Heritage language maintenance and cultural identity formation: the case of Korean immigrant parents and their children in the USA

This study explores the beliefs and attitudes that Korean immigrant parents and their children in the USA hold about their heritage language. Data were collected through interviews. This study addresses how parents' perspectives and their actual heritage language practices with their children influence their children's cultural identity and heritage language maintenance. Findings suggest that immigrant children's peers and teachers at school who are not from the same ethnic group (co-ethnics) might play a crucial role in helping children to have positive attitudes regarding learning their heritage language, ultimately influencing their positive cultural identity.     

The construction of preschool teacher identity in the public school context

This article explores how three early childhood teachers working in grant-funded preschools within a public school context construct and negotiate their professional identities. Teachers share narratives that contribute to an understanding of how their beliefs, knowledge, and practice are marginalized by the context in which they work. The evaluation of these narratives from each early childhood teacher found their individual experiences of working in public schools, demonstrated isolation, and exclusion from colleagues. Validation and recognition from their colleagues and administrators influenced their focus on kindergarten readiness in their preschool classrooms, often conflicting with their own values about quality early childhood education. These perceptions have all impacted the construction of these three early childhood teachers’ professional identities and practices.     

Navigating disability and related services: stories of immigrant families

Cultural beliefs, values, language differences, and unfamiliar educational infrastructures and practices can impact immigrant parents’ capacity to support their children with disabilities in their new country. This study presents perspectives of disability and experiences with special education services based on interviews with eight immigrant parents of children with disabilities from four countries. Results indicate that the process for accepting, or not accepting, that their child has a disability differed across cultural contexts. Additionally, immigrant parents encounter diverse labelling practices and have varying levels of participation in special education services. Moreover, immigrant families who are refugees have differential access to services and a more limited cultural perspective of their heritage country than families who came to the USA directly from their heritage country. These results can assist professionals in rethinking policies and practices to more effectively establish partnerships with culturally and linguistically diverse families.     

Sociocultural and Environmental Influences on Brazilian Immigrant Mothers’ Beliefs and Practices Related to Child Feeding and Weight Status

Background Length of residence in the United States (US), changes in dietary and physical activity behaviors, and economic and social barriers contribute to high childhood obesity rates among children from immigrant families in the US. Brazilians comprise a fast-growing immigrant population group in the US, yet little research has focused on health issues affecting Brazilian children in immigrant families. Understanding sociocultural and environmental influences on parents’ beliefs and practices related to child feeding and weight status is essential to altering obesity trends in this group. Methods Qualitative study consisting of five focus groups with a convenience sample of 29 Brazilian immigrant mothers. Results Analyses revealed that the sociocultural and environment transitions faced by Brazilian immigrant mothers’ influence their beliefs and practices related to child feeding and weight status. Additionally, acculturation emerged as a factor affecting mothers’ feeding practices and their children’s eating habits, with mothers preferring Brazilian food environments and that their children preferring American food environments. Mothers viewed themselves as being responsible for promoting and maintaining their children’s healthy eating and feeding behaviors, but changes in their social and cultural environments due to immigration and the pressures and demands of raising a family in a new country make this difficult. Conclusions Health promotion interventions to improve healthful eating and feeding practices of Brazilian children in immigrant families must account for social and cultural changes and daily life demands due to immigration as well as potential variation in the levels of acculturation between mothers and their children.     

Korean Teachers' Beliefs and Teaching Practices in Korean Early Childhood Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and practices of early childhood teachers in Korea. 54 child care teachers, 58 private kindergarten teachers and 45 public kindergarten teachers participated in this study. The Teacher Questionnaire was adapted for the Korean situation using both Korean and American early childhood education experts to determine cultural appropriateness of items (i.e., a back translation procedure) and grammatical accuracy. Results indicated that public kindergarten teachers had more academic preparation and teaching experiences than other teachers. Public kindergarten teachers reported implementing significantly more appropriate teaching practics and fewer inappropriate practices in their classrooms than other teachers. There was a trend for all teachers who reported nondirective teaching strategy beliefs to use fewer inappropriate teaching practices; however, child care teachers used more inappropriate teaching strategies than other teachers.     

