Teachers’ Ideal and Actual Instructional Priorities in the Ever-Changing World of Kindergarten

• In Event: Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: Effective Early Childhood Classroom Instruction

Abstract

The factor structure of three scales measuring kindergarten instructional priorities was examined. The scales measured kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of school administration instructional priorities, teachers’ own instructional priorities in an ideal word, and their actual instructional priorities in practice. Each scale revealed three identical factors: common core academic, non-common core academic, and social-emotional priority areas. Teachers would ideally prefer to spend more time on social-emotional instruction than they are spending in actual practice. They also perceive their school administration’s social-emotional instructional priority to be lower than both their ideal and actual priority in this area. Findings are interpreted using a Self-Determination Theory framework, and implications for teacher job satisfaction and retention in the profession are discussed.

Authors

• Mary Anne Duggan, Arizona State University

• Larissa Michelle Gaias, Arizona State University

• Ashley Lauren Firth Indorf, Arizona State University