10409289%2e2010%2e507495

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Early Childhood Teachers'Curriculum Beliefs: Are TheyConsistent With ObservedClassroom Practices?Xiaoli Wen a , James G. Elicker b & Mary B. McMullenc

a Department of Early Childhood Education ,National-Louis Universityb Department of Human Development & FamilyStudies , Purdue Universityc Department of Curriculum and Instruction , IndianaUniversityPublished online: 12 Dec 2011.

To cite this article: Xiaoli Wen , James G. Elicker & Mary B. McMullen (2011)Early Childhood Teachers' Curriculum Beliefs: Are They Consistent With ObservedClassroom Practices?, Early Education and Development, 22:6, 945-969, DOI:10.1080/10409289.2010.507495

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2010.507495

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Early Childhood Teachers CurriculumBeliefs: Are They Consistent WithObserved Classroom Practices?

Xiaoli WenDepartment of Early Childhood Education, National-Louis University

James G. ElickerDepartment of Human Development & Family Studies, Purdue University

Mary B. McMullenDepartment of Curriculum and Instruction, Indiana University

Research Findings: This study examined the consistency between earlychildhood teachers self-reported curriculum beliefs and observations of theiractual interactive behaviors with children in classrooms. Also tested was thehypothesized moderation by teacher and classroom characteristics of the associ-ation between beliefs and practices. A total of 58 preschool teachers completed asurvey describing their professional backgrounds and curriculum beliefs. Theirclassroom practices were observed using a newly developed instrument thatdocumented teacher interactions with children. Most teachers in this samplestrongly endorsed child-initiated learning beliefs, although their beliefs aboutteacher-directed learning varied considerably. The most frequently observedteacher behaviors in the classroom were giving directions to children, respond-ing to childrens initiations, and engaging in non-interactive classroommanage-ment activities. Overall, teachers curriculum beliefs and observed classroompractices were weakly correlated. However, there were moderation effects.Stronger congruence between teacher-directed learning beliefs and observedteaching behaviors was found among teachers who hadmore professional train-ing and more years of teaching experience. Practice or Policy: These results sup-port the importance of early childhood teacher professional development. Theysuggest that teacher preparation and professional development programs

Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Xiaoli Wen, National-Louis

University, 122 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60603. E-mail: [email protected]

EARLY EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT, 22(6), 945969

Copyright # 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1040-9289 print=1556-6935 online

DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2010.507495

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should focus on the intellectual transformation between teacher knowledge andteacher practice, promoting both aspects of development.

What beliefs do early childhood teachers hold about effective teaching andlearning? How consistent are teachers teaching and learning beliefs withtheir everyday practices? There has been increased interest in the associationbetween teachers curriculum beliefs and classroom practices (e.g., Fang,1996; McMullen, 1999; Wilcox-Herzog, 2002). Teacher beliefs may serveas contextual filters through which teachers screen their classroom experi-ences, interpret them, and adapt their subsequent classroom practices (Clark& Peterson, 1986). This view has been supported by a few studies that sug-gest that teachers beliefs about how children learn and how teaching affectslearning play a critical role in their interactions with children (e.g., Maxwell,McWilliam, Hemmeter, Ault, & Schuster, 2001).

From a professional development perspective, pre-service and in-serviceteacher education programs spend considerable effort attempting toshape teachers curriculum beliefs based on the assumption that beliefsabout teaching and learning will impact classroom practices. However,the empirical evidence to date does not uniformly support a strong relation-ship between teacher beliefs and practices. The purposes of the currentstudy were to address limitations in previous research; examine the consist-ency between preschool teachers curriculum beliefs and their classroomteaching practices, as observed through a newly developed observationinstrument; and explore how teacher and classroom characteristics affectthe strength and direction of the associations between teacher beliefs andpractices.

This study is important for three reasons. First, extensive research sup-ports the significance of teaching quality in young childrens development,especially in the early years of life (e.g., National Institute of Child Healthand Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2002,2005; Smolensky & Gootman, 2003). However, systematic investigations ofteachers underlying beliefs and contextual explorations of their practiceshave been rare. Second, a majority of research on teacher beliefs and prac-tices has focused on kindergarten or elementary and secondary schoolteachers rather than those who serve preschool-age children (McCarty,Abbott-Shim, & Lambert, 2001). Given the recent national policy focus onearly care and education, and given the increased availability of preschoolprograms, including state-funded pre-K programs and federally fundedHead Start programs, an examination of the beliefs and practices of pre-school teachers has important implications for improving the quality of edu-cation offered by these programs. Third, the current study has the potential

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to provide insights into early childhood teacher preparation and professionaldevelopment. With more systematic data about the associations betweenteaching beliefs and practices, teacher educators will be able to target specificbeliefs and behaviors that are linked or perhaps develop other strategies forsupporting desired teacher behaviors that are not associated with beliefs.

ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN TEACHER BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

Much research to date on early childhood teachers beliefs and practiceshas focused on measuring teachers developmentally appropriate orinappropriate beliefs and practices (e.g., Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, &Hernandez, 1991; Charlesworth et al., 1993; Dunn & Kontos, 1997; Hyson,Hirsh-Pasek, & Rescorla, 1996). These concepts were derived from early pos-ition statements concerning developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC; Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). Based on the original DAP guide-lines, Charlesworth and colleagues (1991) developed two scales (the TeacherBeliefs Scale [TBS] and Instructional Activities Scale) to assess 113 kinder-garten teachers self-reported curriculum beliefs and self-reported teachingpractices. The results indicated that self-reported developmentally appropri-ate beliefs and self-reported practices were moderately correlated (r .63),and a somewhat stronger correlation was found between self-reported devel-opmentally inappropriate beliefs and practices (r .71). In a subsequentstudy with a larger sample, Charlesworth et al. (1993) found a similar levelof correlation. A subsample of teachers practices was also assessed using aDAP-based global observation scale, and the result demonstrated somecongruence between teachers self-reported beliefs and observed practices.However, teachers seemed to value DAP as a belief system to a greater extentthan they were actually observed engaging in such practices.

