Toddlers’ peer engagement in Swiss childcare: contribution of individual and contextual characteristics

The present study observed 86 three-year-old children (M = 43.7, SD = 6.4) from 15 Swiss childcare groups, to investigate multiple individual and contextual contributions to toddlers’ positive engagement with peers. The children’s individual characteristics (age, sex and social skills) and childcare-related predictors (emotional and behavioural support from caregivers, and structural group features) were assessed. We employed the child-by-environment perspective and tested the hypothesis that high-quality behavioural and emotional support provided by caregivers benefits children with deficits in social abilities. Results of the multilevel structural equation modelling indicated that toddlers rated by caregivers as sociable and assertive showed more positive situation-specific peer engagement, especially with a concomitant higher quality of caregiver emotional and behavioural support. By contrast, being prosocial-cooperative was negatively associated with observed peer engagement. Thus, children’s social skills were found to be the most important factor for peer engagement in childcare settings. Important suggestions for future research are made, and practical implications are discussed.

     

Playing to Draw [for Design]

There is a disconnect for a number of applied design students who utilise drawing from online, published and photographic sources, in the development of design collections. In practice they are engaged with a subject that physically demands the direct use of hands in the making of artefacts, particularly within textile fields. Drawing is at the core of the development of ideas but it is often seen as being different or awkward and can cause anxiety amongst students who may be more focused on the end [designed] result. This article reflects upon the teaching of a drawing class with year two undergraduates on a textiles degree course at a UK university. Rather than relying on that which is readily available (from museums, online content, galleries, archives or trend forecasting sites), students make their own 2D and 3D primary sources from which they develop drawn proposals for textile and surface samples. Does this approach allow fresh visuals, new languages and translations for design to emerge? Will it provide a further level of engagement for those students who already love drawing as well as those who don't (yet)? Data has been drawn from key texts, questionnaires, journals and observations of the work carried out by participating students.