Early childhood education

The purpose of this dissertation research is to examine the perspectives of early childhood teachers with regard to multicultural education in South Korea. This study sought to identify teachers’ personal and professional beliefs about multicultural education as defined by their perceptions, descriptions, feelings, judgments, memories, and discussions with others. To better understand early childhood teachers’ perspectives of multicultural education in South Korea, the following research questions serve as a compass for the study: (a) What are South Korean early childhood teachers’ understandings and beliefs about multicultural education in their classrooms? (b) How do South Korean early childhood teachers implement multicultural practices in their classroom environment and curriculums? Findings show that teachers recognized a need for multicultural education because of the increasing diversity in South Korea. Although they understood embracing diversity, they shared opposing views about multicultural families while recognizing their bias as a challenge in the classroom. Teachers were unaware of the significance of the classroom environment and its influence on multicultural teaching, adding multicultural materials to accommodate children from multicultural families rather than actively integrating multiculturalism in curriculum and instructional interactions. Implications suggest avenues for increased multicultural understanding through teacher preparation, professional development, curricular revision, and policy changes.

Despite many decades of simultaneous research on early childhood development and leadership, numerous gaps remain in the current literature regarding the characteristics of school leaders of early childhood programs in low and middle income (LAMI) countries. Past studies of school leaders in LAMI countries have only focused on primary and secondary education.
A multitude of factors impact public pre-primary education in LAMI countries, such as Guatemala, which make the study of school leadership in pre-primary education critical for understanding what is needed to provide high-quality learning environments. The identification of leadership characteristics helps to inform the field of early childhood education and establish critical directions for school leadership practice.
The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of successful school leaders of public, pre-primary programs in an area north of Guatemala City, Guatemala. The characteristics were defined as those leadership behaviors and factors that contribute to the success of leaders of public, pre-primary schools in Guatemala. Leadership behaviors were defined as those actions a leader exhibits that support the operation of a public, pre-primary school. Leadership factors were defined as the influences that support or hinder the ability of a leader to achieve and maintain the operation of a public, preprimary school. Developmental factors were defined as environmental influences that impacted on their decision to become a leader of a public, pre-primary school.

The sexualization of girls is an ongoing issue that has garnered much attention in
recent years, with one contributing factor, media, becoming an ever-increasing part of
children’s lives. This study explored four questions: How do mothers and teachers
perceive the media’s influence on young girls’ identity development? To what extent do
these caregivers engage young girls in analyzing media messages? What observed
behaviors of 4-year old girls indicate media’s influence? and What are caregivers
interpretations and responses to these behaviors? Analyzing the perceptions of mothers
and female teachers of 4-year old girls contributes to a better understanding of how girls
are influenced, both by caregivers’ actions and by media consumed.
Twelve mothers and female early childhood teachers from three South Florida
preschools were interviewed to better understand how girls are influenced by media, and
to gain a more holistic perspective of the potential impact of media on young girls’
behaviors and their emerging understanding of what it means to be a girl today. The findings indicate that mothers and female teachers perceive media to be influential in the
lives of girls, both in terms of general child development and young girls’ gender identity
development. The participants are observing behaviors in their 4-year old girls that
indicate media’s influence; these behaviors include sexualized dancing, attitude and
language changes, and requests for sexualized clothing and beauty products. Although
these mothers and teachers do not yet help girls analyze media messages, they do,
however, engage in significant guidance as they interpret and respond to the observed
behaviors. These findings reflect a need for media literacy education for parents and
teachers, as well as comprehensive sexualization awareness and prevention education for
children, parents, and teachers.