Mothers’ reading-related activities at home and learning to read during kindergarten

This longitudinal study investigates how the reading-related activities of mothers at home relate to the development of reading skills among their kindergarten children. A total of 1,529 children (5-to-6-year-olds) were tested on word reading twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of a kindergarten year. The mothers of the children (n = 1,529) answered a questionnaire on reading-related activities with their children at home (on shared reading, teaching letters, and the teaching of reading) and on their level of education, their child’s birth order, and the gender of the child. The results show that of the three reading-related activities, mothers’ teaching of reading is the best predictor of the development of reading skills among kindergarten children. The results also show that good reading skills at the beginning of the kindergarten year increase the maternal teaching of reading a child subsequently receives. The results further demonstrate that girls, firstborns, and children with more highly educated mothers are more likely to become good readers by the end of the kindergarten year.     

Mediating effects of motor performance,cardiorespiratory fitness,physical activity,and sedentary behaviour on the associations of adiposity and other cardiometabolic risk factors with academic achievement in children

We investigated the associations of cardiometabolic risk factors with academic achievement and whether motor performance, cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, or sedentary behaviour mediated these associations. Altogether 175 children 6–8 years-of-age participated in the study. We assessed body fat percentage (BF%), waist circumference, insulin, glucose, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, leptin, alanine aminotransferase, and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT). Reading fluency, reading comprehension, and arithmetic skills were assessed using standardized tests. Speed/agility, balance, and manual dexterity test results were used to calculate motor performance score and physical activity was assessed by combined heart rate and movement sensor and cardiorespiratory fitness by maximal cycle ergometer test. In boys, BF% was inversely associated with reading fluency (β = ?0.262, P = 0.007) and reading comprehension (β = ?0.216, P = 0.025). Motor performance mediated these associations. Leptin was inversely related to reading fluency (β = ?0.272, P = 0.006) and reading comprehension (β = ?0.287, P = 0.003). The inverse association of leptin with reading fluency was mediated by motor performance. In girls, GGT was inversely associated with reading fluency independent of confounders (β = ?0.325, P = 0.007). The inverse association of BF% with academic achievement among boys was largely explained by motor performance. Leptin in boys and GGT in girls were inversely associated with academic achievement independent of confounding factors.     

Assessment of three-and-a-half-year-old children's emerging phonological awareness in a computer animation context

Four computer-animated tasks were created to analyze the underlying structure of emerging phonological awareness at 3.5 years of age and to explore the factors that influence children's (N = 91) performance on the tasks. Our findings indicated that already at this young age, children are able to master tasks demanding identification, blending, and continuation of phonological units when the tasks are presented in a motivating assessment context. In line with earlier research, children showed higher mastery in dealing with words and syllables than in dealing with phonemes. Targets in the initial position of a word were easier for children to identify than those in the final position. Our analysis provided support for two major dimensions of emerging phonological awareness based on the cognitive operations of the tasks: identification and blending of phonological units.     

Moral Functioning: Navigating the Messy Landscape of Values in Finnish Preschools

This article employs a narrative approach to explore educators’ moral functioning in Finnish preschools. Our study is theoretically inspired by notions drawn from feminist and sociocultural studies, according to which education is understood as an entirely moral phenomenon. Within a holistic framework, moral functioning is understood as a concept that intertwines educators’ moral thinking, their actions, the situation, and the cultural context. The study aims to answer the question: What kind of moral functioning emerges from educators’ narratives in a Finnish preschool context? Research material was produced from four group interviews and interpreted through narrative analysis. Our findings reveal that four different moral layers evolved, overlapped, and intertwined in educators’ narratives: what works in a preschool context; what provides good for people; what the rules say; and what is possible to achieve in an educator’s position. We present these findings in detail and discuss their theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications.     

Kindergarten teachers adjust their teaching practices in accordance with children’s academic pre‐skills

This study examined the extent to which kindergarten children’s academic pre‐skills are associated with their teachers’ subsequent teaching practices. The pre‐skills in reading and math of 1268 children (655 boys, 613 girls) were measured in kindergarten in the fall. A pair of trained observers used the Classroom Assessment Scoring System instrument to observe 49 kindergarten teachers on their emotional support, classroom organisation and instructional support in kindergarten in the spring. The results of the multilevel modelling showed that low levels of academic pre‐skills in kindergarten classrooms in the fall predicted high classroom quality in the classrooms later on. The results suggest that the overall level of children’s academic pre‐skills in the classroom plays an important role in the ways in which teachers adapt their instructional practices to the needs of a particular classroom.     

