Quality of children’s interactions in preschools over the preschool years

• Applicants: Privatdozentin Dr. Katharina Kluczniok; Dr. Thilo Schmidt
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 321014529

The quality of interactions of children in preschool is of special interest with regard to the persistence of lags in competence and educational disadvantages especially of children from families with Turkish migration background in Germany. There is evidence that the characteristics of the children, the preschool teachers, the activity settings, the preschool groups and more distal characteristics on Meso-, Exo-, and Macrolevel affect interaction quality of children in preschools. However, one central limitation is the often poor operationalization of interaction quality of children. For instance, interaction quality has mostly been examined on the preschool group level; thus, information about interactions on the individual level of children is not available. Therefore, the present longitudinal study with two waves over two years aims to address the aforementioned limitations by investigating interaction quality of children in preschools on the individual level of children. Theoretical assumptions and research have indicated that three main components of high-quality interactions of children in preschool refer to (1) interactions with preschool teachers, (2) interactions with peers, and (3) task orientation, which are associated with (4) personal characteristics of the children and the preschool teachers, (5) activity settings, (6) characteristics of the preschool groups, and (7.) characteristics on Meso-, Exo-, Macro-, and Chronolevel. In a sample of 240 children from 60 preschools in Rhineland-Palatinate (Region Palatinate), the quality of the interactions of the children with their preschool teachers, peers, and task orientation will be investigated. Additionally, we will analyze how children s interaction quality is related to personal characteristics of the children and the preschool teachers, characteristics of the activity settings and the preschool groups as well as characteristics on Meso-, Exo-, and Macrolevel. As lags in competence and educational disadvantages have been found for children with a Turkish migration background, we will oversample this group of children (30% of the sample). To investigate the quality of interactions of preschool children, we will use the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS). The inCLASS has recently been used in US-American studies and in one German study. In addition, we will consider personal characteristics of the children and preschool teachers, characteristics of the activity settings, structural information about the preschool groups, and more distal characteristics on Meso-, Exo-, and Macrolevel. The expected gain in knowledge will provide a better understanding of children s interactions as well as the development of its interaction quality in preschools over a period of one year. The findings can be used to enhance the interaction competence of children, especially children with a Turkish migration background.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants