The pedagogical content knowledge of early childhood educators : a study of kindergarten assistants at a Maltese state schools college

Abstract

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), introduced by Lee. S. Shulman, comprises the type of knowledge for effective teaching which is unique to teachers. It describes the combination of three kinds of knowledge; knowledge of content, knowledge of the child and knowledge of pedagogy. Shulman (1987) perceives PCK as the thread connecting teacher’s content knowledge to instructional design and actions. There is scant knowledge of the nature of PCK of early childhood educators. The present study researches the characteristics of PCK of Maltese early childhood educators at a state schools College and where they gain this specific knowledge for teaching. Interviews with ten kindergarten assistants were conducted, transcribed and scored utilizing the instrument created by the Bridging research team (Rojas, 2008). The findings indicate that the PCK of early childhood educators in this study is distinctive from the PCK that Shulman portrays for teachers of older children (1987). It is distinguished by the predominance of knowledge of the child dominated heavily by socio-emotional considerations for school readiness and content knowledge that relates to discrete skills and behaviours without the addressing of more fundamental conceptual ideas. Various cultural factors contribute to influence the components of the PCK of the kindergarten assistants in this study. They demonstrated the implementation of curricula activities which are superficial and a lack of addressing misconceptions and conceptual understanding of key ideas in different domain knowledge. The study points to the urgent need for continuous professional development of kindergarten assistants.