Early childhood education is defined as taking care of and educating children from the age of three to six years, and mostly it is actually learning while playing. The material and environment that is provided at the level of early childhood instructions or services, including nursery, pre-school classes, kindergarten and other childhood programs. Early childhood education starts at different ages in different countries; for example, in the UK and in New Zealand, early childhood education is considered as the period from birth to around the age of five, when most of the kids start going to school; in Canada, Austria, Germany and France's school going age is six years, but in Denmark school going age is seven years (Bertram, & Pascal, 2016).

According to Lewis (2016), early childhood education refers to procedures for kids' education from the age of three to eight years. In human life, this age is largely taken as the utmost helpless and important phase. Regular teaching early youth focuses on directing young children to play and learn. The social, emotional and physical improvement of kids openly effects their overall development. Education during early childhood years focuses on play and learns in view of philosophy and research of Jean Piaget. It suggests that play, meets the social, emotional, language and physical needs of children. Warin, & Adriany (2015) stated that play enables children to socially connect, talk, scholarly aptitudes and use their creative ability. Maria Montessori explained that children develop and learn using their senses while doing an activity (Montessori, 2013).

Many children worldwide spend a significant amount of their first years in life in early childhood education and care. They have the right to an early childhood education pedagogy that gives them a good start in life, acquiring knowledge to master everyday life as well as an unknown future. Contemporary learning means new trajectories of knowledge formation, not at least the digitalization of society. In pre-school, pre-school leaders and teachers need a pedagogy that enables them to meet children in their widespread ways of learning and emerge in a changing world (Sheridan, Garvis, Williams, 2018).

It is generally noted that in Pakistan, early childhood education (ECE) is not given proper attention. Many private schools are being opened in the name of Montessori, Kindergarten etc. without understanding their true spirit. It has added to the problems. There is however some pre-schools, from which one could learn lessons to, develop more effective programs. These programs brought out an awakening in the field of ECE. But there is lack of co-ordination and co-operation among these programs, institutions, organizations, public, and private service providers. In this situation, streamlining of early childhood education (ECE) seems essential for the sake of economy, proper utilization of man power and benefitting the target group of the children in the possible way (Ahmad, Anjum, & Rehman, 2013).

The early years of a child’s life are the important time for parents about children educational foundation. Parents take their children to early education institution where teachers and administrators design experiences that affect the rest of lives of these children. In this regard, Government of Punjab has started Early Childhood Education program in public schools since 2013 whereas private schools have already been providing this facility. Early Childhood Education demands child-friendly atmosphere, trained educators, a range of learning resources and age applicable teaching methodologies. Hence, it is necessary to explore the Early Childhood pedagogical practices of public schools.

Objectives of the Study

This study was designed to observe the early childhood pedagogical practices in public primary schools,

Research Question

The research questions of the study were:

i. What are the early childhood pedagogical practices in male public schools?

ii. What are the early childhood pedagogical practices in female public schools?

iii. What is the difference between early childhood pedagogical practices between male and female schools?

The research was exploratory in nature, and data was collected through observation. All the ECE teachers of public schools of four districts: Sargodha, khushab, Mianwali and Bhakkar comprised population of the study.

To draw a representative sample, 102 schools including 23 male and 79 female, were conveniently selected from each district i.e. Mianwali, Bhakkar, Khushab and Sargodha on the cooperation basis of ECE teachers and (01) one teacher was conveniently selected from each school.

An observation schedule for ECE classroom was developed based on a literature review on three-point scale i.e. never, sometime and frequently, to get responses from the respondents. The observation schedule was divided into two (02) sections first was for demographic information of the research participant and 2nd section included factors i.e. emotional support , classroom organization, instructional support, student engagement (peer interaction group work), teacher behavior, effective teaching practices, learning environment and language and literacy, total 46 items. To establish the validity, the research tools were discussed with five (05) experts who all hold Ph.D. degree in Education about the content suitability of the items with respect to the study objective.

The data was collected by researcher and team of three trained research assistants using observation schedule. Each class was observed three times. Responses were given weightage such as 1 for never, 2 for some time and 3 for frequently and after taking average of three observations, quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, i.e., frequency, percentage mean scores, and standard deviation for each statement, whereas for finding differences based on demographic variables, inferential statistics, i.e., Correlation and t-test were used to analyze the data.

