Yvonne Anders

The influence of child, family, home factors and pre-school education on the identification of special educational needs at age 10

The early identification of young children’s special educational needs (SEN), as well as the development of specific strategies to support those children identified with special needs, are increasingly recognised as crucial to facilitating good adjustment to school and to ensuring that such children are helped to reach their full potential in education. Using a large national sample of young children in England whose developmental progress was followed up from pre‐school, this study investigates which child, family, home and pre‐school factors can be viewed as risk or protective factors for later SEN‐status at age 10. The experience of high‐quality pre‐school education is shown to reduce the likelihood of a child being identified as experiencing SEN in the long run. Teachers’ assessments of SEN are found to be strongly related to children’s reading and mathematics attainment, but other factors also predict SEN, including a child’s age within a year group.

Preschool and primary school influences on the development of children's early numeracy skills between the ages of 3 and 7 years in Germany

Few studies have investigated how preschool and primary school interact to influence childrens cognitive development. The present investigation explores German childrens numeracy skills between age 3 (1st year of preschool) and age 7 (1st year of primary school). We first identified the influence of preschool experience on development while controlling for child factors, family background, and the quality of the home learning environment (HLE). We then considered how the instructional quality of primary schools influences numeracy. We finally analysed how preschool and primary school interact. We sampled 547 children who attended 97 German preschools. Latent growth curve analyses identified child and family factors related to age 3 numeracy and development to age 7: gender, migration background, socioeconomic status (SES), mother education, HLE. The effects of preschool on numeracy development persist until age 7 with notable effects from process quality. Strengthened efforts are needed to ensure high quality preschool education in Germany.

Children’s Cognitive Attainment and Progress in English Primary Schools During Key Stage 2: Investigating the potential continuing influences of pre-school education

This paper examines the longer term impact of preschool education and care on children’s cognitive attainment and progress in England using data for a sample of over 2550 children drawn from 141 pre-school settings collected as part of a major longitudinal government funded mixed methods study of Effective Pre-school and Primary School Education (EPPE 3-11). It explores attainment outcomes measured at age 10 (Year 5 of primary school) in reading and mathematics and progress in these areas between ages 6 and 10 using multilevel models. Several measures of pre-school experience — including duration in months of attendance, quality of pre-school experience (measured by systematic observations), and effectiveness of pre-school (derived from value added analyses of young children’s developmental progress in pre-reading and early number concepts prior to primary school entry) — are tested as predictors of later cognitive outcomes. The impact of the quality of the primary school attended measured by independent value added indicators of academic effectiveness is also explored. Small but significant continuing positive effects on children’s attainment and progress for measures of pre-school quality and effectiveness are found. The analyses identify child and family background factors that predict attainment and progress, particularly the mother’s highest qualification level and the home learning environment. Significant primary school effects are also identified and the combined influence of pre-school and primary school influences on attainment is modelled. The policy implications of the results are discussed.

Internal and external influences on vocabulary development in preschool children

Competency in societys lingua franca plays a major role in the emergence of social disparities within education. Therefore, the present longitudinal study investigates vocabulary development and its predictors in preschool years. We focus on whether internal (phonological working memory) and external variables (preschool and home learning environment) have different impacts depending on parental native language. The study considers 547 children from 97 German preschools. Childrens vocabulary was assessed at the ages of 3, 4, and 5 years. Latent growth curve models show that non-native German language children are characterized by reduced vocabulary at first assessment and lower progress compared to monolingual peers. Phonological working memory has a strong impact on all childrens initial vocabulary but also on vocabulary growth in those whose parents speak German as an additional language. The effects of preschool and home learning environment are comparatively smaller.

Learning at University

Teachers’ professional knowledge, consisting of content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and pedagogical/psychological knowledge (PPK), is considered to be a core component of their competence. CK and PCK have already been shown to impact instructional practice and student outcomes. However, the question of how different teacher education programs impact the development of professional knowledge has not yet been satisfactorily investigated. Two cross-sectional studies with German preservice mathematics teachers were conducted to address this question. First, two groups of preservice teachers who had completed their university-based training, but in teacher education programs offering differing amounts of learning opportunities to build CK and PPK, were compared. Second, preservice teachers who did not attend the university-based phase of teacher education (late-entry teachers) were compared with preservice teachers who had taken the traditional route. The results support the hypothesis that structural differences in teacher education in terms of the amount of learning opportunities available for candidates to develop CK, PCK, and PPK are reflected in their scores on the respective COACTIV tests.

