One goal among many in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is that children develop positive attitudes towards mathematics. In order to support this development, teachers need professional competence in both cognitive and affective-motivational facets. Teacher students need to develop this professional competence during their initial teacher…

This study examined the level, structure and cognitive, educational and psychological determinants of beliefs about the relevance and nature of mathematics, about gender-stereotypes with respect to mathematics abilities and about enjoyment of mathematics. Prospective preschool teachers from programs at vocational schools and higher education…

This article deals with the results of a questionnaire survey, in which attitudes and beliefs of people working in German kindergarten about "mathematics," "teaching and learning of mathematics" and "mathematics in the early years" were evaluated. After a quantitative analysis it can be stated that a schematic view of…

In Germany during the past few years the nursery school (for ages three-six) is increasingly regarded as an educational institution rather than a childcare centre. This is reflected in the increasing number of curricula for young children, which include mathematics as a domain of learning skills. In the past mathematics has not been part of the…

Whilst research underlines the importance of early mathematics in kindergarten, practitioners need effective and innovative approaches to pedagogy. Currently, very different approaches are deployed from an instructional, educator-led approach based on training programmes to a play-based approach. This intervention study examines the effects on the…

In China, a shift in early math teaching from a teacher-directed approach to a child-centered approach has been recommended. This study explored Chinese teachers' beliefs about early math teaching and learning, math teaching efficacy, and math-related practices in the context of unit block play. Early childhood teachers (N = 391) from Ningbo,…

Early childhood years were believed to be a precious time to implement Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education activities. Children can practice STEM-related skills and form their initial ideas about STEM professions. In this research, we aim to present an integrated STEM education curriculum for early childhood…

The purpose of the present study was to identify the curricular preferences of parents for their youngsters. The study sample included 1490 parents with children enrolled in private preschool and prekindergarten classrooms. Data for the present study were collected via online surveys. Parents prioritized eleven academic and developmental areas in…

The study aims to explore the specificity of Mathematics pedagogical content knowledge in Early Childhood Education Pedagogy in Initial Teacher Education. It addresses the issue by characterizing student teachers' perspectives and by analyzing student teachers' knowledge mobilized in a situation of planning for teaching. The answers to a task…

This study examined the role of kindergarten children's feelings about the perceived quality of their relationships with their teachers and their emotions towards their teachers in their competence beliefs and learning motivation (intrinsic interest, learning goals), in the impact of competence beliefs on learning motivation, and in turn in school…

The present study aims to investigate Turkish kindergarten teachers' beliefs toward learning and teaching and their current instructional practices in kindergarten classrooms. To this end, teacher interviews and classroom observations were conducted with 28 kindergarten teachers. The interview results showed that teachers did not realize the…