Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Mathers, Sandra J.

Titel

Using video to assess preschool teachers’ pedagogical knowledge: explicit and higher-order knowledge predicts quality

Ist Teil von

• Early childhood research quarterly, 2021-01, Vol.55, p.64-78

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Teachers with greater procedural knowledge of language-supporting strategies lead classrooms of higher quality.•Teacher’s explicit and higher-order knowledge is a stronger predictor of quality than their lower-order knowledge of teaching strategies.•Participation in formal learning (e.g. professional development) is a stronger predictor of teacher’s knowledge than their years of classroom experience.•The effects of professional development on classroom quality are partially mediated by improvements in teacher knowledge. Theory suggests that effective real-time decision-making in classrooms requires teachers to have flexible access to rich and well-organised knowledge of effective teaching practices. Yet prior research on the role and importance of procedural knowledge has been equivocal. This exploratory study used a new video measure of procedural knowledge to examine relationships with observed classroom quality, and establish which opportunities to learn (qualifications, professional development, classroom experience) predict greater knowledge. It focused on preschool teachers’ knowledge of oral language pedagogy, on the basis that early language provides the foundation for children’s later learning. The sample comprised 104 teachers participating in a wider RCT, designed to evaluate a professional development intervention. Teachers were shown two short videos of classroom interactions and asked to identify instances of effective practice. Responses were coded to capture three facets: perceiving (the ability to identify salient language-supporting strategies); naming (the use of specific professional vocabulary to describe interactions); and interpreting (the ability to interpret the interactions observed). The three facets could be empirically distinguished. Explicit and higher-order procedural knowledge (naming, interpreting) most strongly predicted classroom quality. Formal learning opportunities were stronger predictors of procedural knowledge than classroom experience. Intervention effects on classroom quality were mediated by knowledge. Implications for workforce development are discussed.