Early childhood teachers’ thinking and reflection: a model of current practice in New Zealand

ABSTRACT

This article reports a multiple-case study project into early childhood teachers’ thinking and reflection on their teaching interactions with children in three New Zealand early childhood education centres. Using stimulated-recall interviews, teaching teams viewed video-recorded episodes of their teaching and discussed their thinking and reflections, during and after the episodes. Key findings included teachers’ emphasis in their thinking and reflection on children in comparison to their teaching intentions, beliefs and practices. The article concludes by presenting a model for understanding New Zealand early childhood teachers’ thinking and reflections on teaching and learning and the implications for practice emerging from this research.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher thinking
• reflection
• ECE pedagogy
• teacher beliefs
• video-stimulated recall interviews

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the teachers at Moana Early Learning Centre (ELC), Summer Kindergarten and Ngā Rangatahi Tamariki ELC whose openness and willingness to de-privatise their thinking and practices is testament to their professionalism and commitment to teaching. My supervisors, Professor Luanna Meyer and Dr Judith Loveridge, are thanked for their guidance, challenge and support throughout my PhD project from which this article is drawn.

Notes

1. A diverse range of New Zealand EC services cater for children aged from infancy to 5 years, including teacher-led kindergartens (catering mostly for three- and four-year old children in sessional or school-day programmes) and education and care services (offering sessional and full-day programmes for children from birth to five years).