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ERIC Number: EJ1111402
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1090-1027
EISSN: N/A
Conceptions of and Early Childhood Educators' Experiences in Early Childhood Professional Development Programs: A Qualitative Metasynthesis
Brown, Christopher P.; Englehardt, Joanna
Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, v37 n3 p216-244 2016
Policy makers and early childhood stakeholders across the United States continue to seek policy solutions that improve early educators' instruction of young children. A primary vehicle for attaining this goal is professional development. This has led to an influx of empirical studies that seek to develop a set of best practices for professional development. While this deductive work is important and informative, it provides limited insight into how professional development is being conceptualized, and how teachers experience, respond to, or learn from these programs. This article begins to address these issues by presenting findings from a qualitative metasynthesis of published peer-reviewed qualitative studies of professional development programs for in-service early educators in the United States. By analyzing, synthesizing, and interpreting these studies, it appears that while such programs may have a positive impact on teachers' conceptions of practice, there is a need to expand the research literature beyond identifying what works so that it includes studies examining teachers using such practices with children and investigations into teachers' knowledge of their local teaching and learning communities. This study ends by offering an interpretation of the relationship between these findings and the field of teacher education.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Information Analyses
Education Level: Preschool Education; Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A