Instructional support predicts children's task avoidance in kindergarten

This study examined the role of observed classroom quality in children's task-avoidant behavior and math skills in kindergarten. To investigate this, 1268 children were tested twice on their math skills during their kindergarten year. Kindergarten teachers (N = 137) filled in questionnaires measuring their professional experience and also rated the children on their task-avoidant versus task-focused behaviors. Trained observers used the CLASS instrument (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) to observe 49 kindergarten teachers (out of 137) on their emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. The results of multilevel modeling showed that kindergarten classrooms differed in terms of children's task-avoidant behavior and math skills. Moreover, the more instructional support was evidenced in the classroom, the less children were rated as showing task-avoidant behavior. Task-avoidant behavior then predicted children's low levels of math skills. The findings of the present study emphasize the importance of quality of instructional support for children's adaptive classroom behaviors.     

Democracy,caring and competence: values perspectives in ECEC curricula in the Nordic countries

The aim of the study is to explore how Nordic Early Childhood Education and Care policies frame values education in preschools with a special focus on the values of democracy, caring and competence. The study is part of a larger Nordic project, Values education in Nordic preschools: Basis of education for tomorrow, the aim of which is to explore values education from various perspectives, policy levels, institutional levels and personal levels. The study applies Habermas’s theoretical ideas of communicative actions, lifeworld, and the system. Here the focus is on the system level, namely, values in national curriculum guidelines that serve as the basis of pedagogical practices in preschools in the Nordic countries. Thematic research analysis described by Braun and Clarke inspired the qualitative analysis of the documents. In addition, a quantitative language-based approach was applied to the study. Keywords related with democratic, caring and competence values were selected. The findings reveal different dimensions and meanings of the three value fields, such as democracy as being and/or becoming; care as fulfilment of basic needs and an ethical relationship; and competence values as learning for sociality and academic skills.     

Associations Among Teacher–Child Interactions,Teacher Curriculum Emphases,and Reading Skills in Grade 1

Research Findings: The purpose of the present study was to examine the extent to which the quality of teacher–child interactions and teachers’ self-reported curriculum emphases are related to children’s reading skill development during their 1st school year. To accomplish this, we assessed the reading skills of 1,029 Finnish children (M age = 85.77 months) twice during Grade 1, and the children’s teachers (n = 91) completed questionnaires concerning their literacy-related curriculum emphases. In addition, teacher–child interactions in terms of emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support were observed in 29 classrooms. The results of multilevel modeling showed that a high global quality of teacher–child interactions was positively associated with improved children’s reading skills at the end of Grade 1. In addition, a teacher emphasis on comprehension and production skills was related to better reading skills via teacher–child interactions. Domain-specific analyses revealed that emotional support and classroom organization in particular were related to better reading skills. Practice or Policy: The present study adds to previous research by showing that children had better reading skills at the end of their 1st school year in classrooms in which the teachers were warm, responsive, and sensitive to children’s needs and provided well-planned activities, clear rules, and expectations for behavior.     

Patterns of word reading skill,interest and self-concept of ability

The majority of previous research on academic skills, self-concept of ability and interest has deployed the variable-oriented approach and focused on self-concept, or ability, or interest only. This study examined the patterns and dynamics of pattern change in Finnish children’s word reading skill, self-concept of ability and interest from kindergarten to Grade 2. Six groups of children were identified by using the I-states as objects analysis (ISOA) procedure: (a) low skills, negative self-concept but high interest; (b) high skills but low interest; (c) average; (d) high skills, positive self-concept and high interest; (e) low skills, negative self-concept and low interest; and (f) positive self-concept but low interest. The typically occurring transitions between groups were characterised by changes in either reading-related interest or simultaneously in self-concept and skills. Gender, risk for reading difficulties (RD), being an early reader, mother’s level of education and home literacy environment predicted group membership in kindergarten, and gender, RD risk, being an early reader, and mother’s level of education also predicted transitions between groups.     

Experienced academics' emotions related to assessment

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the emotions higher education teachers associate with assessment and the factors in their teaching environment that triggered these emotions. As a starting point, Frenzel’s model of teacher emotions and Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions were used. The sample consisted of 16 experienced and pedagogically advanced teachers who participated in semi-structured interviews. After abductive content analyses, both positive and negative emotions were detected corresponding to Frenzel’s and Pekrun’s models. The main sources of emotions were validity of assessment, assessment methods, pedagogical development and assessment culture. This preliminary study indicates that assessment evokes both positive and negative emotions, and that validity of assessment is a prominent issue in evoking these emotions. Pedagogical training should deal with emotions and their regulation in assessment to help teachers in higher education to cope with negative emotions.