Preschool Teachers' Perspectives on Early Mathematics Education

Inadequate mathematical teaching in early childhood settings has been attributed to the lack of curriculum implementation and professional development, with little consideration of teachers? needs in the classroom. Here, we explored preschool teachers? perspectives, their current practices, challenges, and needs regarding early math education. This study involved a survey and two rounds of teacher interviews. Results indicated that few teachers used published curricula regularly. Rather, most adopted a mix-and-match approach, selecting some activities and not others. Teachers expressed a sense of sufficiency and satisfaction with their current practices; however, they also pointed out challenges they face in early math education, including diversity of children?s needs, limited time and resources, and the inadequacy of support for meeting standards set by the state. We suggest that researchers consider teachers? needs prior to the development of curricula and training programs.