Experienced Early Childhood Teachers as Graduate Students: A Process of Change

Abstract

This paper explores perceptions of professional identity among experienced early childhood educators (ECEs) who are novice students in a new master's degree program in ECE. We sought to examine the changes experienced by these educators. The study used qualitative content analysis, which included an open-ended questionnaire that was administered twice to the participants: at the beginning of their first year of study and at the end of the second year. The findings indicate a change in the participants' perceptions of their multi-dimensional professional identity. They began to examine the early childhood educational system with a critical point of view based on their academic and pedagogical conceptual vision, and became aware of the contingent political consequences. We believe this study will enable us to advance the ECE system and promote academic research conducted by professionals.The study examines the professional identity of graduate students who are professional and experienced early childhood educators (ECEs) and at the same time novice graduate students. Considering these two sides of the same coin enables us to learn how these students understand the professional world of Early Childhood Education (ECE) and how they change during the course of their advanced studies in a master's degree program in ECE. This study is anchored in two points of view. The first, a global perspective, finds expression in the importance that many countries worldwide attribute to early childhood education. The other, a local perspective, examines the local context, and in particular the students studying in the ECE master's degree program. These two perspectives are interconnected and based on the general importance emerging from research and from reports on early childhood education.

From an Intuitive Practitioner to a Professional Novice Leader

“…This was found to be a main preferred role in several studies (Hujala, 2004;Muijs, Aubrey, Harris, & Briggs, 2004;Rodd, 2006;Aubrey, 2011). Although, we found an additional role -the immerging of the leadership domain (Mevorach & Miron, 2011a). …”

“…In previous research (Mevorach & Miron, 2011a), we reported on the role perception of students in the early childhood (EC) Master's degree program at the beginning of their studies and at the end of the program. In the current study, we conducted in-depth interviews with the students at the end of the program and continued to communicate with them online after their graduation, in order to find out if there was continuing change in their work environment.…”

“…Our starting point was a follow up on the students' development from the beginning of the first year of the program until the end of the second year of their studies (Mevorach & Miron, 2011a). Data from the first year revealed two major domains: educational-pedagogical and organizational-managerial.…”

The "Good Professor" as Perceived by Experienced Teachers Who are Graduate Students

“…Since all the participants were experienced teachers, it was assumed that their view of what makes a good professor derives from two sources: their teaching experiences and their learning experiences (Mevorach & Miron, 2011a). In this earlier research, a huge change was seen in graduate students.…”

“…It was found that their new abilities to analyze their own work through academic lenses and their expanded desire for higher degrees was part of their ongoing personal development. It seems important to uncover the contribution of the components that helped to create this change: the program (Mevorach & Miron, 2011b), the students' role perceptions (Mevorach & Miron, 2011a) and the lecturer's. characteristics, the latter being the focus of this paper.…”