A Comparison of the views of finnish and US teachers, administrators and parents on appropriate educational practice for young children

The purpose of this study was to compare the views of Finnish and US preschool teachers, administrators and parents on appropriate educational practices for children aged 3-5. To obtain a measure of their attitudes toward quality practices with children, a 26-item instrument was adapted from Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8. Researchers in the USA and Finland were asked to administer the instrument to subjects they considered to be ‘representative’ of teachers, administrators and parents in their respective countries. Analysis-of-variance procedures were then used to determine the differences in views to quality programmes among the three groups in both countries. No significant differences were found among the three groups in the Finnish sample (F(2,69) = 1.34, p = ns). Among the US group, the parents were found to score significantly less than administrators (F(2,120) = 7.85, p < 0.0006). Multivariate analyses of variance procedures showed that administrators from the two countries did not differ significantly in any of the areas under study. The two areas where teachers tended to differ significantly were those of ‘teaching strategies’ (t = 3.13, df = 100, p = 0.002) and ‘language development’ (t = 3.98, df = 89, p = 0.000). Teachers in the USA tended to take a more structured approach to instruction in preschool programmes, using teacher-directed (less appropriate) approaches and providing children with (less appropriate) drill and practice on language skills. Parents in Finland appeared more supportive of developmentally appropriate practices than their US counterparts and their views were more generally congruent with those of teachers and administrators. This study suggests that the construct of ‘appropriateness’ of beliefs/practices for children may be of value in comparative international child-care studies, and it raises the issue of why a greater congruence in beliefs/practices exists in some countries.