How do activity settings, preschool teachers’ activities, and children’s activities relate to the quality of children’s interactions in preschool? Findings from Austria

Abstract

Research on the predictivity of activity settings, preschool teachers' activities, and children's activities for interaction quality is inconsistent and cannot be transferred easily to specific national preschool contexts. The present study addresses this issue by assessing the interaction quality of 185 children aged 3-5 years attending 61 preschools in Austria using the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS). Activity settings and activities were captured using a time-sampling method. Having included control variables, regression analyses revealed that scaffolding was positively related to children's interactions with teachers, free choice was positively related to interactions with peers, and 'high-yield' activities were positively related to interactions with peers and task orientation. Teacher-led activities and scaffolding were negatively related to interactions with peers, and 'low-yield' activities were negatively related to interactions with peers and task orientation. Effect sizes ranged from small to medium. The findings indicate that opportunities to support children remain untapped.

Examining the factorial validity of the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System in preschools in Austria

“…Based on Slot and Bleses's (2018) findings, it could be assumed that emphasis should be on teacher-directed interaction in favour of peer interaction. However, a recent study found only a small proportion of teacher-directed interactions and activities in Austrian preschools (Smidt and Embacher 2020). This further leads to an alternative explanation.…”

“…For statistical analysis, the rating scores of all cycles were averaged in each dimension. Interactions of the children were mainly observed during free choice (59.14% of the observed time); furthermore, children's interactions were observed during planned and led activities (20.86%), transitions (8.94%), mealtime (7.87%), and nursing routines (2.89%) (Smidt and Embacher 2020). Before data collection, 14 observers (students of educational science and psychology) underwent two full days of intensive training by a certified inCLASS trainer.…”

Published in Early Childhood Education Journal, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10643-023-01536-1: Interaction quality among children, staff and parents in German ECEC centres in the COVID-19 pandemic - Results from a longitudinal study

“…Even though there is a stronger focus on staff-child-interactions in ECEC quality research, some research confirms the importance of peer interactions in ECEC centres (Kluczniok & Schmidt, 2021), also from the children's point of view (Einarsdottir, 2005;Sandseter & Seland, 2018). Some studies show a higher quality of child-child interactions in freeplay phases (Smidt & Embacher, 2020;Kluczniok & Schmidt, 2021). The effect of the group setting and group size is unclear here.…”

A comparative study of postgraduate theses in pedagogy and preschool education in Austria and Turkey

“…Development of early childhood and the formal training of preschool teachers in Austria dates back 1872, when a law regulated this training for the first time (Smidt and Embacher, 2020). Since the 1870s, associations of schoolteachers pressured local school authorities to adopt kindergarten classes into public-school systems and in 1870 the Austrian teachers' assembly set up a 'kindergarten' section (Willekens and Scheiwe, 2018).…”