Exploring Early Childhood Pre-service Teachers’ Challenges, Opportunities, and Prospects in Implementing Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Online Practicum

Abstract

Teaching practicum in early childhood education (ECE) is usually carried out in physical classrooms, where pre-service teachers (PSTs) can plan, observe and carry out activities that promote children’s active learning, and where meaningful, developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) take place. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PSTs are forced to carry out their teaching practice in virtual classrooms. This study explored early childhood (EC) PSTs’ online practicum experiences and their implementation of DAP. In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with 8 PSTs. Thematic analysis was used to derive themes that answered research questions. The findings identified some major challenges faced by PSTs, which included difficulty with lesson planning, implementing fair assessments, managing online classes, limited teaching strategies, as well as limited student engagement and social interaction. The findings also showed that with extra effort and creativity, PSTs were able to implement DAP and manage their limitation. Findings confirmed that PSTs improved their digital skills, adapted well to online lessons, and were satisfied with their overall practicum experiences. Based on the findings, this study recommends higher institutions that train EC teachers incorporate courses that educate trainees on the effective implementation of DAP in virtual classrooms, and design coursework to assess PSTs’ technological, pedagogical, content knowledge and skills. Besides, PSTs also need to collaborate with parents to assist with children’s online learning.