Early Childhood Teacher Students' Learning Preconditions at the Beginning and Competences at the End of Pre-Service Teacher Education

In recent years requirements for staff in early childhood centers have increased. Hence, the competences early childhood teachers acquire during pre-service teacher education has come into focus. It can be assumed that the competences early childhood teachers acquire also depend on their learning preconditions. In Germany, education of early childhood professionals takes place in vocational schools but also at universities. Results about the learning preconditions of prospective early childhood teachers are lacking. In this study the learning preconditions of prospective early childhood teachers at vocational schools and universities are compared. In addition, learning preconditions between prospective early childhood staff and prospective primary teachers are compared. Furthermore, the learning preconditions' validity for the prediction of acquired competences at the end of early childhood teacher education is investigated. Competences were assessed by means of self-reports and a standardized test of professional knowledge in the field of language and language development. Results show that self-reports of competence could be predicted by motivational learning conditions, knowledge scores could be predicted by cognitive abilities and motivational preconditions. Implications of these results regarding recruitment and education of early childhood teachers are discussed.