Participation and gender in circle-time situations in preschool

Abstract

This study sought to investigate participatory values in relation to gender, as expressed in interactions between teachers and children in circle-time situations in Swedish and Norwegian preschools. This paper reports evidence from three research questions: How is children's participation conditioned in circle-time situations? How are participatory values communicated to girls and boys? and What gender-related patterns emerge in teacher–child interactions in circle-time situations? The study is informed by Habermas' concepts of strategic and communicative actions, as well as Davies' idea of duality, the bi-polarity, between femininity and masculinity. Data consist of video observations of teacher and child interactions during circle time. The results show that children's participation is conditional on children's own willingness to participate, and on teachers' willingness to involve the children in a communicative action. Data reveal that the girls are more likely to take the initiative than boys and appear more comfortable in such an active position. It was also noted that there is a tendency for practitioners to interpret and value male and female traits as oppositional behaviours.     

师幼关系对幼儿自我效能感的影响

幼儿已有的亲子依恋关系左右着师幼关系的性质,同时师幼关系又会强化或削弱幼儿在与父母的互动中已经形成的自我效能感。教师的职业自觉性和敏感性同样影响着师幼关系的走向,进而影响幼儿自我效能感的发展。有利于幼儿自我效能感发展的师幼关系具有互惠性、协助性和社会建构性的特征。教师可以通过建立安全信任的师幼关系、帮助幼儿积累成功经验、充分发挥评价的改善功能三个方面促进幼儿自我效能感的发展。     

Pupil Speech during Morning News: the effects of reducing teacher questions and increasing pauses and praise

Classroom discourse patterns were examined in the morning news sessions of a primary school classroom. The effects of reducing teacher questions and increasing rates of teacher pauses, praise and directives were investigated. Child words spoken and child expansions were recorded, as well as class call‐outs and teacher control statements. Frequencies of child words spoken showed no significant changes across the phases of the study. However, reducing teacher questions and increasing teacher pauses significantly decreased child expansions, while reducing teacher questions and increasing teacher praise significantly increased child expansions. Replacing teacher questions with directives had no significant effect upon child expansions. Class call‐outs and teacher control statements showed no significant changes across the intervention phases. The results of this study suggest that, for this teacher and class, teacher questions may be decreased without adversely affecting either child utterances or class behaviour, and that replacing questions with praise may increase children's contributions — particularly in the form of verbal expansions — to morning news talks.     

THE INFLUENCE OF VYGOTSKY IN MOVIMENTO DA ESCOLA MODERN A EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN PORTUGAL

Abstract

The present study investigated specific teacher factors that potentially influence teacher‐child relationships with preschool‐age children. One demographic questionnaire and three rating scales were used to survey 152 head teachers of 3–6‐year‐old children in community‐based childcare and preschool centers in one mid‐western state. There were 46 teachers who reported on their relationship with a child with a disability or concerning developmental delay. Positive correlations were found between teacher‐child relationships and the teachers’ educational backgrounds, self‐reported teaching efficacy and parent‐teacher relationships. The parent‐teacher relationship appeared to be the strongest teacher‐related factor predicting the quality of teacher‐child relationships. Compared to other teachers, the teachers of children with delays or disabilities reported comparable parent‐teacher relationships and more positive teacher‐child relationships, especially when more than one child with concerns was reportedly enrolled in the classroom. Teachers with children who had developmental delays reported lower teaching efficacy scores. The role of parent‐teacher relationships is highlighted as a possible moderator when teachers feel less than capable or positive about individual children in their program.     

Parent Involvement as a Predictor of Teacher–Child Relationship Quality in Third Grade

Research Findings: Research on teacher–child relationships is important, as the quality of this relationship is linked to numerous child outcomes in the areas of academic and social functioning. In addition, parent involvement has been identified as a significant factor in the successful development of a child. This study attempted to join these two lines of research by assessing the extent to which teacher–child relationship quality varies as a function of parent involvement. We used a sample of 894 third-grade children, mothers, and teachers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the relation between teacher–child relationships and parent involvement while controlling for known determinants of teacher–child relationship quality (i.e., gender and income). All variables were significantly related to teacher–child relationship quality. Parent involvement was negatively related to conflict. Furthermore, more parent involvement predicted less teacher–child conflict, but only for children from low-income families. Practice or Policy: The results are discussed in terms of the importance of parent involvement to children's school adjustment, with specific importance for parents of low-income children.     

Sequence of child care type and child development: What role does peer exposure play?

