Empirical Investigation of Teacher Knowledge of Child Brain Development and Its Relationship to Classroom Practice in Nigerian ECD Settings

Teacher knowledge of how young children's brains develop provides the scientific foundation for developmentally appropriate practice, and empirically examining this knowledge and its relationship to classroom practice in Nigerian ECD settings identifies critical professional development needs. This study empirically investigated teacher knowledge of child brain development and its relationship to classroom practice quality in ECD settings across Enugu, Kano, and Rivers States. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 240 ECD teachers whose brain development knowledge was assessed using a validated 30-item Early Childhood Brain Science Questionnaire, and whose classroom practice quality was assessed through structured observations using the CLASS tool. Correlation and regression analyses examined knowledge-practice relationships. Results showed that brain development knowledge was adequate in only 31.3 percent of sampled teachers. Knowledge of sensitive periods for language development was present in only 23.8 percent. Regression analysis confirmed that brain development knowledge was a significant positive predictor of CLASS quality scores after controlling for qualification level and experience (beta = 0.38, p < 0.001). Teachers who had received specific neuroscience-informed professional development showed significantly higher knowledge and practice scores. The study provides original evidence linking brain science knowledge to ECD practice quality in Nigeria and recommends integrating brain development science into all pre-service ECD teacher education programmes, developing accessible brain-science professional learning resources, and including neuroscience-informed teaching in ECDE inspection criteria. Keywords: brain development knowledge, teacher knowledge, classroom practice, CLASS, Nigerian ECD settings