Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has been increasingly recognized as a valuable investment in the contemporary and future development of young children (Thorpe, 2020). Using the framework of the job demands-resources model (JD-R; Bakker et al., 2004), the current study examines the impact of teacher burnout and supervision on the…

Self-determination refers to skills used to experience a quality of life consistent with one's preferences, strengths, and needs. Theoretical and empirical literature has identified contextual opportunities for children to learn and use these skills in their everyday activities and routines. The present study used an investigator-developed…

Research Findings: The quantity and especially the quality of language that children are exposed to in early childhood (e.g. decontextualised and conversation-eliciting language) is linked to important developmental outcomes such as later school success. When caregivers refer to past or future events, they extend the conversation beyond the…

In this paper, we aimed to examine what characterizes teachers' interactions with children in micro-level transitions in Norwegian preschools. We used video and observed transitions at the micro level, such as between meal and sleeping time, and between playing and meals. The participants were 22 teachers from 22 classrooms in 17 preschools. We…

This longitudinal study examined the interactive effects of individual- and classroom-level teacher-child relationships on developing externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors in kindergarten children over time. On two occasions separated by about 1 year, data were collected from 473 kindergarten children (52% boys, M[subscript age] =…

This study used data from 435 teacher-child dyads in early childhood classrooms to examine the extent to which teachers' use of behavior specific praise (BSP) with children screened for elevated rates of externalizing behaviors was influenced by the intensity of child challenging behavior and gender. Observational assessments indicated that…

Child maltreatment is a widespread issue across the United States, directly impacting young children's learning and behavior. Yet, variability found in early education pre-service training does not include focus on this topic. Early education teachers often experience low wages, long work hours, and a lack of support to meet the needs of young…

The study examined predictors (teacher-child interactions, teacher-child relationships, child's self-control) of preschoolers' classroom engagement (135 preschoolers, 15 East Tennessee classrooms). Hierarchical linear regression revealed child's self-control significantly contributed to engagement. Teacher-child closeness enhanced engagement, but…

Socio-dramatic play is an everyday occurrence in early childhood education as children create narratives together in shared imagined worlds. The teacher's role in this type of play is less clear and this paper draws on a study using Lindqvist's "playworlds" approach to gain insight into how teachers participate in children's play. In…

Play has long been understood as an important pedagogical practice, particularly in early childhood education and care settings. Playing with food, however, has typically been overlooked, and very little is known about food play during mealtimes. The apparent dichotomy between rule-following and playfulness at mealtimes has led to a paucity of…

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among preschool teacher's self-efficacy, teacher-child interaction, and peer interaction, and tried to find out any differences occurred based on young children's emotional intelligence. The research participants of the study were 68 preschool teachers and 210 preschool-aged children.…

To explore the chain mediating effect of teacher-child conflict and sleeping disorders between work intensification on vocal fatigue of kindergarten teachers, 847 kindergarten teachers in China were investigated using the Work Intensification Scale, Teacher-Child Relationship Scale (TCRS), Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) and Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI).…

Prior research suggests that dimensions of the student--teacher relationship are transactionally associated with students' self-regulation of classroom behavior, an important component of school readiness and success. The current study sought to determine the extent to which associations for student--teacher closeness and conflict with…

In this paper, I use a debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson about the nature of time as a heuristic tool to understand the nature of teacher subjectivity. This debate outlines notions of time as measurable and time as duration or flow. These two interpretations of reality, one from a physicist and one from a philosopher, are used to…

When interacting with young children, adults often self-repeat their own utterances that vary in sequences of adjacent utterances called variation sets (VS) (Küntay and Slobin 1996). These repetitions benefit children's linguistic development because they emphasize form and meaning. This paper analyzes the use of VS during group interaction and…