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0ELSEVIER Procedía - Social and Behavioral Sciences 106 (2013) 2139 - 2143
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Procedía
Social and Behavioral Sciences
4th International Conference on New Horizons in Education
Professional development of early childhood mentor teachers in
teaching math
Importance of acquisition of early math skills and concepts on future school achievement has been widely acknowledged. Effective early math education takes place only when teachers are donated with necessary teaching competencies and attitudes toward math education. Those competencies are largely acquired during student teaching practices. Mentoring teachers by playing a role model for and supervising student teachers appear to be the most significant actors during this process. This study explores how early childhood mentor teachers define the effectiveness of their own pre- and inservice education in their professional development particularly in regard to math teaching skills and practices. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the preschool teachers working at the different preservice teacher placement sites. Results showed that the participants generally leaned on the collegial support and mentoring reflecting an almost total disregard for the teacher education courses they received during their undergraduate education. Student teaching received a mix of views whilst inservice trainings that are provided on a regular basis appeared to provide no teacher training on early
©2013TheAuthors.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.
Selectionandpeer-reviewunderresponsibilityofTheAssociationofScience, EducationandTechnology-TASET,SakaryaUniversitesi, Turkey.
Keywords: early childhood; math; teachers; mentors; professional development.
1. Introduction
The accumulated empirical evidence regarding development of children's mathematical skills and understanding has disproved the notion that children in early years are too young to learn mathematics (Aubrey, 1993; Baroody, Lai, Li, & Baroody, 2009; Charlesworth & Lind, 1999; Davies & Walker, 2008; Flavell, Miller, & Miller, 1993; Ginsburgh & Seo, 1999; Griffin, 2004; Starkey, Klein, & Wakeley, 2004; Wynn, 1992). In fact, children's daily
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 505 7835640; fax: +90 362 457 60 77. E-mail address /zeynep.alat@gmail.com
Zeynep Alata*, Nuray Çaliçkan Dedeoglu1
lOndokuz Mayis University, Faculty of Education, 5139, Samsun, Turkey bSakarya University, Faculty of Education, 54300, Sakarya, Turkey
Abstract
1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of The Association of Science, Education and Technology-TASET, Sakarya Universitesi, Turkey. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.244
engagement with mathematical concepts and procedures in their natural environments helps them build varying levels of skills before any formal instruction (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2010). This realization of the knowledge base that children bring to educational environments along with the research findings that linked successful early math experiences to future school achievement (Tsamir, Tirosh, & Levenson, 2011) has led to inclusion of math skills and concepts as an important part of early childhood standards in many countries including the U.S. and Turkey (Turkish Ministry of Education [MEB], 2006; NAEYC, 2010; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 2000). Development of certain math skills and concepts even become a prerequisite for primary school entry.
Acquisition of expected early math skills and concepts largely depends on the quality of education provided by teachers (Borko, 2004; Garet et al., 2001). Indeed, teacher expertise explains almost half of the variance in learning mathematics (Rhoton & Stile, 2002), which laminates the significance of teacher training and professional development. Teachers of young children need to have a strong background in domain specific knowledge, how mathematical skills and concepts are acquired by children, and effective pedagogies (Cullen, 1999; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Garet et al., 2001). Clearly, this means, teacher professional development is to be far from a simple provision of a training to bring out the natural instinct of an individual to teach, on the contrary, it is to be seen as a complex process in which many elements and factors come to play in interaction (Avalos, 2011; Borko, 2004; Kedzior, 2004). Such teacher related factors as job-commitment, willingness and openness to change, cooperative attitudes and practices as well as contextual factors including traditions, educational policies and reform movements, working conditions, school administration, student body, and professional development opportunities have an influence on the impact of teacher development initiatives. Success of a teacher-training program at one setting does not guarantee the same level of success at another.
The path to a career in teaching starts with formal college level courses, field experiences and student teaching and later embodies informal collegial support and interactions as well as formal and structured group trainings and postgraduate courses (Avalos, 2011). A similar path is followed by early childhood teachers in Turkey. First, they receive a nationwide well-structured coursework at a four-year college program that also includes a three-credit-course on early mathematics. Majority of the courses are a good blend of theory and practice hours. This standard coursework also gives teacher candidates opportunities to practice their teaching skills in real classroom environments as part of their three-semester-long student teaching placements. Mentor/cooperating teachers play an important role during this process by facilitating, guiding, and supervising student teachers in their struggle to put what they learned at school into practice whilst developing their teacher identity (Avalos, 2011). Upon hiring, all teachers receive a total offour weeks ofinservice training each year throughout their career.
For the last two decades, an ambitious government initiative to provide all children access to early childhood education programs has been implemented in Turkey. The main components of this comprehensive initiative entail increasing the number of preschool and kindergarten programs, hiring a drastic number of new teachers, development ofnational standards and the curriculum, and revision and provision ofboth preservice and inservice teacher trainings. The success of this educational reform largely falls on the shoulders of teachers. Cooperating teachers are among the key participants in preparation of future teachers (Zeichner, 2002). With this understanding in mind, our study focused on early childhood mentor teachers' thoughts on effectiveness of their own professional development experiences in teaching mathematics. Additionally, we aimed to reveal the sources from which teachers drew their ways ofteaching math to young children.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
The participants were recruited from public early childhood programs where student teachers are placed. A total of 17 teachers participated in the study. They were all cooperating teachers during the student teacher
placements in that school year. All the participants had a four-year college degree in early childhood education. The range ofteaching experiences ofthe participants varied from 4 to 28 years.
