Quality of children’s interactions in preschools over the preschool years
Final Report Abstract
The aim of the project was to extend the research on the quality of interaction in preschools at group level. Therefore, the quality of interaction at child level was investigated by examining children's interaction quality over the preschool years. In addition, the project aimed to investigate relations between children's interaction quality and parallel changing proximal and distal conditions of children's growing up – especially of the preschool and family setting. For this purpose, a longitudinal study design with three measurement points was realized, which covers almost the entire preschool period (1st to 3rd preschool year). The quality of interaction of the individual children and relevant setting characteristics of the preschool was collected synchronously by standardized observations. The level of children’s quality of interaction throughout the preschool years remained on average at a low level. A significant increase can be seen in children's interactions with peers, which reach a medium quality level at the third measurement point. Regarding the activity setting in the preschools, the activities offered to the children by the preschool teachers increase significantly over time. Meal situations and transition phases, on the other hand, decrease in time. Furthermore, children's interaction quality and the activity setting are largely independent of migration- and education-related disparities. With regard to migration background, children without a migration background initially achieve higher interaction scores than children with a migration background. However, the latter significantly catch up in the third year of preschool. In addition, significant differences between children from families with a low/middle level of education and those from families with a high level of education can only be found in free play and in transition phases. Contrary to expectations and findings at the group level, the data do not show any pronounced multivariate relations between the quality of children's interactions in preschool and the home stimulation (for example, concerning the extent of activities undertaken together). Also, there are no significant relations with the home learning environment in terms of the children's social skills (assessed by their preschool teachers). Overall, the project contributes to broadening the discussion in the early childhood education including the perspective of children’s interaction quality. Furthermore, important implications for educational practice can be derived from the results, e.g., regarding the supportive behavior of preschool teachers in arranging cognitively stimulating interactions.
Publications
- (2018). Interaktionsqualität in Kindertageseinrichtungen. Eine vergleichende Betrachtung standardisierter gruppen- und zielkindbezogener Erhebungsverfahren. Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 13(4), 459-476
Schmidt, T., Smidt, W., Kluczniok, K. & Riedmeier, M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v13i4.06) - (2019). Standardisierte Verfahren zur Erhebung zielkindbezogener Prozessqualität in der Frühpädagogik – ein vergleichender Überblick. Frühe Bildung 8(3), 144–152
Riedmeier, M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1026/2191-9186/a000426) - (2020). Socio-cultural disparities in the quality of children's interactions in preschools. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28(4), 519-533
Kluczniok, K. & Schmidt, T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1783926) - (2020). Zusammenhänge zwischen den Lernumwelten Familie und Kita im Hinblick auf soziale Fähigkeiten von Kindern – Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie. Zeitschrift für Soziologie der Erziehung und Sozialisation, 40(2), 152–171
Molina Ramirez, M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3262/ZSE2002152) - (2021). Child-specific interaction quality at the first and last year of preschool and its relationship to preschool, child, and family characteristics – an empirical perspective using the inCLASS. Early Child Development and Care
Molina Ramirez, M. & Linberg, A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2021.1950703) - (2021). Zur Bedeutung des pädagogischen Settings für die Interaktionsqualität von Kindern im Kindergarten. Frühe Bildung, 10 (4), S. 214-223
Kluczniok, K. & Schmidt, T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1026/2191-9186/a000540)