Item Analysis of ECE Classroom Obsrvation

Item wise analysis of ECE classroom observation is presented in the following tables.

Table 1. Emotional Support Domain

Table 1 shows that it was observed that 81.4% present teachers (with M= 2.8 and SD .452) use warm and calm voices when speaking with children; majority (67.6%) present teachers (with M= 2.62 and SD .578) prevent the instances of peer aggression; while 27.5% teachers do this sometime. Majority (81.4%) present teachers (with M= 2.80 and SD .423) acknowledge children’s feelings; Majority (85.3%) present teachers (with M= 2.83 and SD .424) guide the children to respect others; Majority (68.6%) present teachers (with M= 2.66 and SD .513) console the children on any ill feelings; while 29.4% teachers do this sometime. Majority (83.3%) present teachers (with M= 2.82 and SD .408) praise the children in performing class activities. Overall majority (78%) of the teachers’ practices (with M= 2.5 and SD = .46) were giving emotional support to ECE children. But handsome number of teachers were weak in preventing the instances of peer aggression, acknowledge children’s feelings, console the children on any ill feelings.

Table 2.Classroom Organization Domain

Table 2 shows the observation that majority (65.7%) present teachers (with M= 2.63 and SD .522) provide clear and consistent expectations for children behavior; while 32.4% teachers do this sometime. Majority (68.6%) of teachers (with M= 2.64 and SD .556) use proactive strategies to anticipate and prevent misbehavior; while 27.5% teachers do this sometime. Majority (64.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.62 and SD .525) redirect children misbehavior in positive way; while 33.3% teachers do this sometime. Majority (85.3%) of teachers (with M= 2.84 and SD .391) establish clear routines for classroom; while 13.7% teachers do this sometime. Majority (86.3%) of teachers (with M= 2.84 and SD .416) guide the children to keep the classroom neat and clean. Majority (72.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.70 and SD .499) guide and help children to keep their things in their bags; while 25.5% teachers do this sometime. Overall majority (74%) of the teachers’ practices (with M= 2.5 and SD = .48) were giving classroom organization to ECE children. But handsome number of teachers were weak in providing clear and consistent expectations for children behavior, use proactive strategies to anticipate and prevent misbehavior, redirect children misbehaviour in positive way, establish clear routines for classroom, guide and help children to keep their things in their bags.

Table 3. Frequently Engage the Children in Class Conversation

Table 3 shows the observation that the majority (68.6%) of teachers (with M= 2.67 and SD .490) frequently engage the children in class conversation, while 30.4% of teachers do this sometimes. Many (55.9%) of teachers (with M= 2.53 and SD .539) ask how and why questions to the children, while 42.2% of teachers do this sometimes. The majority (77.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.76 and SD .448) encourage children for creative work, while 21.6% of teachers do this sometimes. The majority (61.8%) of teachers (with M= 2.60 and SD .510) relate concepts to children's actual lives, while 37.3% of teachers do this sometimes. The majority (66.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.65 and SD .497) ask the children to talk about their actions, while 32.4% of teachers do this sometimes. Most (77.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.76 and SD .448) encourage the children to ask questions, while 21.6% do this sometimes. Overall majority (69%) of the teachers (with M= 2.5 and SD = .48) practices were giving instructional support to ECE children. But a handsome number of teachers were weak in engaging the children in class conversation, asking how and why questions to the children, encouraging children for creative work, relating concepts to children's actual lives, asking the children to talk about their actions, encouraging the children to ask questions.

Table 4. Student Engagement (Peer Interaction Group Work)

Table 4 shows the observation majority (82.4%) of teachers (with M= 2.80 and SD .445) help the children to focus on learning activities. Majority (83.3%) of teachers (with M= 2.82 and SD .408) facilitate the children in learning activities. Majority (60.8%) of teachers (with M= 2.56 and SD .571) allow them to do the activities at their own; while 35.3% teachers do this sometime. It was also observed that majority (79.4%) of teachers (with M= 2.77 and SD .464) help the children in reading skills; while 18.6% teachers do this sometime. Majority (76.5%) of teachers (with M = 2.75 and SD .454) help the children in writing skills; while 22.5% teachers do this. Majority (82.4%) of teachers (with M= 2.79 and SD .473) help the children in speaking skills. Overall majority (77.45%) of the teachers (with M= 2.5 and SD = .46) practices were giving engagement to ECE children. But handsome number of teachers were weak in allow them to do the activities at their own, help the children in speaking skills, help the children in writing skills.

