Early Childhood Teachers' Perceptions of the Educational Needs of Military Dependent Children

Military dependent children remain a largely unexplored subject, particularly in early childhood education. In an effort to fill the gap in the current literature, this research study focuses on how early childhood teachers perceive the educational needs of military dependent children. Previous research in the areas of geographic mobility, parental separation, and social emotional needs are reviewed and used as a platform for this study. The study includes a survey developed by the researcher used in conjunction with Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation-Checklist (TOCA-C) to further examine the needs of these children from the perceptions of their teachers. The results of the study demonstrate that while early childhood teachers do not perceive a significant difference between military and nonmilitary dependent children in the social emotional domains of prosocial behavior, concentration, and disruptive behavior, they do believe there is a difference related to stability. Additionally, early childhood teachers noted a negative social emotional and academic impact related to parental separation and a negative academic impact related to geographic mobility. Teachers' responses indicated mixed beliefs about the social impact of frequent relocations.

Author

• STITES, MICHELE LEE

Language

• en

Keyword

• teachers' perceptions
• social emotional development
• early childhood education
• parental separation
• military dependent
• geographic mobility

Date created

• 2012

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Curriculum & Instruction

Degree

• Ed.D.

Advisor

• Beck, Sylven S.

Committee Member(s)

• Taymans, Juliana M
• Green, Colin D
• Burke, Philip J
• Rothenbacher, Carol A

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/z603qx58d