Cultural Continuities: An Australian Perspective

This paper discusses findings of a research project which investigated the views of 101 immigrant families to Australia from Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, The People's Republic of China and the Philippines in relation to aspects of their pre-school children's education. In addition, views were sought from 100 early childhood teachers working with the children of the families in the sample. The findings showed statistically different views between parents and teachers on three questions relating to cultural maintenance: How important is it for the ethnic minority child to maintain the family culture? How important is it for an ethnic minority child to maintain his/her first language? How important is it for parents to share their views about child rearing with the early childhood teacher?     

Continuity and change in home literacy practices of Hispanic families with preschool children

The aim of this qualitative study was to examine how Latino immigrant families incorporate school-based interactive literacy activities into their existing home literacy practices. Findings revealed that Hispanic parents appropriate school-related literacy activities into their existing repertoire when they believed it would best help their children to succeed academically. At the same time, parents modified school-related literacy activities to reflect their existing cultural beliefs and practices. These complex patterns of adapting school literacy practices into home literacy interactions revealed that Hispanic parents: (a) emphasise pleasure and interactivity in literacy activities; (b) merge supportive and direct instruction scaffolding strategies into home literacy instruction; (c) impart moral messages while engaging in interactive literacy activities with their children; and (d) activate linguistic resources by creating opportunities for bilingual literacy events to occur during school-designed interactive literacy activities.     

Celebrating diversity in early care and education settings: moving beyond the margins

As the USA continues to live up to its historical reputation as a nation of immigrants, early childhood professionals are increasingly faced with the challenge of supporting children and families from diverse cultural milieu. However, to truly celebrate diversity in early childhood settings, early childhood teachers and caregivers must engage in a careful examination of their own cultural biases and assumptions, and be willing to consider differences not as deficient but as potential sources of strength. In short, providing care and education in which all children can thrive requires moving diversity out of the margins of the curriculum, and infusing principles of diversity, equity and social justice into our teaching and our interactions with children and families.     

Maternity care through the eyes of Southern European immigrant parents in Norway

ObjectiveTo explore Southern European immigrant mothers and fathers’ experiences of reproductive health services in Norway, and their perceptions of health providers’ beliefs and attitudes regarding pregnancy and childbirth.MethodWe employed a qualitative research methodology with two focus group discussions and 11 in-depth interviews with 4 fathers and 11 mothers from Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece, whose children were born in Norway. Thematic Analysis was conducted to identify and analyze patterns across the data.ResultsWe identified three themes as key elements in parents’ experiences: experiences with the coverage and organization of the Reproductive Health Services; relational experiences with health providers; and pregnancy and delivery as a culturally-shaped event. The immigrant parents experienced a clash between their expectations and the procedures and health facility environment encountered in Norway regarding check-ups, diagnosis tests, childbirth preparation courses, and health facilities. Informants perceived that the maternity care practices of the host country were underpinned by the health care providers’ cultural understandings of labor and pregnancy. Particularly, they experienced a less interventionist approach towards pregnancy and childbirth.ConclusionsThe experiences of immigrant parents provide relevant information to improve reproductive health services in a cross-cultural context. Inmigration brings new challenges that must be addressed from a perspective of cultural competence. These services should acknowledge diversity in cultural beliefs around childrearing and involve both fathers and mothers in decision-making.     