Some consistency between early childhood teachers beliefs and practiceshas been supported by other research. Stipek and Byler (1997) conducted sur-veys and observations in classrooms with 60 preschool, kindergarten, andfirst-grade teachers and concluded that for preschool and kindergarten tea-chers, but not for first-grade teachers, beliefs espoused about appropriateand effective teaching were significantly correlated with the practices the tea-chers implemented in their classrooms (rs .49.85). Child-centered teacherbeliefs were positively associated with an observed positive social climate andnegatively associated with an observed emphasis on basic skills in teacherinstructions. The correlations with these observed behaviors were in theopposite direction for the basic skills orientation teacher beliefs. Similarly,McMullen and colleagues (2006) compared what preschool teachers said

ARE TEACHERS CURRICULUM BELIEFS CONSISTENT WITH PRACTICES? 947

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about their beliefs to their actual practices as examined by classroomobservations, curriculum materials, daily curriculum plans, programartifacts, and other evidence collected from their classroom environmentsand programs. Results indicated that when child-directed free play, emergentliteracy, and language development activities were observed, teachers self-reported beliefs were more strongly aligned with DAP. When consistentroutines, organized classrooms, preplanned curriculum, and teacher-directedlearning were the observed practices, teachers more strongly endorsedacademic-oriented teaching beliefs.

In contrast to studies suggesting congruence between early childhood tea-chers beliefs and reportedor observedpractices, other studies haverevealed an inconsistency between beliefs and practices. Hatch and Freeman(1988) interviewed kindergarten teachers, principals, and supervisors andfound that their self-reported practices usually were not congruent withDAP guidelines, although their beliefs were much more congruent withthe guidelines. A similar finding was obtained in studies by Vartuli (1999)and Charlesworth et al. (1993). Wilcox-Herzog (2002) contrasted 47 pre-school teachers self-reported beliefs with their observed interactions withchildren (e.g., sensitivity, involvement, and play style) and did not findcorrelations between teachers beliefs and actions.

Therefore, at present, the evidence about the linkage between early child-hood teachers curriculum beliefs and practices is mixed. There are severalpossible reasons for this lack of consensus across studies. First, results ofstudies may depend on the specific method of measuring beliefs and prac-tices. Some researchers have investigated teachers self-reported beliefs andself-reported behaviors, finding moderate associations between the two(e.g., Charlesworth et al., 1991), whereas other researchers have assessedself-reported beliefs and observed classroom practices, finding that they arenot consistent (e.g., Wilcox-Herzog, 2002). There are apparently discrepan-cies between what teachers think they should do (beliefs), what they actuallydo (observed practices), and what teachers overtly represent that they havedone (self-reported practices). In many cases, teachers may have clear ideasabout what they should do because of well-publicized professional guidelinessuch as the DAP principles promoted by the NAEYC. However, there oftenseems to be a gap between teachers observed and self-reported behaviors. Inaddition, during classroom observations, outside observers may sometimesmisinterpret teachers intentions behind certain interactions with childrenbecause of their unfamiliarity with the teacher and the classroom context.However, it is also possible that teachers may not be aware of discrepanciesin self-reports between what they believe and what they do. Yet observersmight be able to capture this beliefbehavior inconsistency more objectively,if it typically occurs. This may explain why self-reported beliefs and


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self-reported behaviors are typically moderately correlated, whereasself-reported beliefs and observed behaviors tend to be less congruent.

The second possible reason for the mixed findings regarding beliefpractice relationships is that the two constructs are sometimes not measuredat the same level of generality or specificity (Azjen, 1996). For example, tea-cher beliefs may be assessed regarding broad issues (e.g., child learning anddevelopment), whereas classroom practice observations may have a muchmore specific focus (e.g., teachers play with children or prevalence offree choice). The level of concept and analysis mismatch could producemisleading results.

Third, how freely teachers are able to put their beliefs into practice maybe constrained by contextual factors, such as school philosophy, supervi-sors support or lack of support, parent expectations, professional training,work experience, and the teacherchild ratio in the classroom. Several tea-cher and program characteristics have been examined in the literatureand have been found to be related to teacher beliefs and practices (e.g.,McMullen & Alat, 2002; Vartuli, 1999; Wilcox-Herzog, 2002).

TEACHER AND PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS RELATED TOEARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

Specialized professional training, as indicated by field of study, certification,and in-service professional activity, has been shown to be associated withteacher practices (Kontos & Wilcox-Herzog, 2001; McMullen, 1999). Earlychildhood teachers who were certified in early childhood education weremore likely to report the frequent use of developmentally appropriate activi-ties than those who were either not certified or certified in elementary edu-cation (Buchanan, Burts, Bidner, White, & Charlesworth, 1998; McMullen& Alat, 2002; Vartuli, 1999). Teaching certification was also found to beassociated with higher quality observed practices, such as involvement withchildren and verbal responsiveness (Wilcox-Herzog, 2002). Snider and Fu(1990) reported that knowledge of appropriate practice is associated withacademic training in child development and early education, as well as thenumber of content areas covered in specialized courses.

In addition to specialized training, teachers general education levels wereassociated with their knowledge of appropriate practices, caregiving atti-tudes, and actual classroom practices in a number of studies (e.g., Cassidy,Buell, Pugh-Hoese, & Russell, 1995; McMullen & Alat, 2002). In a compari-son study of Chinese and American preschool teachers curriculum beliefs,teacher education level was found to predict both groups of teacherschild-initiated learning beliefs (Wang, Elicker, McMullen, & Mao, 2008).


