Teacher Professional Development and Teaching Practices in Early Childhood Education: An International Landscape

Dear Colleagues,

The twenty-first century learning for young children demands that teachers continuously improve their professional competencies for effective teaching practices in early childhood education (ECE) settings. Teacher professional development (TPD) can help teachers meet the unique learning needs of children from diverse cultural, racial, religious, and linguistic backgrounds. Through TPD opportunities, teachers acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes for effective teaching practices, classroom management, learning assessment, and use of technology

There is a wide range of institutions and systems to prepare teachers for their role in ECE programs. Professional development opportunities for teachers serve as one of the critical mediators in the quality of school curriculum, the effectiveness of teaching practices, and the improvement of young children’s development and learning. A broad spectrum of TPD activities, ranging from formal to informal, can help teachers develop their skills, knowledge, expertise, and among other characteristics. When accessing effective professional learning programs, teachers can obtain more creative teaching strategies that align with the philosophy, context, and learning goals to positively support young children’s development and achievement trajectories. 

We are looking for empirical and theoretical studies in the field of TPD, with the ultimate goal of improving teachers’ pedagogical practices in ECE classrooms around the world. We also welcome contributions that focus on the TPD experiences of teachers teaching children with physical, mental, and psychological difficulties. We prospect that this Special Issue will enable us to deliberate on UNESCO’s call for reimagining TPD and teaching practice in ECE together for a bright future for our young generations. 

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Topics of interest

Potential topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Teacher professional development programs in early childhood education
• Teacher training programs in relation to social adaptability in different ECE settings
• Teacher training curriculum for teaching in ECE classrooms
• Comparative studies on the impacts of different teacher professional development courses on young children’s development
• Strategies necessary in teacher training programs to develop young children’s lifelong learning skills
• The impact of the emerging global trends (e.g., online learning, initiatives of self-directed learning and autonomous learning) on the development of teaching quality in ECE settings. 

Dr. Alfredo Bautista
Dr. Shahid Karim
Dr. Xuanyi Eliza Wu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• teacher professional development
• teacher education
• early childhood education
• pedagogical practices

Title: Metaphors for teaching robotics to improve Computational Thinking in Early Childhood Education

Abstract: There is increasingly a need to develop methodologies or approaches to teach Computational Thinking (CT) to Early Childhood Education children due to how complicated it is at these ages. A very important objective is to provide future teachers with effective methodologies that result in better and greater learning in their future students. This article presents a methodology for teaching robotics based on metaphors to increase computational thinking. An experience has been carried out with 120 undergraduate students of Early Childhood degree at the University, aged between 18-19 years (preservice teachers) who are training in Computer Science and Digital Competence course in their degree. The experimental group has used a methodology based on metaphors to learn educational robotics while the control group has learned it without this methodology. The gain in computational thinking has been measured with a validated test for early childhood education students (which they can also use in the classroom in the future) and it has been proven that the results of gain in computational thinking and attitude towards learning are significantly better in the group that has learned with the methodology based on metaphors. Therefore, preservice teachers have acquired adequate training to ensure that their future students improve their CT with robotics.

Title: Understanding Teaching as Relational Processes

Abstract: According to Pianta (1999), the most critical components for children’s social and academic learning are consistent and safe relationships with at least one significant adult. In addition to children’s parents, preschool teachers often hold the role of being a significant figure for their preschool children. Thus, the relationship between the teacher and the child is to be seen as a prerequisite for children’s social, emotional, and academical learning (Pianta, 1999; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). However, teacher–child interaction quality and its associations with child development remains a surprisingly understudied area (Salminen et al., 2021). Similarly, within teacher education, there is relatively little emphasis on teaching about relationships and relationship-building (Borremans & Spilt, 2023; Wang et al., 2016). How these relational communities are built and maintained is a central issue for all teacher education. Thus, a relational understanding of teaching presupposes research on how relationship-building is constructed and manifested in and through interaction, as well as methods designed to explore such processes (cf. Aspelin, 2022). The article discusses which theoretical concepts and methodological approaches can be relevant and useful for understanding and develop teacher- child relationships in early childhood education.

Title: Antibias culturally responsive professional learning for early childhood teacher education: Perspectives of pre-service teachers

Abstract: The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to examine perspectives of early childhood preservice teachers regarding their views on pedagogical practices that support their development as anti-bias culturally responsive early childhood educators. While the purpose of this research was to seek leaners views, - on what helps them” learn or not”, it is also an introspection of teaching practices in teacher education. Bates (2010, p. 270) notes that it is critical for teacher educators to continually engage in self- reflection and “evaluation of their practice as part of continuing personal and professional development”. Open-ended questions, writing reflective and interviews were used to get participants perspectives. Findings indicated that preservice teachers valued collaborative activities, individual reflective writing, instructor’s guided activities, and experiential/service-learning experiences. Data also revealed that pre-service were hesitant to engage controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and climate change. The study has implications for teacher education programs regarding explicitly addressing societal social issues such as cultural bias, and race/ethnicity to promote anti-bias and culturally responsive teaching practices in preservice teacher education.