Early childhood education teachers, assistants, and coordinators beliefs and attitudes about children's right to participation in early childhood educational settings

• Autor(a) principal: Machado, Monique Dias
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/27031
• topic: Participation right; Early childhood education; Education professionals; Direito de participação; Educação infantil -- Child education; Profissionais de educação de infância

This quantitative study was carried out with a sample of 247 Portuguese early childhood education (ECE) professionals with different roles, such as coordinators, teachers and/or assistants. The main objectives of this study were: 1) to investigate the psychometric properties of the instrument “Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Participation”, developed to assess ECE professionals’ beliefs and attitudes; 2) to investigate associations between ECE professionals’ beliefs and attitudes, their participation practices, and their modernity beliefs; 3) investigate associations between ECE professionals’ beliefs and attitudes, their age and their years of experience in ECE settings; and finally, 4) to investigate differences between ECE professionals’ beliefs and attitudes according to their professional role (coordinator, teacher, or assistant). An exploratory factor analysis of the “Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Participation” scale identified four factors: Professional Development and Contextual Support to Participation; Professionals’ Knowledge and Competences; Children’s Competences and Decision-Making; and Implementation of Participation. Significant, positive associations were found between ECE professionals’ beliefs and attitudes, their participation practices, and their modernity beliefs, as well as with professionals age and years of experience. Differences were found between ECE professionals’ beliefs and attitudes according to the professional role in the ECE setting. The study shows significant results and suggestions for practical implications and intervention, in order to ensure and safeguard children’s right to participation in ECE settings.