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Maxwell et al. (2001) found that teacher education significantly contributedto observed teaching quality after they controlled for classroomcharacteristics and teachers beliefs. One study specifically examined theeffect of community college coursework on early childhood teachers beliefsand practices (Cassidy et al., 1995). Findings revealed that teachers whotook early childhood education courses made significant gains on the mea-sure of classroom quality and teacher beliefs between the pre- and posttests,and their practices were more developmentally appropriate than those of theteachers who did not take the courses.

Professional support is another factor associated with beliefs and prac-tices. Stipek and Byler (1997) found that nearly all teachers who reportednot being able to implement their developmentally appropriate beliefs intopractice claimed that their program was too basic skills oriented, and par-ents were the most often cited sources of pressure. Ernest (1989) concurredby asserting that pressures from parents, administrators, and colleagues mayaffect teachers ability to enact their curriculum beliefs.

Teachers work experience has also been frequently examined, but thefindings about how it relates to beliefs and practices are inconclusive.Wlicox-Herzog (2002) found that more experienced teachers showed lowerlevels of sensitivity but higher levels of involvement and verbalizations duringinteractions with children. Vartuli (1999) found that teachers with fewer yearsof teaching experience were more likely to believe in and use more DAP.However, other studies did not demonstrate relationships between workexperience and either teaching quality or beliefs (e.g., Buysse,Wesley, Bryant,& Gardner, 1999; Maxwell et al., 2001; Snider & Fu, 1990). In addition, someclassroom features have been examined in combination with teacher charac-teristics as they are associated with teaching practices (e.g., Maxwell et al.,2001). One often-studied classroom feature is teacherchild ratio, and thishas been found to be associated with teachers interactional quality withchildren (Burchinal, Howes, & Kontos, 2002; Vandell & Wolfe, 2000).

In the literature, teacher and classroom characteristics have been relatedto either teacher beliefs or practices but not the strength of associationbetween the two. As this review has suggested, the nature and strength ofthe relationship between teacher curriculum beliefs and practices is stillunclear. One important reason for this is that previous studies have usuallyfailed to account for possible moderating factorsconditions or contextsthat could potentially influence the strength of the association betweenbeliefs and practices. When moderators are considered, questions regardingthe consistency between beliefs and practice become the following: Underwhat conditions do teachers consistently practice what they believe? orWhat are the characteristics of those teachers who practice their beliefs con-sistently? The current study aims to contribute to the field by addressing


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the moderation effects of teacher and classroom characteristics on therelationship between teacher beliefs and practices. Also, this studys newmethod for observing teacher classroom practices conceptually matchesthe teacher beliefs measure used in an attempt to bring about a morerigorous and accurate test of the general beliefs=practices hypothesis.

It is important to point out that other teacher behavior observationaltools are available in the field, and each has its specific focus, such as teacherchild interaction or relationship quality (e.g., Arnett, 1989; Booth, Kelly,Spieker, & Zuckerman, 2003), instructional strategies, level of involvementwith children (Howes & Stewart, 1987), or play styles (e.g., Wilcox-Herzog,2002). It is not our intention to compare the new tool developed for the cur-rent study with the rest of available assessments. Each measurement serves itsown purpose. Our main goal was to test the relationship between teacherbeliefs and classroom practices by using assessments that had a similar con-ceptual framework and a similar level of specificity, which may help to avoidconfusing results caused by a mismatch between constructs and measures.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Are preschool teachers curriculum beliefs consistent with their class-room practices? We hypothesized a moderate correlation betweenpreschool teachers curriculum beliefs and their classroom practices.

2. How do teacher characteristics (education level, professional training,program support, and work experience) and teacherchild ratio moder-ate the association between teacher curriculum beliefs and classroompractices? We hypothesized greater consistency between teachers cur-riculum beliefs and classroom practices among teachers who have moreeducation, have more professional training, have more work experience,receive better program support, and have smaller class sizes.

METHOD

Participants

A total of 58 head teachers from 30 early childhood education programs intwo counties in a midwestern state participated in this study. The participat-ing centers, although not randomly selected, were representative of thediversity of programs available in these two communities (e.g., 84% werepreschools or child care centers, 7% Head Start programs, 3% Montessoripreschools, 3% parents day out programs, and 2% church-affiliated child


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care programs). No more than two classrooms were selected from eachcenter. All teacher participants were working with 3- to 5-year-old childrenat the time of the study. The average teacherchild ratio in these classroomswas 1:7 (SD 2, range 1:31:12). Half of teachers were in their early 20 s tolate 30 s. Moreover, 14% of the teachers held high school diplomas or gen-eral equivalency diplomas, 26% had Child Development Associate creden-tials or associates degrees, 44% had bachelors degrees, and 16% hadhigher level graduate degrees. Teachers had a mean of 9 years of experienceas early childhood professionals (SD 7, range 125 years) and a mean of6 years of experience as head teachers (SD 6, range less than 1 year to 23years). About 60% of the teachers were members of early childhoodprofessional organizations.

Procedures

Teachers were recruited via letters sent to licensed centers in each county intwo targeted regions. Approximately half of the centers listed in the phone-book were randomly selected and contacted. If the directors agreed to par-ticipate and returned a response postcard (about 80% of directorsresponded), consent packages were sent to head teachers within those cen-ters. Each package included an invitation letter, a consent form, a teachercontact form, and a stamped return envelope. Once the teacher consentforms were received, teachers were contacted by trained graduate researchassistants to schedule observations.

