Discussion on the Ecological Concern of Preschool Teacher Continuing Education
The continuing education of preschool teachers urges for further improvement and promotion. This essay surveys the continuing education of preschool teachers in the perspective of ecology. The current utility and mission oriented preschool teacher continuing education is paying unduly attention to the theoretical knowledge indoctrination and the generality cultivation while neglecting the subject consciousness, practice and personality concern. Neither the trainers nor the trainees can develop in harmony. The continuing education of preschool teachers should build the idea of ecological concern which persists from curriculum design to mode innovation. Ecological concern, which tries to survey the ecological field in the perspective of ecology in constructing the members of the field into a new system to focus on the positive, active, healthy and harmonious development of every member, is a new topic comes from educational concern and humanistic concern. The core idea of ecological concern is to focus on the aspiration of the members for development to help them enjoy happy lives, in which they seek natural, healthy and harmonious development. Ecological concern on the continuing education for preschool teachers is to survey the education in the perspective of ecology to build a new system of preschool teacher continuing education. It is the microscopic embodiment of ecology theories in preschool teacher continuing education. The absent of ecological concern for preschool teacher continuing education The absent of ecological concern exits in the current preschool teacher continuing education and expresses in the following facts. Unduly theory indoctrination with insufficient practice At present, preschool teacher continuing education is mostly organized in the forms of in-service training, mid-career training, professional titles evaluation, kindergarten director training, kindergarten-based training and so on. Wile influenced by the trend of praising high education background and high professional titles, some kindergartens had employed several teachers with high degrees; there are still teachers of low quality and low education background. Training organizations providing continuing education for preschool teachers, however, have theoretical courses far from the reality of preschool education. Courses with superior difficulty and full of theories can do little to the improvement and promotion to the knowledge or the professional quality of preschool teachers. The study of Houqin Liu revealed that due to the large proportion of theoretical courses and art skill courses, courses of high practicality focusing on the teaching skills are insufficient. The lack of courses focusing on teacher morality cultivation and infant mental health intensifies the absent of comprehensive teaching contents, especially the humanities and social sciences and natural science. Most courses in the continuing education of preschool teachers fail to have close relation with actual teaching due to the teaching contents with strong theoretical property and academic nature while low practicality. Preschool teachers are having difficulty not only in understanding the essence of teaching theories, but also overstepping the gap between theory and practice [1]. The unduly theory indoctrination regards preschool teachers receiving training only as knowledge containers rather than real person, therefore paying little attention to their requirements. International Conference on Education, Management and Computing Technology (ICEMCT 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 1262 More casual organizations with less coherent system The organizations of continuing education for preschool teachers are mostly included in the continuing education organization for primary and secondary school teachers. Factors such as complicated constitution of preschool teachers lead to the casualness of continuing education organization. While related organizations have been built and cycle plans have been made, detailed duties and content arrangements still urge long-term planning. In the continuing education for preschool teachers, the lack of active incentive policies weakens the enthusiasm of teachers, only to take part in for some situations such as professional titles evaluation and post position.[2] Therefore, preschool teachers tended to choose quick method when choosing the subjects and forms of continuing education while neglecting practicality. The training they received can hardly promote their teaching ability. This gives the green light to unplanned continuing education. Too much generality cultivation with little personality development The content of continuing education is a Procrustean bed restricting the personality of preschool teachers. Preschool teachers have the most uneven formal schooling among all groups of teachers, ranging from postgraduates to middle school graduates. While kindergartens of different qualities run parallel to each other. A complicated teaching group needs corresponding varied teachers’ continuing education. In the real educational training, however, theories are simply instilled rather than explained and demonstrated. The simple and obsolete teaching method fails to help teachers fully participate in the teaching activities of continuing education. While many lively teaching methods with strong practicality, such as role playing, case teaching, and which can improve the teaching skills and actual managing abilities of the trainees, are hardly applied in continuing education. Personality development is almost lost in this training mode, which can only develop well-behaved preschool teachers that cannot adapt themselves to the development of preschool education. More rigid evaluation than flexible assessment Corresponding evaluation, an important part of continuing education, is also needed by preschool teacher continuing education. In the real work of preschool teacher continuing education, especially those for improving education background, the current evaluation system pays little attention to the real situation of the trainees in regarding them as the pure acceptor in the teaching process and the container of knowledge. Either the method of homework plus tests or with course-completion papers are only mechanic cope with no incentives as tests are like transcriptions while papers are like copying and pasting games. Preschool teachers can hardly develop in this kind of continuing education. Evaluation system of preschool teacher continuing education should be reasonable and scientific, a flexible evaluation system considering the complicated situation of kindergarten education would help improve the potency of continuing education and meanwhile promote the activeness and creativity of the teachers receiving the continuing education. Discussion on the reasons causing the lack of ecological concern on preschool teacher continuing education We are now discussing the lack of ecological concern on preschool teacher continuing education in the perspective of ecological concern in a time when ecological theories have been widely applied in the field of education. There are several reasons.
Risk factors for otitis media among preschool, rural Indian children.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the role of various risk factors for otitis media among preschool, rural Indian children.


