ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Gwen Morgan, from a review of research on early childhood settings, suggests that the following teacher behaviors, skills, and characteristics mark effective teachers in early childhood settings:

Structural variables for effective teachers of pre-school children:

• Have college training or degrees and specialized early childhood competencies
• Maintain low child:staff ratios
• Are assigned to small classes
• Break up their classes into smaller activity-based centers

Process variables for effective pre-school teachers:

• Have warmth
• Are responsive to children
• Develop positive relationships with children and their families
• Relate to children individually and in small groups, and interact with them one-on-one or organize children in small groups with which they interact while teaching
• Create cognitively stimulating environment
• Value social and emotional development as essential readiness factors
• Allow children to express their feelings
• Encourage children to talk; welcome and respond to their questions; extend conversations
• Work in partnership with parents
• Are interculturally competent

ExchangeEveryDay

Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.