Preschool Teachers’ Sensitivity to Mathematics in Children’s Play: The Influence of Math-Related School Experiences, Emotional Attitudes, and Pedagogical Beliefs

Without a doubt, math-related pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), pedagogical beliefs, and emotional attitudes are considered important dimensions of preschool teachers’ professional competence. This research, however, documents that they are still understudied. This study focuses on certain aspects of the described dimensions: the sensitivity toward mathematical content in play-based situations, joy and interest in mathematics, the importance of mathematics as an educational area of preschool, and math-related emotional school experiences. The study explores the relationships among these factors with a group of 221 preschool teachers from 29 preschool centers in Germany. Background information, math-related school experiences, emotional attitudes, pedagogical beliefs, and aspects of PCK were obtained through a questionnaire. The findings of this study indicate that preschool teachers show some sensitivity toward mathematical content in play-based situations but do not show negative attitudes toward mathematics in general. Present joy and interest in mathematics are related to the rated relevance of preschool mathematics as an educational area. Their current emotional attitude toward mathematics predicts their sensitivity toward mathematical content. The results underline the importance of emotional aspects as facets of preschool teachers’ professional competence.

The Diagnostic Skills of Mathematics Teachers

Teachers apply their diagnostic skills when grading students’ work as well as when preparing lessons and monitoring students’ understanding during the learning process. Previous research on teachers’ diagnostic skills has focused on teachers at elementary level. Drawing on a large German sample of mathematics teachers at secondary level, this chapter empirically addresses three key questions on teachers’ diagnostic skills (depending on the research question, the number of teachers with valid data varied between n=155 and n=331). The results showed that (a) the accuracy of teachers’ judgments of their classes’ achievement level, distribution of achievement, and motivation is relatively low, (b) diagnostic skills do not represent a one-dimensional but a multidimensional construct, and (c) teachers’ diagnostic skills (in terms of tasks-related judgment error and diagnostic sensitivity) have a positive influence on their students’ achievement gains in mathematics. Training and fostering teachers’ diagnostic skills seems thus to be highly relevant for the valid assignment of grades and for student progress.

Influences of an academically oriented preschool curriculum on the development of children – are there negative consequences for the children's socio-emotional competencies?

As a result of public discussions regarding Germanys standing on international rankings of student achievement, increased attention was focused on enhancing cognitive stimulation in preschools. There are some concerns that preschool curricula that focus more on cognitive stimulation rather than on socio-emotional skills might neglect the socio-emotional development of children. These concerns are rooted in the tradition of German preschools focussing more on the stimulation of social than of cognitive skills. This paper examines these claims by drawing on the German preschool programme ‘KiDZ’ in order to analyse the socio-emotional development (well-being, joy of learning, and worry) of children attending a preschool with a more academically oriented curriculum. This study also investigates effects of domain-specific preschool quality and if any effects of participation in KiDZ might be explained by the quality of the preschools. Positive effects of the childrens participation in KiDZ are found and will be discussed.

Frühkindliche Bildungsforschung in Deutschland

Noch vor wenigen Jahren war die fruhkindliche Bildungsforschung in Deutschland im Vergleich zur schulischen Bildungsforschung stark unterreprasentiert. Die Resultate der international vergleichenden Schulleistungsstudien, insbesondere PISA 2000 (Baumert et al., 2001), haben allerdings auch in Deutschland zu einem groseren Interesse fur die Potenziale der institutionellen Erziehung, Bildung und Betreuung von Kindern ab der Geburt bis zum Beginn der Pflichtschule gefuhrt. Vorschulische Einrichtungen sollen hierbei nicht nur einen Beitrag zur besseren Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf leisten. In den letzten Jahren sind vor allem auch die Erwartungen in Bezug auf die Forderung schulischer Vorlauferkompetenzen (z.B. in den Bereichen Sprache, Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften) gestiegen, sowohl fur alle Kinder als auch in besonderem Mase in Bezug auf den Ausgleich der Benachteiligungen von Kindern aus sozial schwachen oder bildungsfernen Familien.

Emergent literacy activities in the final preschool year in the German federal states of Bavaria and Hesse

Emergent literacy activities are considered to be important for promoting children’s emergent literacy skills. However, little research exists, especially in Germany, regarding how often such activities occur and in what context. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of emergent literacy activities occurring in the final preschool year, and their dependence on structural characteristics. Ninety-six children (mean age = 5.9) from 50 preschools in two German federal states were observed in their final preschool year. Results show that emergent literacy activities relating to print materials play a minor role, whereas activities involving oral language play a major role, compared with other activities in children’s preschool experience. Results also indicate a significant link between child-related, family and distal characteristics (i.e. geographic location and federal state affiliation) and the frequency of emergent literacy activities.