Each teacher was observed by one graduate assistant for about 2 hr(M 1.89 hr, range 1.32.4 hr) on a typical school day, but the assistantactually stayed in the classroom for a longer time (at least 3 hr) to get fam-iliar with the classroom situation, warm up with the children and teachers,position himself or herself well so that teacherchild interactions and com-munications could be seen and heard clearly, and complete a practice obser-vation for 15min before the actual observation was documented. Theobservation occurred during an active portion of the class day when thefocal teacher implemented planned activities and was in charge of the class-room. Teachers behaviors were observed across diverse settings and activi-ties within the classroom (e.g., free play, large-group activity, small-groupactivity, clean-up time, snack time, and transition). The purpose of observ-ing across settings is to vigorously capture the variation within teacher beha-viors that might be impacted by the nature of the immediate settings andactivities (e.g., during clean-up time, teachers might be more likely to givedirections to children).

Extensive training was conducted with the graduate assistants performingthe classroom observation. The training was based on both videotaped


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teacherchild interactions and live observations in classrooms not in thesample. Required interrater reliability was attained when the observersreached at least 80% exact agreement with the training supervisor for allmeasured behaviors during three consecutive 30-min observations. Afterthe classroom observation, teachers were asked to complete a paper-and-pencil survey about their curriculum beliefs and professional background.

Measures

Self-reported curriculum beliefs were assessed using the TBS, developed byCharlesworth and her colleagues (1993) based on the NAEYC guidelinesfor DAP in early childhood education. this scale has been widely used inearly childhood research, with well established reliability and validity, withboth preschool teachers (internal consistency .45.88 for a sample of U.S.teachers; Wang et al., 2008) and kindergarten teachers (internal consistency.58.84; Charlesworth et al., 1993). The scale consists of 36 items designedto measure teachers curriculum beliefs related to curriculum goals (e.g.,provide opportunities for children to develop social skills), teaching strate-gies (teacher observation as an evaluation technique), and guidance of childdevelopment in domains (allow children to select their own activities from avariety of learning areas). Teachers were asked to rate each item on a5-point Likert-type scale from not important at all (1) to extremely important(5). Each item is a statement that describes either a child-initiated learningbelief (e.g., it is ___ for classroom activities to be responsive to individualdifferences in interest) or a didactic or teacher-directed learning belief(e.g., it is ___ for the teacher to talk to the whole group and make sureeveryone participates in the same activity).

Based on a principal component analysis conducted in a previous study(Wang et al., 2008), the TBS items were grouped into three subscales: (a)teacher-directed learning beliefs, 14 items, a .92 for the current sample(e. g., routine group practice is important for instructional purposes); (b)child-initiated learning beliefs, 17 items, a .85 for the current sample(e.g., activities should be responsive to individual differences in interest);and (c) broad curriculum beliefs, 5 items, a .42 for the current sample(e.g., expose children to multicultural activities). Only two subscales, theteacher-directed learning beliefs and child-initiated learning beliefs sub-scales, were used in analyses for this study, because these two subscalesachieved high reliabilities and corresponded most closely with the categoriesof observed classroom practices as introduced below. The means of thesetwo beliefs subscales were used for analyses.

Observed classroom practices were measured by Early Childhood TeacherBehavior Observation (ECTBO). This observation instrument was


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developed by our research team based on the NAEYC DAP guidelines, thestructure of the TBS (the belief assessment), and a critical review of existingmeasures of classroom practices. The instrument was pilot-tested in five pre-school classrooms that were not part of the study sample, and the items wererefined to reflect teacher behaviors in various classroom situations based onextensive trial observations. A wide range of classroom activities and inter-action settings (i.e., indoor free play, large group, small group, transitiontime, snack time, and outdoor free play) were considered in determiningthe specific behaviors to be observed.

The ECTBO comprises a total of 17 discrete teacher classroom behaviors.A precise definition and concrete examples of each behavior are providedin the Appendix. The 17 behaviors are grouped conceptually into fourcategories:

1. Directive behaviors. These include the behavioral categories of give direc-tions, ask closed question, demonstrate, give information, praise=reward,punish, threaten, and do for. With these eight behaviors, teachers directand exert control over childrens behaviors or test children on specificknowledge. For example, give directions is defined as the teacher givingchildren procedural information or instruction (no model or choice pro-vided) about specific things they want the children to do in a certain wayor physically guiding the children to do or not to do something.

2. Non-directive behaviors. These include the behavioral categories ofobserve children, ask open question, scaffold, play with children, offerchoice, and encourage. This group of six behaviors represents teachersencouragement of child-initiated learning and self-exploration. Forexample, offer choice refers to the behavior of the teacher facilitatingand supporting children to choose their own activities or their own pro-jects from a number of options, including asking a child whether he orshe wants something.

3. Responses to child. These involve teachers positive or negative responsesto a childs verbal or nonverbal requests, questions, or statements.

4. Classroom management. This measures teachers engagement in house-keeping chores or interactions with other adults in the classroom thatdo not involve interactions with or direct attention to children. (Class-room management is not related to, nor should it be confused with,the management or guidance of childrens behaviors.)

The ECTBO was designed to conceptually match the beliefs assessmentin order to provide a more robust test of the relationship between teacherbeliefs and practices. Specifically, the categorization of the observed beha-viors was inspired by the beliefs assessment and was framed in similar terms.