METHODS
A cross sectional study of 800 children was undertaken to determine the prevalence of otitis media. Thereafter, using a case control study design, all the cases and an equal number of controls were compared in terms of various common risk factors for otitis media. The 13 risk factors studied were age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), nutritional status, balwadi attendance, duration of breast feeding, passive smoking, exposure to household smoke, persistent rhinorrhoea,positive throat culture, snoring, seasonal rhinitis and allergic rhinitis. Bivariate association between these risk factors and otitis media was studied using chi-square test of proportions. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was done by including the variables which were significant at p=0.35 in the bivariate analysis.


RESULTS
From the cross sectional study, the prevalence of otitis media was found to be 8.6%, roughly half the prevalence obtained 10 years previously from the same region. Otitis media with effusion (OME) was the commonest manifestation of otitis media (6%) with 3.8% having bilateral disease. Ear wax was seen in 27.5% of subjects. Eighteen (2.3%) children failed the screening audiometry test set at 40 dB HL. Sociodemographic factors among cases and controls were comparable. The prime risk factors for otitis media identified by bivariate analysis included persistent rhinorrhoea, snoring and seasonal rhinitis. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, persistent rhinorrhoea (p<0.01,O.R.=7.56, 95%C.I. 2.73 - 20.92), snoring (p=0.01,O.R.=4.89, 95% C.I.1.32 - 18.17), seasonal rhinitis(p=0.02, OR=5.93,95% CI=1.33-26.51) and passive smoking (p=0.04, O.R.=3.29, 95%C.I. 1.05-10.33) were found to be important risk factors for otitis media. Age, sex, SES, parental education, seasonal or allergic rhinitis, inadequate breast feeding and exposure to household smoke were not significant risk factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Otitis media continues to have a high prevalence among South Indian children. Persistent rhinorrhea, snoring, seasonal rhinitis and passive smoking are the chief risk factors for the disease. Measures to reduce the prevalence of otitis media by addressing these risk factors are urgently required.
Knowledge, attitudes and practices with respect to risk factors for otitis media in a rural South Indian community.
OBJECTIVES
(a) To study knowledge, attitudes and practices with respect to risk factors of otitis media in a rural South Indian Community where the prevalence of otitis media is high. (b) To discover the association between parental education, socioeconomic status (SES) and family type (nuclear or joint) with knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding risk factors for otitis media.


METHODS
Using a cluster sampling design, the caregivers of 150 children attending daycare were interviewed to note knowledge, attitudes and practices with respect to risk factors for otitis media. Data on level of education of the caregiver, house type (an indicator of SES) and type of family structure were noted. A questionnaire was administered to collect all the relevant data. Statistical analysis of the data obtained was performed to note frequencies. Correlations between sociodemographic parameters and knowledge, attitudes and practices were studied using Chi-square test of proportions.


RESULTS
Over 50% of the population showed knowledge deficits with regard to the various risk factors for otitis media. Caregivers from nuclear families were slightly less knowledgeable regarding lack of immunization and household smoke as risk factors for the disease. There was no correlation between any of the sociodemographic factors and attitudes. However, educated mothers were more likely than illiterate mothers to clean their children's ears of wax on a regular basis with the belief that it would prevent ear disease (p=0.05). Treatment practices in the community were more or less uniform in that earache was either disregarded (26.4%) or treated with home remedies (67.2%) by most caregivers, while a doctor's opinion was often sought for ear discharge (50%). Parents of higher SES were more likely to use home remedies than those of lower SES (p=0.008).


CONCLUSIONS
Sociodemographic factors as well as poor knowledge and attitudes and unhealthy practices with respect to risk factors of otitis media contribute to the high prevalence of otitis media in this rural South Indian community. Health education regarding risk factors and provision of accessible health care is essential to reduce the disease burden.