Wonder children and victimizing parents – preservice early childhood teachers’ beliefs about children and technology at home

In this study, written assignments from preservice early childhood teachers were examined to find answers to the following research questions: [1] What beliefs do preservice teachers have about children and technology at home? [2] How are parents represented in preservice teachers’ beliefs about children and technology? [3] What are the relationships between these beliefs and preservice teachers’ views about the role of technology in early childhood education? Preservice teachers in this study had idolized beliefs about children and discriminating beliefs about parents. Children were believed to be born-competent technology users. Parents were believed to lack the skills or will needed to regulate their children’s technology use. It was expressed to be the responsibility of early childhood education to ensure that play and social interaction are still included in young children’s lives. These findings propose that students’ beliefs about children and parents need to be afforded attention in educational technology courses.     

Immigrant parent involvement in government funded early childhood education programming: an examination of FACES

ABSTRACT

Head Start is a federally funded early childhood education programme that takes a unique 2-generation approach to working with families. Family engagement in early education like Head Start has been shown to improve academic and behavioural outcomes in children, with particular beneficial effects in the children of immigrant parents. This study seeks to explore predictors of involvement in Head Start services among immigrant families. Through an examination of Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2009 data, this study uses bivariate and multivariate regression, and Karlson/Holm/Breen (KHB) analyses to determine variables associated with involvement in Head Start services. Results indicate that immigrant and U.S.-born parents do not differ in their levels of involvement in Head Start services. Rather, for both groups of parents, parental education attainment and satisfaction in services predicted levels of involvement. Furthermore, for mothers, the relationship between levels of educational attainment and involvement was fully mediated by mothers’ levels of employment.     

Greek pre-service kindergarten teachers’ beliefs about and practices of developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood education

The continuum of beliefs reported by Greek pre-service kindergarten teachers and how those beliefs relate to classroom practices are explored in this article. Considering the potentially important influence of teachers’ beliefs on their practices, the level of early childhood teachers’ beliefs about developmentally appropriate practices (DAPs) and the relationship between their beliefs and practices are regarded as important topics of study in early childhood education. This study was designed in order to investigate Greek pre-service kindergarten teachers’ self-reported beliefs and practices related to the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s policy statement for DAP. Research results indicated that participants favour DAP both as far as their beliefs and the instructional activities they implement are concerned. Even though the analysis indicated correlations among DAP and developmentally inappropriate practice (DIP) beliefs and practices, beliefs have not been found to predict practices.     

Urban Preschool Teachers’ Nutrition Beliefs,Mealtime Practices,and Associations With Training

ObjectiveTo examine preschool teachers’ nutrition-related beliefs and practices and explore associations with Eat Well Play Hard in Child Care Settings (EWPHCCS) training.DesignCausal-comparative study using a post-only, cross-sectional survey exploring teachers’ nutrition-related beliefs and mealtime practices.SettingNew York City preschools serving low-income children.ParticipantsEthnically diverse preschool teachers (n = 660), 420 (response rate 90.4%) with EWPHCCS training and 240 (response rate 57.1%) without training.Main Outcome MeasuresTeachers’ beliefs about their preschool nutrition environments and compliance with recommended mealtime practices.AnalysisAnalysis of variance and hierarchical linear modeling.ResultsOverall, teachers reported generally favorable beliefs about their preschool nutrition environments and compliance with recommended mealtime practices. EWPHCCS teachers reported more favorable scores on beliefs and practices than nontrained teachers. Teachers who were not parents reported significantly lower scores on beliefs and practices than teachers who were parents. White teachers and the least experienced teachers reported the lowest scores on compliance with mealtime practices.Conclusions and ImplicationsEWPHCCS training was associated with higher scores on both beliefs and practices. However, school-level policy and leadership may also be important. Providing specific training for preschool directors and addressing food quality may further improve teachers’ nutrition-related attitudes, beliefs, and practices.     

