The impact of a community college's early childhood education program from the perspectives of preschool teachers: A case study

This qualitative case study examined the impact of a community college's early childhood teacher preparation program from the perspectives of ten preschool teachers who graduated there with an associates degree. The purposes of the study were to describe the impact of the college and to hear from teachers what their work realities were like, what they applied from their college learning, and what supports and barriers affected their application of college-promoted learning in their preschool classrooms.;In the analysis of the interviews and observations, three salient sociocultural influences on teaching emerged: (a) the personal and cultural background of the teachers, (b) the college's teacher preparation program, and (c) the world of work. The findings revealed preschool teachers with a strong commitment to children and their work struggling to reconcile the pressures and realities of the work setting to implement practices learned in the college classroom. More telling was the subtle pull away from the developmentally appropriate practice program orientation toward a teacher-directed paradigm in the teachers' response to a climate of accountability pervading public education. A major implication for early childhood teacher educators espousing developmentally appropriate and child-centered practice is the awareness of the powerful influence of the workplace and the need to actively connect with graduates to sustain any influence on them and to better prepare students for the realities of the world of work.