Transformative Pedagogies: Fostering Motivation, Enhancing Attractiveness, and Cultivating Commitment in Early Childhood Education through Teacher Education
A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 2004
Special Issue Editors
Interests: early childhood teacher education; life-long learning; well-being; motivation; future competencies; special education
Interests: early childhood education; participatory pedagogy; playful learning; children's rights; play pedagogy; mathematics education; teacher education and teacher professional development; future education; learning environment
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The main focus of this Special Issue of Education Sciences seeks to share research findings, ideas, methods, and practices in the settings of early childhood education and teacher development. The implementation of teacher education has been shown to have a great influence on teachers’ future competencies, motivation, and, through that, the attractiveness of the career and commitment to a teaching position.
We are interested not only in the education of student teachers but also, and to an equal degree, in in-service teacher training. The continuation of ECE teacher professional development has increased in importance due to constantly growing requirements and, at the same time, often intensified working conditions. Globally, the turnover rate of ECE teachers is high, leading to labor shortages and weaker ECE quality. However, it appears that being prepared and committed, having the support of the community, and a willingness to develop oneself may contribute to staying in the profession and improving one’s enjoyment of it. Mentoring, teamwork, good leadership, and a fair apportionment of tasks are factors that need to be taught and maintained through a teacher’s professional life.
In this Special Issue, we welcome papers that deal with ECE teacher education, methods and ontological questions, motivation, well-being, the attractiveness of the career, lifelong learning, and professional development in ECE.
Dr. Lotta Uusitalo
Dr. Jonna Kangas
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- early childhood teacher education
- lifelong learning
- wellbeing
- motivation
- future competencies
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Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Exploring Patterns of College Students’ Cooperative Learning: Using A Mind Mapping Approach
Abstract: To date, the previously innovative method of cooperative learning that gained popularity in the field of education has become widely adopted. Cooperative learning significantly enhances students' academic performance; however, the methods of implementing cooperative learning vary greatly in quality (Slavin, 2010). Mind mapping is one of cognitive approaches that supports student thinking during class. In this study, a mind map was developed to guide students' learning through cooperative activities. An experiment was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the mind map as a tool for knowledge sharing, a form of cooperative activity, in a university literature research class. Forty-two participants were randomly assigned into either a control group (conventional discussion) or an experimental group (mind mapping discussion). Students’ learning behavior and peer interactions were recorded and examined using lag-sequential and quantitative content analysis. When compared to the control group, the mind map-based learning activity engaged students in more interactions for knowledge construction. The findings of this study provide guidance for the design of cooperative learning activities in college classes.