Finnish and Greek early childhood teachers’ perspectives and practices in supporting children’s autonomy

Kindergarten teachers from different cultural backgrounds attribute various meanings to children’s autonomy. There seems to be cultural differences in early childhood education curricula with regard to how a child’s autonomy is described and how it is supported. This qualitative study asks: how do teachers narrate their perspective and pedagogical support of children’s autonomy, and what kinds of similarities and differences in the pedagogy and practices can be found in Finnish and Greek early childhood education (ECEC) contexts? The data of this qualitative study consist of a semi-structured questionnaire of 14 kindergarten teachers and observations of their pedagogical practices in the day care groups of 4- to 5-year-old children. The results suggest that teachers’ overall conception of autonomy was identical, but the different cultural contexts and curriculums affected the way the teachers emphasized and valued different dimensions of autonomy.     

Parental involvement and developmentally appropriate practices: a comparison of parent and teacher beliefs

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) and parental involvement beliefs of preschool teachers and the parents of preschool children. Data were collected from 279 teachers and 589 parents via a demographic information questionnaire, Teachers' Beliefs Scale [Jones, L. D., Burts, D. C., Buchanan, T. K., & Jambunathan, S. (2000). Beginning prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers’ beliefs and practices: Supports and barriers to developmentally appropriate practices. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 21, 397–410]; Parents' Beliefs Scale [Yen, Y. (2008). Parents’ beliefs about developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs in Taiwan (PhD thesis). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (UMI No.3352157)] and the School and Family Partnerships Questionnaire [Epstein, J. L., & Salinas, K. C. (1993). School and family partnerships: Surveys and summaries. Baltimore, MD: Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships, John Hopkins University]. The results underline the relationship of parental involvement beliefs of teachers and parents with their DAP and Developmentally Inappropriate Practice (DIP) beliefs, as well as providing that DAP or DIP beliefs are not independent in their nature; they are influenced by parental involvement beliefs.     

Greek pre-service kindergarten teachers’ beliefs and intensions about the importance of teacher–child interactions

The experiences children have and the attachments they form early in life have a decisive, long-lasting impact on their later development and learning. The present study aims at exploring the continuum of the beliefs reported by Greek pre-service kindergarten teachers and how those beliefs relate to their intensions about the importance of teacher–child interactions. When examining how teaching beliefs influence the way in which teachers interact with children, it may be potentially important to assess teaching intensions as well. Though a vast amount of research has explored the association between teachers’ beliefs and practices, scarce research has examined the relationship between beliefs and intensions. This study is designed to examine Greek pre-service kindergarten teachers’ self-reported beliefs and intensions on aspects of early childhood educators–children interaction. Research results indicate that participants favour sensitive and appropriate caregiving in both their beliefs and intensions. Yet, data reveal that participants’ beliefs are more developmentally appropriate than are their intensions. Correlation analysis shows that pre-service kindergarten teachers’ beliefs do not correlate with their intension.     

Bridging immigrants and refugees with early childhood development services: partnership research in the development of an effective service model

We assessed the availability and accessibility of early childhood development (ECD) services to ethno-cultural communities in the Tri-Cities region of British Columbia. Primary participants were recent immigrant and refugee parents from three ethnic communities: Chinese (both Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking) and Korean-, and Farsi-speaking groups (Iranian and Afghani). Secondary participant groups included ECD service providers, community educators, and facilitators involved in ECD programmes and services. The study employed a participatory community-based approach, aiming to: (1) assess the different meanings, understandings, and practices relating to ECD, (2) examine the ways in which behavioural, cultural, and institutional practices may influence ECD access and use of services; and (3) contribute to the development of a culturally competent definition, measure, and model for ECD that is applicable to ethno-cultural communities. Significant portions of members of the cultural communities do not have adequate access to services, particularly those with special needs children. In addition, individuals have difficulty adapting to Western child development practices, which results in barriers in seeking or participating in childhood development programmes. Finally, language difficulties, cultural beliefs and practices, and adverse perceptions of care providers were barriers to services. The results highlight the need to incorporate new understandings of culture-based perceptions about ECD, and provide an understanding of different models and communications of ECD when planning future programme objectives and goals.