Before Student Teaching: How Undergraduate Students in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Programs Describe Their Early Classroom-Based Experience

Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 35, Issue 3, 2014, pages 244-261

This study explores how early childhood care and education students describe their early classroom-based experience.

The participants were thirty-four students enrolled in a teacher preparation program.
Data were collected through interviews, participants' journals, and their responses to survey about their early classroom-based experience.

Results are presented in terms of how students talk about their experiences—belonging or not belonging in the classroom—and what students talk about when discussing their experiences, including communication, support, freedom, new learning, and “the children.”
These themes are discussed in terms of students’ experiences in the classroom and implications for undergraduate teacher preparation in early childhood education.