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For example, the beliefs assessment (TBS) contains two main subscales:teacher-directed learning beliefs and child-initiated learning beliefs. Simi-larly, the teacher practices observational tool (ECTBO) categorizes teacherbehaviors into two main domains: directive behaviors (corresponding toteacher-directed learning beliefs) and non-directive behaviors (correspond-ing to child-initiated learning beliefs). Other behaviors included in ECTBOdescribe teachers responses to childrens requests and classroom manage-ment (housekeeping activities that do not involve interactions with chil-dren). Thus, the teacher behaviors implied by the teacher beliefsassessment were captured in ECTBO. For example, in the beliefs assess-ment, teachers are asked about the importance of using teacher authoritythrough punishments and=or reprimands to encourage childrens appropri-ate behavior. Correspondingly, three matched observable classroom prac-tice categories, punish, threaten, and praise=reward, are assessed in theECTBO. Similarly, the beliefs assessment includes a question on the impor-tance of allowing children to select their own activities from a variety oflearning areas. A corresponding practice, offer choice, is captured in theobservation. Overall, the beliefs and practices measures used in this studyhad similar levels of conceptualization and specificity.

A time-sampling strategy was used to collect the observation data. Ineach 30-s interval, teachers were observed for the first 10 s, and then theirbehaviors were coded and recorded for 20 s. After coding, the next intervalof observation began. The mean total observation intervals was 226, rangingfrom 146 to 270. One or more behaviors could be recorded during eachobservation interval. The ratio between the total frequency of each behaviorand the total number of observation intervals was calculated to represent theproportion of time each behavior appeared in teachers classroom practicesduring the observation time. Therefore, the percentage measure for eachbehavior is free of the impact of observation duration.

An internal consistency analysis showed that directive behaviors as agroup were distinctive and had low internal consistency (a .18), whereasnon-directive behaviors tended to hold together (a .70). Given the smallsample size, there was a need to reduce the number of behavior variablesused in the analysis. Therefore, a principal-component factor analysis wasperformed to seek ways of combining observed behaviors. To avoid distrac-tions, five behaviors were dropped from the factor analysis: positive responseand negative response (these two behaviors represent teachers responses tochild-initiated requests or behaviors), classroom management (a behaviorthat does not involve interactions with children), and punish and threaten(these two behaviors occurred with very low frequency; see Figure 1). Thefactor analysis identified three main factors based on the remaining 12observed behavior variables (the eigenvalues were 3.12, 2.04, and 1.29,


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respectively, and the cumulative variance explained by the three factors was64%). Basically, the six non-directive behaviors and give direction loaded onthe first factor. Most of the non-directive behaviors loaded on the secondfactor. Although three behaviors were correlated with a third factor, thesebehaviors could also be potentially loaded on the first two factors basedon their factor loadings. Therefore, supported by the factor analysis andguided by the conceptual framework of the observed behaviors (two maincategories logically corresponding to the two belief types), we decided tocompute two behavior composites: a non-directive behavior composite(total of the 6 non-directive behaviors plus the reversed give directions)and a directive behavior composite (total of 5 directive behaviors: ask closedquestion, demonstrate, give information, praise=reward, and do for). Thesetwo composite scores were used in the analysis (see Table 1).

Teacher and classroom characteristics (or moderators) were assessedusing the Early Childhood Professional Questionnaire, a published measuredesigned to gather information about early childhood teachers professionalexperiences, development, and support (McMullen, Buldu, Lash, & Alat,2004). Four teacher characteristics were examined: (a) teachers years ofexperience as an early childhood professional; (b) general education level(six levels, from 1 high school, to 3 associate degree, to 6 doctorate);

FIGURE 1 Frequencies (percentages) of observed classroom practices. (Color figure available

online)


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(c) professional training, measured by the frequency of teacher participationin 12 types of professional activities on a 4-point scale (e.g., 0 never to3 often; participating in professional development trainings; attendinglocal, state, and national conferences; reading professional books and jour-nals; and consulting with supervisors, mentors, or fellow professionals; thetotal score was calculated for analyses); and (d) professional support, whichmeasured teachers day-to-day supportive relationships with colleagues,supervisors, parents, and children (5-point scale, very difficult to very good);how often teachers ran into barriers that influenced their teaching (5-pointscale, almost never to very often); and to what extent teachers work wasevaluated in a way that was consistent with their beliefs (5-point scale, neverand highly consistent). The total score of the items was computed. Inaddition, the teacherchild ratio was calculated from the teachers reportsof the typical number of teachers and children in their classrooms.

RESULTS

Descriptive Statistics: The Nature of Self-Reported Beliefs andObserved Classroom Practices

Most teachers strongly embraced child-initiated learning beliefs. The overallmean for this belief subscale was 4.57 out of possible 5.0 points, with a rangeof 3.47 to 5.0 and a standard deviation of 0.36. The distribution of the vari-able was negatively skewed (skewness.98). However, the other belief

TABLE 1

Factor Matrix of Observed Teacher Behaviors: Rotated Factor Loadings

Behavior Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3

Give directions .61Give information .63 .47

Ask closed question .35

Demonstrate .57 .76Do for .43Praise=reward

Observe children .50 .34Encourage .73

Scaffold .65 .39Ask open question .59 .41

Offer choice .66

Play with children .37

Note. Component loadings below .30 were not included.


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factor, teacher-directed learning beliefs, showed much more variation. Thissubscale had a lower mean (2.23), a larger standard deviation (0.80), and awider value range (1.04.86). The two beliefs subscales had a weak andnonsignificant correlation, r(58) .19, p> .05.

For classroom practices, the overall percentage frequencies of the 17observed behaviors are presented in Figure 1. The three most frequentlyobserved behaviors were give directions, classroom management, and positiveresponse. Other often observed behaviors included give information,ask closed question, and observe children. Collectively, the most frequentlyoccurring behaviors were teacher directive behaviors during teacherchildinteractions.

