Teacher development in nursery schools. The research methodology

Abstract

The present publication report the findings of a research carried out on issues of early childhood professionalism in some Italian province. The study, that is predominantly qualitative, aims to investigate the relation between care practices and professional development within institutions. The research methodology used by all three contributions is all of a qualitative nature and is inspired by a problematicist/phenomenological approach. The following procedures were used to gather data: focus groups, questionnaires with open-ended questions and observations of conversational contexts. The first and second strategy, one immediately following on from the other, represented two phases of the research. This was followed by a third stage involving the socialisation of the collected data.