DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICES IN ECE IN BOTSWANA: A MYTH OR REALITY?

<p>Globally, Early Childhood Education (ECE) has been governed by National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). This organisation concerned about the welfare and education of young children (0-8years) produced guidelines for practitioners and all involved in the teaching of young children on how best to teach and educate young children. These guidelines state that children need to be taught content that is developmentally appropriate. This means that content should be designed to suit the age, individual nature of the child as well as the culture of the child. While Botswana has taken bold steps in providing ECE to children who would not have been able to enrol in ECE one wonders whether the provision afforded meets the requirement of providing these children with Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) as mandated by NAEYC. The absence of such practices may impact on the learning of young children. This paper argues for the importance of the DAP practices in the current ECE provision. It is suggested that the DAP can provide children with quality education that they deserve; it can also allow children to learn at their own pace. The absence of such a practice can impact the quality of ECE consequently impacting on the proper development of children holistically. Data collection and analysis used mixed methods being qualitative and quantitative. Questionnaires and interviews were uses as data collection instruments. A total of 15 questionnaires were distributed to ECE teachers in the Greater Gaborone Zone of which 11 were returned. A total of 11 interviews were conducted. The participants were mostly women with a few men. </p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0736/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Aligning Preschool and Kindergarten Classroom Learning Experiences

The focus of transition from preschool to kindergarten is often placed on what can be done to prepare the child. Relatively little emphasis is placed on how differences between learning experiences across settings might impact the child's transition from one setting to the other. This chapter presents the results of secondary data analysis of the 2009 FACES study that show that the alignment of prekindergarten-kindergarten (PK-K) learning experiences impacts children's kindergarten outcomes. In particular, HLM modeling found that children who had at least as many or more activity-based centers in their classrooms in kindergarten as they had in prekindergarten showed significantly better literacy and math outcomes at the end of kindergarten than children who had less or no activity-based centers in kindergarten. This chapter advocates for a systemic focus on transition that puts an emphasis on continuing developmentally appropriate practices between preschool and kindergarten settings as a way to facilitate transitions and improve outcomes for young children.

PENERAPAN METODE DEVELOPMENTALLY APPRORIATE PRACTICES (DAP) UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN MEMBACA ABJAD ARAB ANAK USIA DINI DI TPQ SUBULUSSALAM SURABAYA

This research aims to improve the reading ability of students in TPQ Subulussalam Surabaya by using DAP (developmentally Appropriate Practices) through the medium of the flannel board. The subjects of this study were the early age students in TPQ Subulussalam Surabaya. The samples taken were 16 students with an engineering sample Matched Design Group (MG). The 16 students were divided into two groups, experimental and control group. Based on the tables of statistical tests on the experimental group stated that the exact Sig. (2-tailed) = 0.008 which means the exact sig. <Real level (α / 2 = 0.05) and control group stating that exact Sig. (2-tailed) = 0.125 which means the exact sig. > Real level (α / 2 = 0.05). the result is utterly rejected by Ho. The result obtained is that the application method of DAP (developmentally Appropriate Practices) through the flannel board can improve the reading skills of early age students in TPQ Subulussalam Surabaya.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kemampuan membaca siswa di TPQ Subulussalam Surabaya dengan menggunakan metode DAP (Developmentally Approriate Practices) melalui media papan flannel. Subyek penelitian ini adalah santri di TPQ Subulussalam Surabaya. Sampel penelitian berjumlah 16 santri yang diambil dengan teknik sampel Matched Group Design (MG). 16 santri tersebut dibagi menjadi dua kelompok, eksperimen dan kontrol. Berdasarkan tabel Test statistic pada kelompok eksperimen yang menyatakan bahwa exact Sig. ( 2-tailed ) = 0,008 yang berarti exact sig. < taraf nyata ( α/2 = 0.05 ) dan kelompok kontrol yang menyatakan bahwa exact Sig. ( 2-tailed ) = 0,125 yang berarti exact sig. > taraf nyata ( α/2 = 0.05 ). maka hasilnya adalah tertolaknya Ho. Hasil yang dapat diperoleh adalah bahwa penerapan metode DAP (Developmentally Approriate Practices) melalui papan flanel dapat meningkatkan kemampuan membaca santri di TPQ Subulussalam Surabaya.

Chapter 6: Developmentally appropriate practices vs. parental wishes: The eikaiwa owner's quandary

In this chapter, Lesley Ito provides insight into the tensions that she must negotiate as an eikaiwa owner in responding to demands from parents that clash with her teacher beliefs. She describes how she has been able to use her professional expertise to negotiate these difficulties. She also shows why, due to her concern for the wellbeing of young learners at her school, she has continued to resist “common-sense” assumptions on standardised testing from parents and society-at-large.

Early Experiences With Family Involvement

This chapter reviews the impact early experiences with family involvement have on young children and their families, early childhood programs, and teachers. The author discusses the growing demand for early childhood services, characterized by a growing and changing society. There is discussion of developmentally appropriate practices and the ethical conduct of early childhood teachers as they navigate issues of social justice related to family involvement and engagement. The author presents findings from a recent pilot study to illustrate the successes and challenges experienced by eight diverse early childhood programs as they reflected on their family involvement practices. The author also emphasizes the importance of promoting equity and celebrating diversity through family involvement practices including examples, successes, and challenges that may arise.

A College-Community Collaboration: Fostering Developmentally Appropriate Practices in the Age of Accountability

Early childhood education faculty from a college collaborated with a local public school district to conduct a series of professional-development workshops for early childhood practitioners. The workshop series was designed to address pedagogical concerns identified by district administrators and teachers, as well as to help early childhood educators maintain developmentally appropriate practices in an increasingly standards-based, assessment-oriented climate, defined by the Common Core Standards and state-mandated testing. Participant survey responses indicated that, although all workshops were well received, participants found more value in the application-focused workshops than the content-focused workshops. In an evidence-based, educational climate, professional development opportunities tend to focus on initiatives designed to directly impact student learning outcomes. Yet, professional development initiatives that provide opportunities for teachers to broaden their knowledge and acquire new strategies and skills may also be beneficial. Thus, policies and practices associated with opportunities for teacher professional development should carefully consider practitioner and institutional needs and reflect a range of constituent-identified foci and goals, in order to productively meet the needs of both classroom teachers and their students.

Alignment of learning experiences from prekindergarten to kindergarten: Exploring group classifications using cluster analysis

This study explored children’s experiences of instructional alignment from prekindergarten through kindergarten. Using cluster analysis to analyze data from over 1300 children in the 2009 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, the study found that children have distinct and definable experiences of prekindergarten–kindergarten alignment, with Hispanic/Latino children more likely to attend Head Start programs with poor support for prekindergarten–kindergarten transitions and poor kindergarten classroom structures, and most children experiencing a decline in developmentally appropriate practices between prekindergarten and kindergarten.