Teachers' beliefs and practices regarding developmentally appropriate practices: a study conducted in India.

The study assessed kindergarten teachers' beliefs, stated practices and actual practices regarding developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) in India. Forty kindergarten teachers from the urban city of Mumbai (India) participated in the study. Overall, the results indicated that teachers' beliefs were more developmentally appropriate than their stated practices or actual practices in the classroom. Further, teachers congruent in their developmentally appropriate beliefs and stated practices had classrooms with higher scores on actual practices. Lastly, group size was a significant predictor of teachers' actual practices. The implications of these results for the early childhood education system of India are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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