Early Childhood Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge of Children’sCognitive Development and Developmentally AppropriatePedagogical Practices: Understanding the Role of ClinicalExperiences

The quality of early caregiving and educational environments has a significant
effect on children’s later cognitive outcomes. Early childhood teachers are an important
determining factor in the quality of these environments. Due to inconsistencies in practice
across the early childhood field, there is a call for better prepared teachers. Teacher
preparation itself is criticized for its lack of innovative and effective practices. While
research finds that more effective teacher preparation programs are those that are steeped
in clinical practice, these types of experiences are inconsistent and fragmented in the
early childhood field. Part of the issue is the lack of knowledge on how to integrate highquality
clinical experiences carefully into early childhood teacher preparation in order to
prepare all preservice teachers successfully for the classroom.