Teachers' knowledge and approaches to supporting preterm children in the classroom
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Background & aims: Teachers in the UK receive little training about the long-term consequences of preterm birth on children's development. Our aim was to assess knowledge and elicit suggestions for improving educational practice in the US by means of a mixed-method study. Methods: 246 US teachers (92.7% female) completed the validated Preterm Birth – Knowledge Scale (PB-KS). Of the participating teachers, 50.9% reported professional experience with preterm born children. A representative subsample of 35 teachers responded to a case vignette by describing how they would support the child in the classroom. Answers were coded using thematic content analysis. Results: Overall, the mean PB-KS score was 15.21 (SD = 5.31). Participating teachers who had professional experience with a preterm child had higher mean PB-KS scores than teachers without (16.95 vs. 15.24, p = .012). Qualitative responses provided specific content for classroom intervention. Conclusions: Our findings show that US teachers have limited knowledge of the long-term impact of preterm birth. They provided important indicators for the design of targeted classroom interventions to support the learning of preterm children.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 105415 |
Journal | Early Human Development |
Volume | 159 |
ISSN | 0378-3782 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2021 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
- Classroom support, Educational practice, Intervention, Mixed-methods study, Preterm birth, Teacher knowledge
Research areas
ID: 393156676