In this study, a modified version of the Curriculum Orientation Inventory for Early Childhood Education (COI-ECE) is developed and validated with a sample of 717 in-service teachers from fifty Hong Kong pre-primary schools. Results of confirmatory factor analysis show that the curriculum beliefs of pre-primary school teachers can be conceptualised…

Although the social-emotional competence of preservice early childhood professionals (ECPs) has been associated with the quality of their interactions with young children, there is limited understanding of these associations during preservice training. Utilizing a sample of students with career goals in early childhood (N=473), we examined the…

Young children engage in essentialist reasoning about natural kinds, believing that many traits are innately determined. This study investigated whether personal experience with second language acquisition could alter children's essentialist biases. In a switched-at-birth paradigm, 5- and 6-year-old monolingual and simultaneous bilingual…

This study examined the impact of Child Development Associate (CDA) training on the beliefs and practices of early childhood teachers who did not have college degrees or early childhood college coursework. Preschool teachers who were enrolled in CDA classes (n = 76) and a comparison group of teachers (n = 50) completed two surveys of beliefs and…

This article contains a review of eight refereed publications that addressed the topic of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), as that is a topic presently being discussed widely both nationally and internationally. According to the most recent 2009 NAEYC publication on DAP, recommended practices are those "that result from the process of…

Examines how postmodernist thinking can disrupt traditional beliefs about child development and appropriate practice by asserting a more critical and skeptical approach to knowledge and truth statements. Asserts that postmodernism, by opening up possibilities for multiple points of view, can be simultaneously daunting and liberating, and that…

The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine if unique or shared viewpoints existed between teachers and parents concerning developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) and developmentally inappropriate practices (DIP); (2) to investigate differences between participants' subjective beliefs about DAP and DIP; and (3) to explore relationships…

Although research indicates that early childhood literacy programs can be effective for preschoolers, little is known about the effects of programs on college student mentors. This study explored the beliefs of college students about literacy development in preschool children and whether these beliefs change after their involvement in a yearlong,…