Table 5 shows that it was observed that majority (85.3%) of teachers (with M= 2.84 and SD .391) deal the children respectfully and calmly. Majority (67.6%) of teachers (with M= 2.67 and SD .47) resolve the conflicts among the children politely and tactfully; while 32.4% teachers do this sometime. Majority (83.3%) of teachers (with M= 2.81 and SD .438) praise the children on his/her best performance. Majority (66.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.64 and SD .519) guide the children to regulate their own behavior; while 31.4% teachers do this sometime. Majority (72.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.72 and SD .448) guard & help the children during class activities; while 27.5% teachers do this sometime. Majority (60.8%) of teachers (with M= 2.60 and SD .49) focuses on what behavior teacher wants to see (i.e., he wants children to do (e.g. Don’t run versus walk carefully”); while 39.2% teachers do this sometime. Overall majority (72.7%) of the teachers’ (with M= 2.5 and SD = .44) practices were to show good behavior of teachers to ECE children. But handsome number of teachers were weak in resolving the conflicts among the children politely and tactfully, guide the children to regulate their own behavior, guard & help the children during class activities, focuses on what behavior teacher wants to see (i.e., he wants children to do (e.g. Don’t run versus walk carefully”).

Table 6. Know the Different Methods and Techniques of Teaching Young Children

Table 6 shows that it was observed that the majority (80.4%) of teachers (with M= 2.79 and SD .43) know the different methods and techniques of teaching ECE children. The majority (76.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.75 and SD .454) are punctual in performing his/her teaching tasks, while 22.5% of teachers do this sometimes. The majority (58.8%) of teachers (with M= 2.57 and SD .515) make materials accessible for children so they can freely take the materials they need or desire, while 40.2% of teachers do this sometimes. The majority (66.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.63 and SD .541) use positive body language to show that they listen to the children attentively; while 30.4% teachers do this sometime. Majority (73.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.68 and SD .562) use strategies for children to play together; while 21.6% teachers do this sometime. Majority (73.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.72 and SD .47) keep focus on development of mental stabilities of the children; while 25.5% teachers do this sometime. Overall majority (71.5%) teachers’ (with M= 2.7 and SD = .48) practices were to show effective teaching to ECE children. But handsome number of teachers were weak in punctual to perform his/her teaching tasks, make materials accessible for children so they can freely take the materials they need or desire, use positive body language to show that I listen the children attentively, use strategies for children to play together, keep focus on development of mental stabilities of the children.

Table 7. Learning Environment

Table 7 shows that it was observed that majority (55%) of teachers (with M= 2.49 and SD .61) play with children through toy, riddles and musical chair; while 39.2% teachers do this sometime. Many (56.9%) of teachers (with M= 2.54 and SD .538) spend time with individual and small groups of children; while 41.2% teachers do this sometime. Majority (62.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.60 and SD .529) encourage the children to express their emotions through talking about events, story making, music, art and play; while 35.3% teachers do this sometime. Majority (62.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.57 and SD .587) teach children by using the available things (e.g. drawing papers, color charts and games); while 32.4% teachers do this sometime. Majority (77.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.77 and SD .419) encourage the children to play together and cooperatively; while 22.5% teachers do this sometime. Overall it was observed that majority (63%) of teachers (with M= 2.6 and SD = .53) were giving good learning environment to ECE children. But handsome number of teachers were weak in playing with children through toy, riddles and musical chair, spend time with individual and small groups of children, encourage the children to express their emotions through talking about events, story making, music, art and play, teach children by using the available things (e.g. drawing papers, color charts and games), encourage the children to play together and cooperatively.

Table 8. Language and Literacy

Table 8 shows that it was observed that majority (76.5%) of teachers (with M= 2.76 and SD = .426) use letter cards, spelling games and writing letter on boards to enhance children vocabulary; while 23.5% teachers do this sometime. Majority (62.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.62 and SD =.485) encourage the children to learn language through poems, rhymes and stories; while 37.3% teachers do this sometime. Majority (65.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.62 and SD = .543) help the children in communicating with one another by giving them supervise practices; while 31.4% teachers do this sometime. Majority (63.7%) of teachers (with M= 2.58 and SD = .586) provide children with chances to respond the questions verbally or non-verbally; while 31.4% teachers do this sometime. Majority (86.3%) of teachers (with M= 2.83 and SD .446) help the children in reading words or letter more than once. Overall majority (71%) of the teachers’ (with M= 2.5 and SD = 0.5) were giving language and literacy practices to ECE children. But handsome number of teachers were weak in using letter cards, spelling games and writing letter on boards to enhance children vocabulary, encourage the children to learn language through poems, rhymes and stories, help the children communicate with one another by giving them supervise practices, provide children with chances to respond the questions verbally or non-verbally.

