Reflective practice is foundational in what preservice educators should know and be able to do as noted in professional preparation standards for Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE). Reflection aids preservice educators in connecting course content with field and clinical experiences…

There is an extensive history of collaboration with respect to policy initiatives between the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). In pursuit of promoting high quality inclusive education for all young children, DEC and NAEYC have…

Early childhood and early childhood special education programs have predominantly been separate teacher preparation programs that prepare novice teachers for general or special education settings. However, with a growing shift toward inclusion, as well as a shortage of educators with training to teach all children, there is a need for teacher…

This article proposes a reconceptualization of the relationship between two early childhood professional standards, the "Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators" (NAEYC, 2019) and the "Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards for Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators"…

The instructional congruence framework has been used to enhance congruence between students' non-dominant backgrounds and science instruction in upper grades. The purpose of this paper is to propose and model the use of the framework to address two key areas of concern in the field of early childhood teacher education: family engagement and the…

Coaching has received attention in early childhood education, early intervention, and family science. In the home visiting field, coaching is a distinct professional development tool to improve home visitor effectiveness in meeting the complex needs of families, improve child development outcomes, and meet home visiting field priorities (e.g.,…

Underscored by a long overdue call to challenge racism in teacher education (TE), we set forth to examine our own university TE classrooms to understand how we are both perpetuating and disrupting systemic racism and decentering whiteness, such that we can move toward sustained antiracist pedagogy for ourselves, our institutions, teacher…

A large body of research literature suggests that quality formative assessment has the potential to promote positive outcomes for young children. This paper posits that early childhood educators learn how to use developmentally appropriate assessment practices to effectively assess young children and use these data to make decisions that matter…

This paper revisits the 2019 JECTE Theme Issue entitled "Preparing early childhood teachers to assist children who are caught in disasters" in light of current world events. Unfortunately, since the publication of that issue, our world has been experiencing another type of disaster, the COVID-19 pandemic, thus revisiting and connecting…

In this "Reflection on Practice" paper we reflect on an early childhood Work Integrated Learning course redesign that explored new ways of developing and applying playfulness theory to higher education instructional approaches. Our experience was that the higher education students required more support to deepen their understanding of…

In this paper, an early childhood teacher educator and researcher describes the experience of facilitating and enacting a practice-focused course design for preservice early childhood teachers. The course utilized video analysis, practice records, rehearsal pedagogies and a focus on teacher-child interactions. The author reflects on the structure…

Calling for a moratorium on damage-centered early childhood teacher education, in this article, I urge U.S. early childhood teacher educators to envision and commit to a just future for our profession through desire-centered early childhood teacher education. An antidote to damage-centered early childhood teacher education, which problematically…

This article is on early childhood teacher education in Tajikistan. It is contextualized by the collapse of the Soviet Union and Tajikistan's rebirth in 1992, followed by Tajikistan's immediate spiral into a five-year civil war. Established as a presidential republic and having existed for fewer than 25 years as war-free, Tajikistan has made…

This paper proposes that the future is uncertain for many children. Both natural and human-made disasters are adversely affecting the lives of millions of children and their families. An example of an environment-related disaster is cited from Sichuan Province, China, where a massive earthquake killed some 70,000 people in 2008. How the teachers…

Given that identity continually evolves within socio-cultural contexts of meaning, is there any perceived connectedness between place-based identity and the development of teacher identity? How might shifting personal and professional stories of experience influence teachers' sense of place, whereby place is conceptualized through interconnected…