of the C-scale indicated that, on average, participants tended to agree that they had confidence in self to learn and teach early childhood education. Analysis of measures belonging to the F scale indicated, on average, participants did not indicate early childhood as a female domain. In other words, they tended to agree that early childhood is a gender-neutral subject. Analysis of total attitude measures on T scale indicated that, on average, participants barely agreed that their previous teachers' attitudes toward early childhood profession were not very positive. Pre-service early childhood teachers barely agreed that their previous teachers promoted early childhood profession and supported/directed students toward a profession in early childhood education. When compared to other scales, the items in this scale received lower agreeability. Analysis of the total attitude measures of the U scale indicated that, on average, pre-service early childhood teachers agreed that early childhood education is a useful discipline.The results also revealed that early childhood pre-service teachers differed from each other in their attitudes toward early childhood education and early childhood profession due to class standing at college level. Freshmen year pre-service early childhood teachers were significantly different in their attitudes in C scale [F (3, 144) = 16.54, p < .05]. A post-hoc comparison revealed that the mean score for freshmen year early childhood pre-service early childhood teachers (M = 44.54, SD = 5.83) was significantly lower than that of sophomore year peers (M = 51.00, SD = 4.00), junior year peers (M = 50.54, SD = 4.32), and senior year peers (M = 52.89, SD = 5.28). No other differences were found among early childhood pre-service teachers in their attitudes due to age and grade level wished to teach. Analysis of open-ended questions revealed that family members, past experiences, professors at college, love of teaching were among the self-reported influences on early childhood pre-service teachers' attitudes toward early childhood profession. And, hands-on learning, early childhood curriculum models, constructivist theory, practicum experiences were among the influential ideas that early childhood pre-service teachers were exposed in college.Finally, analysis of pre-service early childhood teacher profile on the scale revealed that art is most favorite subject to teach among the early childhood pre-service teachers. Interestingly, science and math followed art among favorite subjects. But these two subjects were also reported to be the most difficult subject to teach. This study has implications for pre-service early childhood teachers in the US. This study may help U.S. pre-service early childhood teachers to realize their own attitudes toward early childhood as a profession, and in turn, help them to become effective early childhood teachers.Buldu, N. (2005). Attitudes of preservice elementary teachers toward science. A cross-national study between the USA and Turkey. Doctoral Dissertation. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University.Cummings, E. M., Lanotti, R., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (1985). Influence of conflict between adults on the emotions and aggression of young children. Developmental Psychology, 21, 495-507. Cummings, E. M., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Radke-Yarrow, M. (1981). Young children's responses to expressions of anger and affection by others in the family. Child Development, 53, 1274-1282. Doepken, D., Lawsky, E., & Padwa, L. (1999). Modified Fennema-Sherman attitude scales. Retrieved on October 19th , 1999, from http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/math/gender/08scale.html Koballa, T. R., & Crawly, F. E. (1985). The influence of attitude on science teaching and learning. School Science, and Mathematics, 85, 222-232. Rust, Frances O. (1993). Changing teaching, changing schools: Bringing early childhood practice into public education. New York: Teachers College Press. Wareing, C. (1990). A survey of antecedents of attitudes toward science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27(4), 371-386. Wareing, C. (1981). Cognitive style and developing scientific attitudes in the SCIS classroom. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 18(1), 73-77. Own PublicationsBuldu, M. (2006). Young children's perceptions of scientists. A preliminary study. Educational Researcher, 48(1), 127-138. Buldu, M. & Yilmaz, A. (2005). Assessing the quality in different U.S. early childhood education programs. Cukurova University Social Sciences Institute Journal, 14(1), 121-136. McMullen, M. B., Buldu, M., Lash, M., & Alat, K. (2004). An assessment tool for professional development. Examining quality in our preschool professionals from multiple perspectives with the Early Childhood Professional Questionnaire. Child Care Information Exchange, 157, 31-35. McMullen, M. B., Alat, K., Buldu, M., & Lash, M. (2004). A snapshot of NAEYC's preschool professionals through the lens of quality. Young Children, 59(2), 87-92. Buldu, M. (2002). Young children's computer use: Perspectives of early childhood teacher educators. Technology and Teacher Education Annual. Nashville, TN: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.
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