Table 9. Distribution of ECE Teachers’ Observation for Levels of Pedagogical Practices Used

Table 9 shows the distribution about levels of pedagogical practices of ECE teachers’ observation. After giving weights to observation levels, total scores respondents were calculated; then total score of each respondent was divided into three equal parts and each part was given level as poor to lowest and good to highest scores and satisfactory for middle level scores. There were 97.1% (99) ECE teachers were Obtained remarks to good level, 2% (2) ECE teachers were obtained remarks to satisfactory level and 1% (1) ECE teacher were obtained remarks to poor level. Majority of ECE teachers were obtained remarks to good level of using pedagogical practices.

Table 10. Gender Wise Comparison of Observation about ECE Pedagogical Practices

Significance level < 0.05

Table 10 shows that there is no significant difference of observed ECE pedagogical practices between male and female ECE teachers as indicated by t-value -1.622, df=100 and p-value .108 which is greater than 0.05.

On the basis of data analyses following conclusions are drawn.

1. According to observation, majority of ECE teachers of public schools were giving emotional support to ECE children as they are using warm and calm voices when speaking with children, prevent the instances of peer aggression, acknowledge children’s feelings, and guide the children to respect others, console the children on any ill feelings and praise the children in performing class activities. But a handsome number of teachers were weak in acknowledging children’s feelings and console the children on any ill feelings.

2. It was also observed that majority of ECE teachers of public schools were well organizing classrooms of ECE children as majority of ECE teachers were providing clear and consistent expectations for children behavior, using proactive strategies to anticipate and prevent misbehavior, redirecting children misbehavior in positive way, establishing clear routines for classroom, guiding the children to keep the classroom neat and clean, guiding and helping children to keep their things in their bags. But a handsome number of teachers were weak in providing clear and consistent expectations for children behavior redirecting children misbehavior in positive way and guiding and helping children to keep their things in their bags.

3. Majority of ECE teachers of public schools were observed that they were providing instructional support to ECE children as majority of ECE teachers were frequently engaging the children in class conversation, asking, how and why questions to the children, encouraging children for creative work, relating concepts to children’s actual lives, asking the children to talk about their actions and encouraging the children to ask questions. But a handsome number of teachers were weak in engaging the children in class conversation, asking, how and why questions to the children, encouraging children for creative work, relating concepts to children’s actual lives, and asking the children to talk about their actions.

4. Majority of ECE teachers of public schools were observed that they were engaging ECE children as majority of ECE teachers were facilitating the children in learning activities, helping the children to focus on learning activities, allowing them to do the activities at their own, helping the children in reading writing and speaking skills. But a handsome number of teachers were weak in allowing them to do the activities at their own, helping the children in speaking and writing skills.

5. According to responses and observation, majority of ECE teachers of private and public schools were showing polite behavior to ECE children as majority of ECE teachers were dealing the children respectfully and calmly, resolving the conflicts among the children politely and tactfully, praising the children on good performance, guiding the children to regulate their own behavior, guarding & helping the children during class activities, focusing on teachers’ desired behavior (i.e., he wants children to do (e.g. Don’t run versus walk carefully”). But a handsome number of teachers were weak in praising the children on good performance, guiding the children in regulating their own behavior, resolving the conflicts among the children politely and tactfully, guarding and helping the children during class activities and focusing on the behavior teacher wants to see (i.e., he wants children to do (e.g. Don’t run versus walk carefully”).

6. Majority of ECE teachers of public schools were observed that they were using effective teaching practices to ECE children as majority of ECE teachers were using different methods and techniques of teaching young children to perform class tasks, making needed or desired materials accessible for children, using positive body language to show that teacher listen the children attentively, keeping focus on development of mental abilities for children. But a handsome number of teachers were weak in perform his/her teaching tasks, making needed or desired materials accessible for children, using positive body language, using strategies for children to play together, keeping focus on development of mental stabilities of the children.