Research Question 1: Correlations Between Self-Reported Beliefs andObserved Practices

Zero-order Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the cor-relation between the two teacher belief factors and the two behavioral com-posites (see Table 2). Only one marginally significant correlation was found,between teacher-directed learning beliefs and the non-directive behaviorcomposite. The more teachers endorsed teacher-directed learning beliefs,the less frequently they encouraged childrens self-initiation and explorationin their observed classroom interactions. The remaining three correlationsbetween teacher beliefs and observed practice were weak and not significant.Thus, overall we found weak or nonexistent associations betweenteacher-reported beliefs and observed teacher practices.

Research Question 2: Teacher and Classroom CharacteristicsModerate the Association Between Beliefs and Practices

As summarized above, the current study found weak associations betweenteacher beliefs and practices. The moderation analysis investigated whether

TABLE 2

Correlations Between Curriculum Beliefs and Observed Behaviors (N 58)Variable 1 2 3 4

1. Teacher-directed learning beliefs .20 .03 .222. Child-initiated learning beliefs .06 .053. Directive behavior composite .04

4. Non-directive behavior composite

p< .10.


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these associations would be stronger for certain subgroups of teachers. Amoderator is a variable that affects the direction and strength of the relationbetween two variables (Aiken & West, 1991). It specifies the condition orcontext in which the two variables are associated with each other.

Before examining the moderating effects of the teacher and classroomcharacteristics, we examined their direct correlations with beliefs and class-room behaviors (see Table 3). Overall, there were weak associations amongteacher characteristics, teacherchild ratio, and teacher beliefs and practices.Therefore, there was little concern about collinearity among predictorsin the multiple regression analysis that was used to test for moderationeffects.

In a regression model, one behavior composite was included as a depen-dent variable; one belief factor, one moderator, and an interaction term, theproduct of the belief factor and the moderator, were entered as independentvariables. A total of 20 regression analyses were run to test the moderationeffects. If the interaction term was shown to be significant (p< .05), we con-clude that the moderator has a statistically significant effect on the associ-ation between the belief and the behavior. In other words, a significantinteraction term indicates that the moderator interacts with the belief factorand impacts how it relates to the observed behavior. To further examineobtained significant moderation effects, we divided the sample into two sub-groups based on a moderator median split, and the association between thebeliefs factor and the observed teaching behavior was examined separatelyin each of the two subgroups.

TABLE 3

Correlations Among Teacher and Classroom Characteristics, Curriculum Beliefs, and

Observed Behaviors (N 58)

Variable Education

Professional

Training

Work

Experience

Professional

Support

Teacher

Child Ratio

Self-report: curriculum

beliefs

Teacher-directed

learning beliefs

.29 .09 .13 .20 .39

Child-initiated

learning beliefs

.02 .10 .09 .25 .05

Observation: directive

behaviors

Directive behaviors .18 .51 .27 .30 .21Non-directive

behaviors

.13 .12 .07 .12 .18

p< .05. p< .01.


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Two significant moderation effects were detected. First, teacher workexperience moderated the association between teacher-directed learningbeliefs and the observed directive behavior composite (the beta for the inter-action term between work experience and the belief was .01, p .04). Asshown in Figure 2, a stronger association between teachers endorsementof teacher-directed learning beliefs and the frequency of their use of directivebehaviors with children was seen in teachers who had more work experience(7 years, b .49). This association was weaker among less experienced tea-chers (b.31). Second, the association between teacher-directed learningbeliefs and observed non-directive behaviors was moderated by the level ofteachers professional training (the beta for the interaction term betweenprofessional training and the belief was .01, p .004). Among teacherswho had more professional training, if they held stronger teacher-directedlearning beliefs, they were much less likely to practice non-directive beha-viors with children (b.42). In other words, teachers who had more pro-fessional training were more likely to practice directive behaviors duringinteractions with children when they endorsed teacher-directed learningbeliefs. But for teachers who had less professional training, this associationwas not observed (b.002; see Figure 3). Overall, the moderation analysis

FIGURE 2 Teacher work experience moderates the association between teacher-directed

learning beliefs and observed directive behaviors. p< .05. (Color figure available online)


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suggested that beliefs and observed practices were more likely to be consist-ent for teachers with more professional experience or training.

DISCUSSION

Do early childhood teachers always practice in a way that is congruent withtheir beliefs about teaching and learning? The current study found that vir-tually all of the participating preschool teachers strongly espousedchild-initiated learning beliefs. Yet at the same time, these teachers exhibiteda relatively high frequency of directive behaviors during daily teacherchildinteractions. The study found weak correlations between teachers beliefsabout childrens optimal learning and their actual teaching practices. So,the answer to the first research question is no, not always. This replicatesprevious research findings that self-reported teacher beliefs tend to reflectrecommended DAP more strongly than do actual classroom practices(e.g., Charlesworth et al., 1993; Vartuli, 1999).

Quite likely, all of the teachers in this study endorsed child-initiatedlearning beliefs because this philosophy of child learning and development

FIGURE 3 Teacher professional training moderates the association between teacher-directed

learning beliefs and observed non-directive behaviors. p< .05. (Color figure available online)


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has been informed, advocated, and included in the standards of the earlychildhood field in the United States for quite some time. DAP andchild-initiated learning have certainly been widely promoted during the timethat most of these relatively young teachers, most in their 20s and 30s,received their training. Because most American early childhood profes-sionals endorse child-initiated learning beliefs, this belief variable had askewed and restricted range of responses, limiting somewhat its psycho-metric utility and statistical power in our analyses with observed teacherbehaviors. Therefore, it was more difficult to detect relationships betweenchild-initiated learning beliefs and observed classroom behaviors. In con-trast, teacher-directed learning beliefs showed considerable variability inthis sample, and the findings of study were mainly found with this beliefsfactor.

