Tailoring Case Studies to Fit Early Childhood Teacher Candidates' Needs and Experiences

Locating child protection in preservice teacher education

“…There is an emphasis on equipping students with experiences through which they can experiment with strategies, tools and resources needed to face complex issues involving child maltreatment (Ray, 2007;Watts, 1997). Integral to the suite of pedagogies are rehearsal and role play which are used to teach communication skills such as empathic listening and open-ended questioning -important skills required for dealing with children's direct disclosures of maltreatment (Jones, 2003).…”

“…Assessment relies on authentic tasks (Ray, 2007;Stein, Isaacs, & Andrews, 2004) such as examining and evaluating school-based child protection policies and initiatives and interviewing school staff. In the standalone unit, student learning culminates in the second assignment that requires student responses to several hypothetical child maltreatment scenarios.…”