7. According to observation majority of ECE teachers of public schools were providing better classroom learning environment to ECE children as majority of ECE teachers were playing with children through toy, riddles and musical chair, spend time with individual and small groups of children, encouraging the children to express their emotions through talking about events, story making, music, art and play, teach children by using the available things (e.g. drawing papers, color charts and games), encouraging the children to play together and cooperatively. But a handsome number of teachers were weak in playing with children through toy, riddles and musical chair, spending time with individual and small groups of children, encouraging the children to express their emotions through talking about events, story making, music, art and play, teaching children by using the available things (e.g. drawing papers, color charts and games) and encouraging children to play together and cooperatively.

8. According to observation majority of ECE teachers of public schools were developing language and literacy of ECE children as majority of ECE teachers were using letter cards, spelling games and writing letter on boards to enhance children vocabulary, encouraging children to learn language through poems, rhymes and stories, helping the children to communicate with one another by giving them supervise practice, providing children with chances to respond the questions verbally or non-verbally, helping the children in reading words or letter more than once. But a handsome number of teachers were weak in using letter cards, spelling games and writing letter on boards to enhance children vocabulary, encourage the children to learn language through poems, rhymes and stories, helping the children to communicate with one another by giving them supervise practice, providing children with chances to respond the questions verbally or non-verbally.

9. Overall majority of ECE teachers were practicing good level of pedagogical practices. Whereas male and female ECE teachers were equivalent in ECE pedagogical practices.

The research was planned to investigate the early childhood pedagogical practices in public schools. The conclusion of the research was that majority of ECE teachers of public schools were giving emotional support to ECE children. The result was in favour of the findings of the study conducted in USA by Merritt, Wanless, Rimm-Kaufman, & Cameron, (2012) that teachers’ emotional support was equally important for all children regardless of the number of socio-demographic risk factors.

It was also concluded that majority of ECE teachers of public schools were well organizing classrooms of ECE children. This result was in line with the results of the study conducted by Morris, et al (2013) that teachers use positive classroom management.

It was also concluded that the majority of ECE teachers of public schools were providing instructional support to ECE children. The result was in favour of the findings of the study conducted by Boat, Dinnebeil, & Bae (2010) that teachers implement instructional strategies that support the diverse learning needs of all children in a classroom.

It was also concluded that the majority of ECE teachers in public schools were engaging ECE children in classroom activities. This result was in line with the results of the study conducted by Maritta. & Helena, (2010) that teachers’ support the children for active participation together with creative and playful activities in the pre-school.

It was also concluded that the majority of ECE teachers in public schools were showing polite behaviour to ECE children. The result was in favour of the findings of the study conducted in Pakistan by Hassan, Farooq, Akhtar, & Parveen (2017) that teachers' politeness as a good predictor of students' academic performance and self-esteem.

It was also concluded that the majority of ECE teachers in public schools were using effective teaching practices for ECE children. This result was in line with the results of the study conducted by Mustafa and Ahmad (2017) that the use of opportunities provided by the teachers and effective strategies such as repetition, bilingual use and parallel talk can increase English interaction among pre-school children.

It was also concluded that the majority of ECE teachers in public schools were providing a better classroom learning environment to ECE children. The result was in favour of the findings of the study conducted by Bucholz & Sheffler, (2009) that teacher creates and encourages can either increase or decrease a student's ability to learn and feel comfortable as a member of the class.

It was also concluded that majority of ECE teachers of private and public schools were developing language and literacy of ECE children. This result was in line with the results of the study conducted by Brown, (2014) that Effective early literacy instruction provides pre-school children with developmentally appropriate settings, materials, experiences, and social support that encourage early forms of reading and writing to flourish and develop into conventional literacy.

It is identify that ECE teachers are weak in praising and identifying ill feelings of ECE Children, resolving conflicts, weak in student conversation, helping in speaking and writing skills, guiding students to play together and caring for mental stability. So it is recommended that:

1. Directorate of staff development may organized in-service training workshops for serving teachers to develop competencies for ECE classrooms.

2. Head teachers of the schools may supervise, guide and facilitate the ECE teachers to develop motivation and competencies among ECE teachers.

3. Educational authorities may strictly implement and supervise both the public and private schools policy of ECE student’s Healthy social and emotional development through “Maar nahi Piyar”.