The consistency between teacher beliefs and everyday practices may beinfluenced by contextual factors. Links between teacher beliefs and practicesmay be somewhat fragile or context bound. Therefore, a simple examinationof the general or overall consistency between early childhood teachersbeliefs and practices might not be fruitful. A refined and more importantquestion to ask might be when, how, for whom, and under what conditionsare teachers beliefs and practices consistent?

The current study discovered that the teachers professional training andyears of experience appeared to strengthen linkages between their beliefsand practices, specifically the associations between teacher-directed learningbeliefs and observed directive as well as non-directive behaviors in the class-room. Teachers with more professional training and more years of experi-ence were more likely to carry out in their classroom practices what theysaid they believed. When the more experienced group of teachers held astrong belief supporting teacher-directed learning, they were more likelyto show directive behaviors during their interactions with children, suchas doing things for children, reinforcing specific behaviors in children bypraising them or by making general evaluative comments, and testing chil-drens specific knowledge by asking close-ended questions. Conversely,when teachers did not endorse teacher-directed learning, they were less likelyto enact directive behaviors with children in the classroom. Similarly, if tea-chers with more professional training endorsed teacher-directed learningbeliefs, they were less likely to adopt non-directive practices with children,such as observing childrens interests, providing scaffolding when needed,and encouraging childrens self-exploration through specific suggestions oropen-ended questions. Again, compared to teachers with less experienceor training, the more experienced and trained teachers held curriculumbeliefs that were more consistent with their classroom practices. Therefore,professional preparation and experience were related to consistency between


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what teachers said they believed and what they actually practicedregardless of the nature of their beliefs.

One interpretation of these findings is that greater congruence or consist-ency between teaching beliefs and practices may require higher levels of skill,confidence, or a broader knowledge base. The art of teaching requiresreconciling educational beliefs and goals within real-life conditions inherentin a workplace, including complexity, uncertainty, instability, uniqueness,and value-conflict (Schon, 1983, p. 18). Higher levels of experience andprofessional training may help teachers bridge the gap between beliefs andpractices and implement their knowledge and beliefs more consistently.

In future research, it will be important to explore other potential moder-ating factors that may affect beliefpractice congruence. In the meantime,advocates of specialized or increased education and professional trainingfor early childhood teachers may find support for their positions in thesefindings that teachers with more training and experience may be better ableto put teaching beliefs into concrete, observable classroom practices.

Several limitations of the study should be pointed out to guide futureinvestigations. First, although participating teachers were from diverse earlyeducation and care settings, the small sample size of the study not only lim-ited our ability to generalize findings but also limited the statistical power toconduct more sophisticated multivariate analyses. For example, about twoclassrooms (or teachers) from each center participated in the study, but itwas impossible for us to perform multilevel analyses that took into accounteffects of different types of early childhood programs or other specificprogram contexts that relate to nestedness of data.

Second, classroom observations emphasized teacher-initiated interactionswith children rather than child-initiated interactions with teachers. In otherwords, our observations focused on teachers rather than children. Withmore differentiated behavioral categories for teacher responses tochild-initiated interactions, we may have uncovered additional associationsbetween the beliefs and practices.

Third, constrained by sample size, we looked at teachers global beha-viors in the analysis by summarizing behaviors observed across differentclassroom activities (e.g., large group, free play, transition, snack time,and outdoor play). Teachers behavior patterns are at least somewhat influ-enced or constrained by the immediate classroom activity context. Kontos,Burchinal, Howes, Wisseh, and Galinsky (2002) found that classroomactivity (e.g., routine, creative play, didactic activities) moderated the associ-ation between teacher involvement with children and the level of complexityof childrens play. For example, at clean-up time all teachers may naturallygive more directions. However, at small-group time some may give childrenmore encouragement and scaffolding, whereas others may emphasize


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goal-oriented directions. A finer grained analysis accounting for activitytypes and contexts within classrooms may produce stronger or different tea-cher beliefbehavior associations and could possibly show the moderatingeffects of classroom areas or activity context.

Finally, the new ECTBO observation system, which is conceptually tiedto curriculum beliefs, seems to be promising. However, our assumptionsabout cohesive directive or non-directive behaviors may not alwaysbe completely valid. Teachers may sometimes have different understandingsand goals regarding their behaviors compared with those assumed in ourdesignated directive versus non-directive behavior categories. For example,when teachers observe children, in some cases their purpose may be to sup-port child-initiated activity, but in other cases it may be to figure out moreeffective ways to direct or control childrens learning. Therefore, teachersimmediate intentions guiding their behaviors might not be fully capturedby an outside observer. Following this logic, some teacher behaviors maynot be used exclusively for either teacher-directed or child-initiated learninggoals. Teacher behaviors may thus serve different functions in differentsituations. Direction-giving by teachers may sometimes accompany encour-aging, scaffolding, and observation. It may not be wise to simply categorizethese behaviors separately, as was done in our analyses. A more sophisti-cated approach in future research with larger samples may include analysesof contingent teacher behaviors in specific classroom activity contexts inrelation to their beliefs, which could also be assessed in a manner that ismore related to classroom context.

In spite of its limitations, this study provides insights for future researchand also implications for professional development for both in-service andpre-service teachers. Research has increasingly identified the continuingdevelopment and learning of early childhood teachers as one of the keysto improving the quality of child care and early education. Substantialresources are spent on early childhood teachers professional developmentat the local, state, and federal levels. However, many professional develop-ment activities tend to be content driven, with the focus tending to be onteachers acquisition of specific knowledge and the specific skill or strategyto teach it. Far less attention is placed on helping teachers understand andreflect on their own beliefs and attitudes and help them understand howthese dispositions impact teaching practices and outcomes with the youngchildren with whom they work.