2.2. Data collection and analysis
Data collected through semi-structured interviews with the participants. During the interviews, the participants were asked questions about their preservice and inservice mathematics education trainings. All the interviews were tape-recorded and then transcribed.
Content analysis was carried out on data in order to reveal underlying themes. Pseudonyms replaced the real names ofthe participants in order to protect their identity.
3. Findings
3.1. Effectiveness of preservice education on teachers' practices
Preservice mathematics education preparation includes a mandatory course on early mathematics, pedagogy courses, and field experience and student teaching.
3.1.1. Effectiveness of Mathematics Education in Early Childhood course and other pedagogy courses
The participants in majority did not express positive views on this required course and were very critical ofthe way it was thought. Apparently, the course failed in reaching its goals because of such reasons expressed by the participants as lack ofcommitment andjob-ethic of instructors, provision ofinadequate opportunities for practice, failure to establish the link between theory and practice, and course content and aims not being followed by instructors. Defne, one ofthe participants, went on to narrate her experience as:
"All we did throughout the semester was making teaching materials. Nothing else. It was no different than the material development course. No mention of how to teach math. I learned nothing in that course that I can use now."
For some of the participants, there was nothing to draw from that course to apply in their classrooms because ofthe instructors' failure to make connections between theory and practice. Banu remembered:
"I did not get anything at college that I could apply in my practice now. We just had to memorize a book called "instinctive mathematics" to get a passing grade. Nothing else."
Selin, on the other hand, had to receive the course from an instructor who was not an expert on educational pedagogies. She explained:
"The course was all around pure mathematics. We were thought high level of mathematics, which absolutely does not have any place in our field. What we learned in that class had got nothing to do with teaching math to young children."
3.1.2. Effectiveness of field experience and student teaching
For some of the participants, there was nothing to remember from their student teaching experience while for some others it was a limited opportunity to observe use of materials and play in teaching math. Some of the participants neither observed nor practiced any math activity during their field experience and student teaching. Ayse:
"We were on our own during our student teaching. The teacher was never in class. I learned nothing from her during my student teaching."
For Esen, presence of the cooperating teacher in the classroom did not make much difference since she did not seem to have the necessary skills to teach math to young children. Esen:
"Even though the center I was placed in for my student teaching was equipped with nice materials and in good condition, inexperience ofthe classroom teacher was an impediment in my learning experience."
Leyla experienced almost a blackout when it came to talking about her student teaching. Leyla:
"I don't remember anything about those days. It is hard to tell if it was effective or not. I cannot tell if it is because there was nothing to remember. I just don't remember."
Those participants who found their student teaching somewhat effective were the ones who had a chance to observe and taught by their cooperating teachers how to use materials in teaching mathematics. Banu, for example, said, "I learned how to use materials like puzzles in math activities." For Dilek, the experience was fruitful in teaching her how to incorporate different activities in teaching math. Dilek narrated, "She was a good resource to learn how to develop good and variety of math activities."
3.2. Inservice trainings
Based on the participants' accounts, it became clear that early mathematics was largely ignored at inservice trainings. Rather than providing domain specific knowledge and practice, inservice trainings were oriented towards an entire body of teachers from all backgrounds. Lecture based trainings were delivered in crowded rooms keeping the participants as passive listeners with no opportunity to take an active role or to cooperate with other teachers in their learning. Ayla was among the ones that scrutinized the effectiveness ofthose trainings:
"I don't think it brings any benefit at all. They put hundreds of teachers in one room with an instructor who just lectures, pardon, just reads from the slides. No practice what so ever. It's not the right way to provide education."
Not impressed by the teaching styles of the trainers, Sakira also complained about ineffectiveness of the inservice trainings:
"They are just waste of time. I don't know where they find those trainers. They cannot keep us engaged. And, subjects related to preschool education are never a part ofthe regular trainings."
3.3. Collegia! support
Inadequacy oftheir formal training led many participants to rely solely on their fellow teachers as a resource to learn from and receive support. In fact, for the majority ofthe participants, peer support appeared to be the only resource that was highly mentioned and drawn upon despite the fact that professional development experiences of those same colleagues were also not so promising. A firm statement by one of the participants, "I learned everything about teaching from my more experienced colleagues" was the epitome ofthe participants' accounts. Considering the fact that the participants were employed at the same centers, were uninformed by the theory and received inadequate practical training in regard to teaching math, their professional support to each other was quite likely to be something "unproductive socialization," as Tigchelaar and Korthagen (2004) would call, leading only to the continuum of avicious cycle ofpoor teaching.
4. Conclusion/Recommendations
The study showed that preservice and inservice teacher training programs fail to provide effective training in early mathematics education leading teachers solely to rely on their colleagues for guidance in the process oftheir occupational socialization. However, their own lack of a strong background in teaching early math raised questions about the quality of guidance those mentoring teachers supplied. It is also alarming that all the participants in the study were the cooperating teachers who were supposed to be good role models for the student
teachers placed in their classrooms. A vicious cycle of poorly trained teachers would continue, making the early childhood education initiative's ultimate goal to end educational and class disparities unlikely to achieve unless immediate measures are taken to intervene.
As part of the solution, first of all, measures should be taken to hold all participants playing a role in teacher education processes be accountable for fulfilling their job requirements. An accreditation system for college level teacher education programs could be developed in order to bring quality into preservice education. It is also essential that teacher candidates be given opportunities to gain experience in quality environments where best practices are preached and realized. Professional development trainings should also be restructured under the light of empirical evidence that describes in detail what makes a teacher training program work. A particular attention should be paid to provision and delivery of professional development opportunities for teaching mathematics to young children in order to help teachers develop a strong background in teaching mathematics and make connections between theory and practice.
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