Kindergarten Teachers’ As Researchers:Present Situation And Possibility

Kindergarten teacher as researcher,which is the educational reform requirements of preschool teachers and the established trend of kindergarten teachers professional development.The Guidance Outline for Preschool Education(trial)states clearly,"the organization and implementation process of educational activities is the process of teachers’ creative work;teachers’ educational evaluation is that the kindergarten teachers examine educational practice by applying professional knowledge,the process of finding and analyzing,researching and solving problems,and the important way of self growth",The Professional Standards for Kindergarten Teachers(trial)states also,"to collect and analyze information,constantly reflect and study teaching practice,it is an important professional ability that teachers need to master".At present,some kindergarten teachers still have misunderstandings about the research,who is not clear about the relationship between research and practice and somewhat overwhelmed about how to become a researcher.Therefore,it is of great practical significance to study the current situation and possible countermeasures of kindergarten teacher as researcher.This study selects kindergarten teachers,principals and director of teaching and research in different levels of kindergartens in the urban area of Hang Zhou by using a combination of quantitative research and qualitative research methods to conduct investigation research and collects the data specifically by literature,questionnaire and interview.The study focuses on the current common situation of kindergarten teacher as researcher,the individual development process of teacher as researcher,the concrete process of research and practice,obstacles to kindergarten teacher as researcher and the conditions and possible paths promoting kindergarten teacher as researcher.The results indicate that:(1)at present,the kindergarten teachers have achieved the basic results,such as,kindergarten teachers’ recognition of educational research is gradually enhanced;reflection on the education has become a normal behavior;the theme of educational research and practice has been combined each other;the results of the educational research is constantly enriched;the research conditions have been guaranteed in a certain degree.But there are also some problems,such as,some kindergarten teachers’ initiative awareness of the research action lags relatively;the research ability is not enough;the research process is not standardized;lack of cooperation in research;the quality of the research is not satisfactory;the research training and guidance is ineffective.(2)the influential factors to hindering kindergarten teachers as researchers include individual and management levels.The former include:preschool teachers’ awareness of active research needs to be improved;the overall reserve of research qualities is not sufficient;and the influence of teachers’career development stages and so on.The latter include preschool education organization factor:group oriented kindergarten teachers’ educational research activities have not yet formed across kindergartens;the systematic and powerful support system needs to be perfected and so on.Based on this current situation,the study explores the possible strategies for turning kindergarten teachers into researchers.On the one hand,the conditions for pushing kindergarten teachers becoming researchers are put forward from the three levels of preschool education administrative department,kindergartens and individual teachers:(1)improve the guidance on kindergarten teachers’ educational research activities;form“follow up”leading team under guidance of regional experts;carry out“diversification”in kindergarten teachers’educational research training.(2)create the good environment of teacher research in kindergarten:foster a leader of educational research and establish constant management system;construct kindergarten teachers’ cooperative research culture;provide adequate research time and necessary research resources.(3)kindergarten teachers should have passion for the preschool education;have problem solving consciousness and research initiative consciousness;reflective consciousness and positive action practice;have certain research qualities and research abilities.On the other hand,the possible paths for kindergarten teachers becoming researchers are summed up based on individual successful case where outstanding teachers becoming researchers:(1)kindergarten teachers as research subjects;(2)preschool core teachers as research demonstrators;(3)professional leading and guidance under the cooperation of experts and tutors.