Betty (2020) Measuring interactional quality in preschool settings: Introduction and validation of the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale. Early Child Development and Care, 190 (7). pp. 1017-1030.
The Preschool Situational Self-Regulation Toolkit (PRSIST) Program was developed as a low-cost and embedded approach for educators to foster pre-schoolers' selfregulation and related abilities (e.g., executive function, school readiness). This study reports on a cluster RCT study with 50 Australian preschool services to evaluate the effectiveness of the PRSIST Program for improving children's self-regulation, executive function and school readiness, compared to current routine practice. Preschool centers were recruited to reflect the breadth of geography, pedagogical quality, and socioeconomic catchment areas across the early childhood education and care sector. All children identified as in their final year of preschool education at these centers were invited to participate, resulting in a sample of 473 3-5-year-old children at baseline. Centers were randomly assigned to groups after baseline data collection, and data collectors were blinded to group assignment throughout the study. It was hypothesized that engagement in the PRSIST Program would improve children's self-regulation, executive function and school readiness, over and above normal age-related rates of development. Results indicated small but significant improvements in executive functioning for the intervention group, after adjusting for cluster, baseline results and key covariates. All other outcomes were descriptively in favor of the intervention group but failed to reach significance. Levels of use of the program remained high by most educators throughout the intervention period, suggesting its acceptability and sustainability within these contexts. Together, results show promise for this approach to self-regulation development. Opportunities that might further strengthen this approach are discussed. This study was registered with the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12617001568303) and study protocols published in advance of commencement. Funding for this study was provided by the Australian Research Council's Discovery Early Career Researcher Award research grant scheme.
There is now clear evidence that young children's abilities to self-regulate set in motion developmental trajectories that are longitudinally influential, that self-regulation is malleable in childhood with flowon implications into adulthood, and that efforts to improve self-regulation are enhanced when tailored and adaptive to children's developmental progress. Yet there are significant concerns regarding current approaches to assessing self-regulation, potentially limiting our capacity to respond to children's needs and support their development. In response, this study examined the viability of a novel approach to assessing young children's cognitive, behavioral, and socio-emotional self-regulation that uses observer ratings in semi-structured activities. Eighty 3-to 5-year-old children were observed in their preschool in a small group task (a memory card game with other children) and in two individual tasks (an outdoor obstacle course and a curiosity box guessing game). Exploratory factor analysis of resultant Preschool Situational Self-Regulation Toolkit (PRSIST) assessment ratings yielded a two-factor solution which corresponded to cognitive and behavioral self-regulation. Comparison of these observation ratings with task-based (Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders; HTKS) and adult-report measures of self-regulation (parent and teacher report on the Child Behavior Rating Scale; CBRS) showed strong association with HTKS scores and more modest relations with CBRS ratings. Unlike adult report, however, PRSIST and HTKS were also developmentally sensitive, both showed robust associations with children's school readiness, and neither revealed systematic differences across genders. These findings offer encouraging support for the PRSIST approach, which has high ecological validity and direct relevance to those working with children.
THIS STUDY AIMED TO examine early childhood teachers' understanding and attitudes towards bullying and investigate whether anti-bullying policies were utilised in early childhood services. One hundred and eighty eight early childhood educators in Queensland, Australia were surveyed about bullying among young children. The majority of early childhood teachers (93 per cent) believed young children were capable of bullying, and felt confident to identify and manage incidences of bullying. Results revealed a significant relationship between teacher education and perceived confidence in identifying bullying, with university-qualified educators feeling more confident than TAFE-trained educators. Findings are discussed in respect of the importance of anti-bullying policies in early childhood educational contexts.
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