Pre-Service Teacher Perspectives of Self-Efficacy, Philosophy, and Epistemology after an Introductory Early Childhood Education Course
Authors:   , Taylor Darla Sue 
Published: February 2025

Today's early childhood programs are required to have high-quality inclusive classrooms that serve preschool children with disabilities and diverse needs employed by highly-qualified early childhood teachers. The problem of this study was to describe the current status of pre-service teachers' perspectives of their own teacher self-efficacy, philosophical beliefs, and epistemological beliefs for inclusive practices in an early childhood classroom at the conclusion of an introductory early childhood education course. The study also looked at differences by certification track- EC-6 bilingual (n = 5), EC-6 generalist (n = 8), EC-6 ESL (n = 12), and all-level SpEd (n = 7). The participants (n = 32) were a convenient sample in an Introductory to Early Childhood Education course at a Texas university. Three post-course assignments (i.e. the final self-evaluation, the post-course philosophy of education, and the post-course successful early childhood inclusive teacher drawing) were given to students in an introductory early childhood course and were subjected to content analysis and thematic analysis. The TEIP survey was used as a framework for content analysis. The group-as-a-whole, the EC-6 bilingual, the EC-6 generalists, the all-level SpEd, and the EC-6 ESL certification track participants' teacher self-efficacy perspectives content showed high teacher self-efficacious comments in regards to "classroom environment and student expectations." The all-level SpEd certification track participants' data showed high high teacher self-efficacious comments similar to the group-as-a-whole, with additional comments focused on "providing an alternative explanation or example when students are confused," and "improving the learning of a student who is failing." The group-as-a-whole philosophical perspectives focused on "safety" (in the classroom), "parent involvement," "building relationships with students and parents," "student success," and "classroom environment." EC-6 bilingual certification participants' philosophical perspectives primarily focused on "student success" and "instructional strategies." All-level SpEd certification participants focused on "parent involvement" and "classroom environment." EC-6 generalists certification participants' philosophical perspectives focused on "classroom environment," "community of learners," "parent involvement," and "collaboration with other educators." EC-6 ESL certification track participants' philosophical perspectives focused on "parent communication/parent-teacher communication" and "student success." The group-as-a-whole and all certification track epistemological perspectives focused on (a) "monitor and adjust," (b) "know your students," (c) "awareness," (d) "caring" (about your students), and (e) "teacher character traits needed." The one exception was the EC-6 generalists and all-level SpEd certification track participants adding the focus of "teaching strategies/strategies" and "informal assessments" respectively. The findings revealed that the participants' own experiences, past and present teacher models, respected individuals, and enacted course curriculum(s) influenced their teacher self-efficacy, philosophical, and epistemological perspectives. Implications from this study include adding (a) a focus on education laws and policies to the introductory early childhood course to provide a broader understanding about inclusion, (b) more enacted curriculum to include application to theory to encourage research-based/best practices in future classrooms, and (c) using a mind shift from "what is the disability" to "what is the ability" in more wholistic teacher preparation courses versus silo-track teacher preparation courses.