From Full Day Learning to 30 Minutes a Day: A Descriptive Study of Early Learning During the First COVID-19 Pandemic School Shutdown in Ontario

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, the lives of families all over the world were disrupted. Many adults found themselves working from home while their children were unable to go to school. To better understand the potential impact of these educational disruptions, it is important to establish what learning looked like during the first school shutdown in the spring of 2020, particularly for the youngest learners who may feel the longest lasting impacts from this pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of the current descriptive study was to gather information on how kindergarten teaching and learning occurred during this time, what the biggest barriers were, and what concerns educators had regarding returning in person to the classroom setting. The sample for the current study was 2569 kindergarten educators (97.6% female; 74.2% teachers, 25.8% early childhood educators) in Ontario, Canada. Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of both quantitative scales and qualitative open-ended questions. Educators reported that parents most often contacted them regarding technological issues or how to effectively support their child. The largest barrier to learning was the ability of both parents and educators to balance work, home life, and online learning/teaching. With regards to returning to school, educators were most concerned about the lack of ability of kindergarten aged children to do tasks independently and to follow safety protocols. Our findings highlight unique challenges associated with teaching kindergarten during the pandemic, contributing to our understanding of the learning that occurred in Ontario during the first COVID-19 shutdown.

معوقات استخدام تقنيات التعليم في رياض الأطفال في فلسطين من وجهة نظر المربيات

ملخص: هدفت الدراسة إلى معرفة معوقات استخدام تقنيات التعليم في رياض الأطفال في فلسطين من وجهة نظر مربيات هذه الرياض. واستخدِم المنهج الوصفي المسحي الميداني كمنهج للدراسة. تكون المجتمع من جميع مربيات رياض الأطفال في محافظة سلفيت البالغ عددهن (262) مربية، وتكونت العينة من (131) مربية اختيرت عشوائياً بنسبة (50%) من مجتمع الدراسة، واعتُمدت الاستبانة كأداة. وأظهرت النتائج أن معظم رياض الأطفال في فلسطين تعاني من العديد من معوقات استخدام تقنيات التعليم، وتبين أيضاً أنه لا توجد فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية بين آراء مربيات رياض الأطفال في فلسطين نحو معوقات استخدام تقنيات التعليم تبعاً لمتغيرات: (التخصص، وسنوات الخبرة، والحالة الاجتماعية)؛ ووجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية لمعوقات استخدام تقنيات التعليم في رياض الأطفال في فلسطين من وجهة نظر مربيات رياض الأطفال تبعاً لمتغير المؤهل العلمي. الكلمات المفتاحية: معوقات، مربية الروضة، تقنيات التعليم. Abstract The study aimed to find out the obstacles to using educational technology in kindergartens in Palestine from the kindergartens’ educators’ viewpoint. The study followed the descriptive-analytical approach. The population comprises (262) Kindergartens’ educators in Salfit governorate, while the sample consisted of (131) picked randomly at a rate of (50%) from the population. The questionnaire was adopted as a study tool. Results revealed that: The majority of kindergartens in Palestine face several obstacles to the use of educational technology.There are no statistically significant differences between the opinions of kindergarten educators on obstacles of educational technology utilization due to the variables (specialty, years of experience, marital status). There are statistically significant differences of obstacles of educational technologies usage in kindergartens due to the variable educational qualification. Keywords: Obstacles, kindergarten’s educator, educational technologies.

From full day learning to 30 minutes a day: A descriptive study of early learning during the first COVID-19 pandemic school shutdown in Ontario

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, the lives of families all over the world were disrupted. Many adults found themselves working from home while their children were unable to go to school. To better understand the potential impact of these educational disruptions, it is important to establish what learning looked like during the first school shutdown in the spring of 2020, particularly for the youngest learners who may feel the longest lasting impacts from this pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of the current descriptive study was to gather information on how kindergarten teaching and learning occurred during this time, what the biggest barriers were, and what concerns educators had regarding returning in person to the classroom setting. The sample for the current study was 2,569 kindergarten educators (97.6% female; 74.2% teachers, 25.8% early childhood educators) in Ontario, Canada. Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of both quantitative scales and qualitative open-ended questions. Educators reported that parents most often contacted them regarding technological issues or how to effectively support their child. The largest barrier to learning was the ability of both parents and educators to balance work, home life, and online learning/teaching. With regards to returning to school, educators were most concerned about the lack of ability of kindergarten aged children to do tasks independently and to follow safety protocols. Our findings highlight unique challenges associated with teaching kindergarten during the pandemic, contributing to our understanding of the learning that occurred in Ontario during the first COVID-19 shutdown.