Child care arrangements change as children age; in general, hours in home-based child care decrease as hours in center-based settings increase. This sequence of child care type may correspond with children's developmental needs; the small peer groups and low child–adult ratios typical of home-based care may allow for more individual child–adult time for infants and toddlers, whereas the social stimulation found in center-based care during the preschool years may prepare children for kindergarten. This study examined associations between school readiness and the timing of child care type among children in NICHD's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1349). Findings suggest that children who experience home-based care during the infant–toddler period and center care during the preschool period display the improved cognitive outcomes, but not the increased behavioral problems, generally associated with sustained center care attendance. Continuous home-based care was associated with higher social status at school entry partially through smaller peer groups during the preschool period. These patterns did not differ by child or family characteristics. Implications for policy and research are discussed.     

Timing of the first report and highest level of child protection response in association with early developmental vulnerabilities in an Australian population cohort

BackgroundChildhood maltreatment is associated with early childhood developmental vulnerabilities. However, the extent to which higher levels of child protection responses confer benefit to developmental competencies, and the impact of earlier timing of first reports in relation to early childhood vulnerability remains unclear.ObjectiveWe examined associations between early developmental vulnerabilities and (1) the highest level of child protection response (where OOHC was deemed the highest response among other types of reports/responses), and (2) the developmental timing of the first child protection report.Participants and SettingParticipants included 67,027 children from the New South Wales Child Development Study, of whom 10,944 were reported to child protection services up to age 5 years.MethodsA series of Multinomial Logistic Regressions were conducted to examine focal associations.ResultsChildren with substantiated maltreatment reports showed the strongest odds of vulnerability on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 4.90; 95% CI = 4.13–5.80); children placed in OOHC showed slightly better physical, cognitive and communication competencies (adjusted ORs from 1.83 to 2.65) than those with substantiated reports that did not result in OOHC placements (adjusted OR from 2.77 to 3.67), when each group was compared to children with no child protection reports. Children with first maltreatment reports occurring in the first 18 months of life showed the strongest likelihood of developmental vulnerabilities on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 3.56; 95% CI = 3.15–4.01) relative to children with no child protection reports.ConclusionEarlier reports of maltreatment may signal the need for targeted remediation of early developmental competencies to mitigate early developmental difficulties.     

Mother-child planning and child compliance

This study investigated child compliance and maternal instruction during planning. Based on the Child Behavior Checklist and free-play observations, 40 mothers and their 4- to 5-year-old children were assigned to a group with children who behaved within the normal range of compliance ( n = 20) or a group with children with high rates of noncompliance for this age ( n = 20). Mothers in the noncompliant group provided more low-level, directive, and negative instruction; requested more compliance; and shared less task responsibility with children. Mothers in both groups responded to child compliance by increasing or maintaining the level of instruction. Results are discussed in relation to the role of child compliance in regulating opportunities for cognitive development in social context.     

Using interactive nonfiction narrative to enhance competence in the informed consent process with 3-year-old children

ABSTRACT

Ensuring young children’s competence to participate meaningfully in the informed consent process is a troublesome ethical issue. Evolving recognition of the influence of context and relationship, researcher perspective, and researcher responsibility to provide adequate support has advanced understanding of how this might be achieved. Here, we report the findings of the pilot trial of a new approach that used an ‘interactive nonfiction narrative’ to enhance young children’s capacity to provide meaningful informed consent. This innovative approach employs (re)telling strategies and technology (interactive) to convey factual information about the research (nonfiction) via a story (narrative) to promote participant understanding. Case studies of two 3-year-old boys and their mothers captured participants’ understanding of the informing and consent process. Data collection in the child’s home took place over 11 weeks and included conversations with children and semi-structured interviews with parents on three occasions, together with videos of children interacting with the informing story. We found that children understood many of the key concepts, including the research problem and how they could ‘help’ (participate). Children also understood that they could cease their participation, with one boy exercising his right to opt out towards the end of the study.     

Temperament and Language Skills as Predictors of Teacher-Child Relationship Quality in Preschool

Current educational policy emphasizes "school readiness" of young children with a premium placed on preschool interventions that facilitate academic and social readiness for children who have had limited learning experiences prior to kindergarten (Rouse, Brooks-Gunn, &; McLanahan, 2005). The teacher–child relationship is viewed as a critical mechanism for the effectiveness of interventions (Girolametto, Weitzman, &; Greenberg, 2003; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2003). The purpose of this study was to determine how children's temperament and language skills predict teacher–child relationship quality. The sample consisted of 99 at-risk preschool students. Three findings emerged: (a) bolder children with lower language complexity were more likely to have higher levels of conflict in their relationships with teachers, (b) shyer children with greater language complexity were more likely to have dependent relationships with their teachers, and (c) teacher effects accounted for more of the variance in conflictual and dependent teacher-child relationships compared to children's behavioral inhibition and language complexity. This study shows that teacher-child relationships are multirelational. Individual differences in temperament and language skills affect teacher-child interactions, and ultimately, contribute to the effectiveness of classroom interventions. Such information helps to unpack the complexities of classroom quality by increasing awareness among practitioners of factors contributing to positive teacher–child relationships.     

