Teacher personal and professional characteristics: contributions to emotional support and behavior guidance in early childhood classrooms
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Amy C. Thomason (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Karen La Paro
Abstract: Emotional support and behavior guidance in early childhood classrooms have important influences on the social and emotional competence of the children within them. Accumulating evidence suggests that a higher percentage of children than ever before are entering early childhood programs prior to kindergarten and are doing so at a younger age. At the same time, research in the field has demonstrated associations between teacher emotional support and behavior guidance and outcomes for children. Many professional characteristics of teachers
have been studied as predictors of emotional support and behavior guidance in early childhood classrooms but to date, little attention has been focused on teacher personal characteristics. The current study examined teacher personal characteristics in relation to the emotional support and behavior guidance in toddler and preschool classrooms. Data from the Comparison of Quality Assessment Tools (CQAT) study in North Carolina was used to address this aim with a sample of 135 teachers. Teachers completed questionnaires on personality, negative feelings, education, and professional development activities. A linear relationship between teacher personality characteristics and emotional support and behavior guidance was not evident in the study. However, results indicated relationships among several of the other study variables and found several examples of moderation of relationships by toddler or preschool class type. Results are discussed in terms of implications for future research and practice in early childhood education.
Teacher personal and professional characteristics: contributions to emotional support and behavior guidance in early childhood classrooms
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Created on 5/1/2011
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2011
- Keywords
- Early Childhood Education, Behavior, Teachers
- Subjects
- Early childhood education $x Research $z North Carolina
- Early childhood educators $x Research $z North Carolina
- Early childhood education $x Psychological aspects