Family responsibilities and mental health of kindergarten educators during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Ontario, Canada

The present cross-sectional study, conducted during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada, addressed the association between family responsibilities and mental health (depression and anxiety) among kindergarten educators. Participants comprised 1,790 (97.9% female) kindergarten educators (73.6% kindergarten teachers; 26.4% early childhood educators) across Ontario. Results revealed that educators were more likely to report moderate levels of depressive symptoms if they had the responsibility of caring for their own children, and more likely to report moderate levels of depressive and anxious symptoms if they had the responsibility of caring for an older adult. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Comparative Study on Curriculum Guidebook of Kindergarten

With the global emphasis on early childhood education, more and more countries put early childhood education as a strategic position for comprehensive national development. The kindergarten curriculum guidebook is the primary resources for the daily teaching in kindergartens, ensuring the effectiveness and regulatory in kindergarten teaching. Therefore, it is crucial to learn how to analyze and evaluate the kindergarten curriculum guidebook and make education more scientific and comprehensive. From an international comparative perspective, this study selected two sets of kindergarten guidebooks between China and South Korea have carried on the comparative analysis and study from five aspects: the guiding ideology, frame structure, general goal, educational contents, and implementation characteristic (Crossley & Watson, 2003). The results provide kindergarten educators a reference to reflect on the focus of the domestic kindergarten curriculum’s educational content and the country’s current educational problems and try to find possible causes or solutions from international comparisons.

The Problem of the Formation of Value-Sense Orientations of Future Preschool Educators in Pedagogical Theory and Practice

The article is devoted to the study of the problem of the formation of value-sense orientations of future kindergarten educators in pedagogical theory and practice. The essence of the leading values, which should be inherent in future teachers in general and future kindergarten educators, in particular, within the framework of various approaches, namely: historical and cultural, competence-based, integrated, has been determined. It was determined that from the point of view of the historical and cultural approach, classical teachers attributed a number of general cultural values to the most important values of the educator (Person, goodness, beauty, love, tenderness, sincerity, justice, truth, etc.). Representatives of the competence-based approach to the leading values of the educator include those that characterize him as a professional educator (love for children, justice, tolerance, responsibility, flexibility, creativity, self-development, self-education). Within the framework of the integrated approach, which the author adheres to, the personality of the future educator is considered holistically, and the values that should be inherent in him are interpreted as a complex of universal, professional and individual life values.

DIGITAL MEDIA: FRIEND OR FOE? PRESCHOOL TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES ON LEARNING AND TEACHING ONLINE

Teaching using a synchronous and an asynchronous online environment has become increasingly widespread across the education sector and now this process has been accelerated, temporarily or permanently, due to the Corona Virus (SARSCoV- 2) pandemic. The mass closure of nurseries, kindergartens, schools, high schools and universities has prompted the rethinking of the teaching and learning processes. Educators were forced to shift to an online mode of teaching overnight even if they did not properly feel capable to do so. Our study seeks to explore the experiences on teaching and learning online encountered by preschool teachers during their work in the context of COVID-19 physical school closure and explore the meaning of such practices in shaping in-service kindergarten educators’ perceptions of digital media and online delivery. The participants of the present study are kindergarten teachers (n=21) with a minimum of three years and a maximum of 10 years of teaching experience. They work with the same age group (three- to sixyear- old children), from 9 public inner-city kindergartens. By making use of a phenomenological qualitative inquiry, data was collected through participating at semi-structured interviews via ZOOM videotelephony software program in June 2020. After the data was recorded and transcribed, three main themes were distinguished. The key findings indicate that all the teachers experienced challenging moments while delivering online, but they were also able to identify advantages in such a stressful context. The results of the study show the need of a modernized approach to pedagogies on educational technologies and media that is driven by research informed analysis.