Ethical issues in research with abused children

This paper discusses sensitive ethical issues encountered in conducting research with abused children and the potential consequences of various methods of handling these dilemmas. Important ethical questions arise at three stages of the research: (1) obtaining consent for participation in the research; (2) conducting interviews with or administering tests to the subjects; and (3) providing information about test results to parents or others outside the research team. Concern with children's rights has been extended to the question of who can give consent for children to participate in research. In the case of abused children, the consent issue is complicated by the potential adversarial relationship between abusing parent and abused child. Procedures for interviewing or testing abused children must include provisions for three special situations: (1) when a child is distressed by the interviewing or testing; (2) when a child's answers or test results indicate emotional problems; and (3) when a child's answers or comments indicate that the child is being abused. Decisions concerning whether to inform parents or others about an individual child's answers must balance the parents' right to know against the child's right to privacy. All these circumstances require serious deliberation concerning the role and responsibility of the research investigator.     

How a young child learns how to take part in mealtimes in a Japanese day-care center: a longitudinal case study

This research is a longitudinal, ethnographic study that focuses on mealtimes with one boy from 9 to 78 months of age in a day-care center in Japan. It looks at routine interactions between a child, his nursery teachers, and the environment, which is a shared and mutually available communicative space between participants in collaboration. The aim of this study is to clarify how the meal as a learning problem is “solved,” especially with young children whom the teacher cannot instruct verbally, and how the environment in which this takes place affects the process and is used in collaboration. The first part, a diachronic illustration of the child’s environment, in which all materials are organized as a total system to constrain his action, demonstrates the dynamic relation between his actions, the nursery teachers’ actions, and the environment. The second part presents the findings of a microanalysis of the interaction between a nursery teacher and the boy at 15 months, which is a critical transitional time from other-assisted to self-organized eating. It shows the close interdependence between the child’s environment and the teacher’s way of caring for him. The teachers generally used environmental modifications to assist his eating and to channel his actions toward their preferences. This study has demonstrated that children can learn much through an intentional arrangement of an artificial environment.     

Using a whole‐class token economy and coaching of teacher skills in a preschool classroom to manage disruptive behavior

The Level System is a whole‐classroom approach for managing disruptive behavior that utilizes behavioral management strategies such as a token economy, response cost, stimulating rewards, and strategic attention. Using an ABACC′ treatment comparison design with follow‐up, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the Level System in a preschool classroom compared to (a) strategies already employed by the teacher, and (b) coaching the teacher in the Child‐Directed Interaction (CDI) and Parent‐Directed Interaction (PDI) phases of Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Teacher‐ and parent‐report measures were administered, and behavioral observation data were collected for child and teacher behavior using videotapes. Results suggested that the amount of inappropriate behavior exhibited by children decreased when the Level System was implemented. Additionally, inappropriate behavior decreased further during the CDI and PDI conditions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 351–361, 2004.     

Maternal Socialization of Children''s Eating Habits: Strategies Used by Obese Mexican-American Mothers

Mexican-Americans are more likely to be obese than the general population, yet little research has been conducted on the socialization of eating habits in Mexican-American children. 38 obese mothers enrolled in a weight-loss program and their 4-8-year-old children were observed during mealtime and the mothers interviewed about their socialization practices. Mothers relied primarily on nondirective verbal control strategies during the observation. Child compliance was more likely to follow a maternal serving or command than a nondirective behavior. Mothers encouraged sons to eat more than did mothers of girls. Child age was negatively correlated with mother's use of commands, reasoning, threats, and bribes, and positively correlated with maternal nondirectives, servings, and child compliance. Mothers with more years of formal education served healthier foods and were more likely to report using reasoning strategies, prohibiting consumption of unhealthy food, monitoring child food consumption away from home, and allowing child input into the eating situation than were less educated mothers.     

Promoting the development of resilient academic functioning in maltreated children