The results of this research contribute to the idea that in addition toprofessional development that involves the acquisition of knowledge andpractical skills, the intellectual transmission between teacher knowledgeand practice and the analytic skills of reflecting on ones own behaviors ina specific context should be emphasized. Therefore, teacher preparation


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programs must simultaneously stress educational theory and evidence-basedcontent and relate this in a meaningful way with teacher attitudes andbeliefs. One implication of the current study is that teacher professionaldevelopment should focus productively on the linkages across all areasknowledge, skills, and dispositions. Professional development that is respon-sive to each teachers prior educational and work experiences, as well as hisor her beliefs and attitudes, may be more efficient in fostering DAPand positive and healthy learning and development outcomes for youngchildren.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In addition to all of the teachers who gave of their time, we thank a numberof colleagues who at the time were affiliated with Indiana University orPurdue University. Indiana University collaborators were Kazim Alat,Zeynep Erdiller, Sun-Mi Lee, and Heayoung Yang. Purdue University col-laborators were Hsin-Hui Huang, Jingbo Liu, Xin Gao, Carrie Mathers,Giselle Goetze, and Jianhong Wang.

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APPENDIX

Early Childhood Teacher Behavior Observation (ECTBO)

Teacher InitiatesDirective Behaviors

1. Give directions (do what I tell you to do): Teacher gives children pro-cedural information or instruction (no model or choice provided) aboutspecific things the teacher wants the children to do in a certain way orphysically guides the children to do or not to do something. This includesthe teachers direction in question form (e.g., Will you wait here forme?) and the teachers direct or indirect reminder of rules (e.g., Whatshould you do after you finish your snack?).

2. Ask closed question: Teacher asks children a question to get specificinformation or to test whether children know a particular answer (tea-chers usually know the answers), including a yes=no question (e.g.,How do you spell your name? or Where do you go when you getsick?).

3. Demonstrate (do what I do): Teacher provides a model for childrento follow (e.g., teaches a new song, shows children how to makesomething).

4. Give information (listen to=watch what I tell=show you): Teacher pro-vides content information (factual information, stories, or video that is


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neither a rule nor a response to childrens questions) and children listen(e.g., name objects, read a story, show pictures).

5. Praise=reward (direct positive reinforcement): Teacher gives rewards ormakes general positive evaluative comments about children, childrensworks, or childrens behaviors (e.g., good, thats right, thankyou or I like what you are doing).

6. Punish (direct negative evaluation): Teacher attempts to stop childrenfrom doing something by hurting them or taking away something thechildren want (e.g., expressing disapproval, I told you to stop that;or withdrawing childrens privileges, You have to sit here until you stopscreaming).

7. Threaten: Teacher expresses an intention to hurt the child or take awaysomething the child wants in order to stop the child from doing some-thing (e.g., You want to leave that area?, the teacher expresses anintention to ask the child to leave if he refuses to share the toys).

8. Do for: Teacher does something for or to the child without askingpermission or giving a choice (e.g., putting away the childs belongsor changing the childs diaper without interaction).

Teacher InitiatesNon-directive Behaviors

1. Observe children: Teacher observes or watches children as they work orplay without interacting with the children for at least 5 s during theobservational interval.

2. Ask open question: Teacher asks children a question that allows them tochoose from a variety of possible answers (no right or wrong) and todecide how to answer it. Teacher expects children to answer and expresstheir thinking, including asking for information (e.g., What happened?How do you like to decorate your Christmas tree? or What do youthink we can do about this problem?).

3. Scaffold: Teacher provides a small amount of direction, guidance, orassistance, yet at the same time allows children some choice and controlin their activities. The idea is to add something new to what children aredoing or to suggest new possibilities (e.g., assist a child who cant find apuzzle piece by saying, What is missing on the gorilla? Is his hand miss-ing?; or when a child says, The paint looks like ice cream! the teacherreplies, And like mud!).

4. Play with children: Teacher plays with children in a non-directive way,assuming the role of a companion (e.g., plays chess with a child, takesa role in a pretend play scene).

5. Offer choice: Teacher facilitates and supports children to choose theirown activities or their own projects from among a number of options,


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including asking the children whether they want something (e.g., Doyou want to play Legos or paint? Do you need help? or Wouldyou like more milk?).

6. Encourage (indirect positive reinforcement): Teacher makes specificcomments to give positive support for what the child is doing withoutproviding guidance or assistance. This includes making a descriptivecomment (e.g., You are driving in the mud! I see you are makingthe tire pattern) and showing interest in the children, the childrenswork, or the childrens behaviors (e.g., imitating young children orrepeating what the child says).

Other Behaviors

1. Positive response: Teacher replies verbally or nonverbally to the childsverbal or nonverbal statement=question=request with certainty, accept-ance, or affirmation (e.g., teacher replies to a childs question, Yes,the field trip is tomorrow; or a child asks for a toy animal and the tea-cher hands it to him or her). This does not include a simple response to achilds attention getting (e.g., a child says Laura? and the teacherreplies Yes? or What?) but does include the teacher comfortingwhen the child is distressed. (If a behavior can be coded as encourageor praise=reward, it should not be coded as positive response.)

2. Negative response: Teacher ignores the childs verbal or nonverbalstatement=question=request or replies verbally or nonverbally withnegation, refusal, denial, clarification, or correction (e.g., a child showsthe teacher her picture and says, Look! I draw a bird! and the teacherreplies, Thats not a bird! A bird has two wings, not three.).

3. Classroom management: Teacher is not interacting with or observingchild but instead is doing housekeeping activities (e.g., organizingmaterial, cleaning up) or interacting with other adults (e.g., parents orother staff) for at least 5 s during the observational interval.


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10409289%2e2010%2e507495

Documents

observedclassroom practices

theirclassroom practices

preschool teachers

articletaylor francis

accuracy of thecontent

elicker mary

registered office

use of thecontent