The Beliefs of Jordanian Kindergarten Teachers of Developmentally Appropriate Practices according to Level of Education, School Type and Years of Experience

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating teachers beliefs regarding the developmentally appropriate practices. The sample of the study consisted of (181) female teachers. Kenneth Smithʼs questionnaire was used to collect the data of this study. The questionnaire consisted of (42) items divided into two sub-scales: The validity and reliability of the scale were established, Means and standard deviations were calculated. Also one way ANOVA, Test and Scheffe test for post hoc comparisons were applied. Results showed that the kindergarten teachers tend to believe in developmentally appropriate practices in general. Results also showed that there were statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the kindergarten teachers beliefs regarding the developmentally appropriate practices that can be attributed to the educational qualification in favor of the highest. Furthermore, results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the kindergarten teachers beliefs regarding the developmentally appropriate practices that can be attributed to the school type and years of experience.