This study examined (a) the extent of heterogeneity in the patterns of developmental trajectories of language development and academic functioning in children who have experienced maltreatment, (b) how maltreatment type (i.e., neglect or physical abuse) and timing of abuse explained variation in developmental trajectories, and (c) the extent to which individual protective factors (i.e., preschool attendance, prosocial skills), relationship protective factors (i.e., parental warmth, absence of past-year depressive episode, cognitive/verbal responsiveness) and community protective factors (i.e., neighborhood safety) promoted the development of resilient language/academic functioning trajectories. Longitudinal data analyses were conducted using cohort sequential Growth Mixture Model (CS-GMM) with a United States national representative sample of children reported to Child Protective Services (n = 1,776). Five distinct developmental trajectories from birth to age 10 were identified including two resilient groups. Children who were neglected during infancy/toddlerhood or physically abused during preschool age were more likely to be in the poorer language/academic functioning groups (decreasing/recovery/decreasing and high decreasing) than the resilient high stable group. Child prosocial skills, caregiver warmth, and caregiver cognitive stimulation significantly predicted membership in the two resilient academic functioning groups (low increasing and high stable), after controlling for demographics and child physical abuse and neglect. Results suggest that it is possible for a maltreated child to successfully achieve competent academic functioning, despite the early adversity, and identifies three possible avenues of intervention points. This study also makes a significant contribution to the field of child development research through the novel use of CS-GMM, which has implications for future longitudinal data collection methodology.     

Child maltreatment characteristics as predictors of heterogeneity in internalizing symptom trajectories among children in the child welfare system

This study investigated heterogeneity in the developmental trajectories of internalizing symptoms among 541 children who were involved with the child welfare system and examined child maltreatment characteristics, including types, level of harm, and timing, as predictors of internalizing trajectory patterns. Secondary longitudinal research was conducted using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being-I, collected from 1999 to 2007 in the United States. Three distinct trajectory groups were identified: high–decreasing; low–increasing; and low–stable Sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and more severe levels of harm from maltreatment predicted membership in two maladaptive groups compared to the low–stable group. The findings of the study suggest the importance of providing a thorough assessment of the type and severity of maltreatment experiences and continued monitoring of internalizing symptoms for children with child welfare involvement.     

Transactional associations between mother–child conflict and child externalising and internalising problems

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the existing transactional associations between mother–child conflict and the child’s internalising and externalising problems. To this end, longitudinal data were used, covering ages 7–15. The sample consisted of 1,136 mothers and their children who participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development longitudinal study. The current analysis employs the Autoregressive Latent Trajectory (ALT) model that enables the simultaneous investigation of (1) the developmental stability, (2) the developmental change, (3) the longitudinal inter-relations, (4) the time-specific associations and (5) the directionality of the relations among the variables under examination. It was found that mother–child conflict increased across time and externalising problems decreased from childhood to adolescence, while internalising problems showed intra-individual stability. Further, mother–daughter conflict increased at a higher rate than mother–son conflict. The cross-lagged regressions suggested that the association between conflict and externalising problems is bi-directional from age 7 to age 9. However, a child effect was found from age 9 to age 15, in that the child’s externalising problems continually influenced mother–child conflict but not the other way around. In contrast, the association between internalising problems and conflict was limited to cross-sectional and overtime associations suggesting that the association between internalising problems and conflict is mostly due to the co-variation between them.     

The Transition to Kindergarten: Predicting Socio-Behavioral Outcomes for Children With and Without Disabilities

The transition to kindergarten is regarded as a critical early childhood developmental milestone with important implications for later school outcomes. Little prior research has focused on predictors of socio-behavioral kindergarten outcomes using longitudinal research designs. Further, few studies have examined kindergarten transition using samples of children both with and without disabilities. The goal of the current study was to explore predictors of socio-behavioral kindergarten outcomes in children with and without developmental disabilities over time. Data collection involved parent, preschool teacher, and kindergarten teacher reports of child behavior and involvement in kindergarten transition practices across three time points during transition. Results of hierarchical linear regression analyses demonstrated that preschool child behavioral variables (i.e., adaptive and problem behavior) were stronger predictors of kindergarten outcomes relative to caregiver concerns and involvement in transition preparation. Best practices in kindergarten transition programming for children with and without disabilities are discussed.     

Do Stability of Care and Teacher–Child Interaction Quality Predict Child Outcomes in Early Head Start?

Research Findings: This study examined whether children’s outcomes at age 3 were predicted by their experiences in Early Head Start (EHS), focusing on 2 key features of infant and toddler care: (a) stability of care and (b) teacher–child interactions. This study further explored potential interaction effects between stability of care and teacher–child interactions in predicting child outcomes. Three main results were found from secondary analyses of the recently released EHS longitudinal data set the EHS Family and Child Experiences Study (Vogel & Boller, 2009–2012). First, children who had stability of care (no teacher change) were rated as having fewer behavior problems and higher social competence. Second, children were rated as demonstrating better orientation/engagement and emotional regulation when they were in EHS classrooms observed to have higher emotional and behavioral support. Third, teacher–child interactions that are emotionally and behaviorally supportive may mitigate the potential drawbacks of experiencing instability of care on early social-emotional development. Study implications are discussed. Practice or Policy: Both stability and quality teacher–child interactions are important in center-based infant and toddler care, and ensuring quality teacher–child interactions is particularly important for children who experience teacher changes during their infant and toddler years.