A great deal of research suggests that a close relationship with a teacher in preschool plays a significant role in promoting school readiness (Mashburn & Pianta, 2006). How exactly this relationship might impact children's acquisitions of skills, however, is not well understood. Strong theoretical arguments suggest both children's motivation and attention control as likely explanatory mechanisms in this association. These two learning-related behaviors have been described for preschoolers within the framework of Approaches to Learning as Competence Motivation and Attention/Persistence (McDermott, Leigh, & Perry, 2002). To test these variables as potential mediators, data were analyzed from 115 Head Start children scheduled to enter kindergarten the following year. Teachers completed a measure of teacher-child attachment in the fall, and a measure of Approaches to Learning in the winter. Children were directly assessed on school readiness at the end of the year. Regression analyses were conducted to test two mediation models. Results indicated Attention/Persistence but not Competence Motivation as a significant mediator in the association between teacher-child relationships in preschool and school readiness. Implications for intervention with low-income preschoolers are discussed.

Past research highlights the important role of the teacher-child relationship in children's school adjustment and success. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the role of child gender in teacher-child relationship quality across elementary school grades. Specifically, this study explored: 1) stability of teacher-child relationship quality over time for girls and boys, 2) gender differences in relationship quality at first, third, and fifth grade, 3) possible relational mechanisms that could mediate the association between child gender and teacher-child relationship quality, 4) child gender as a moderator between relationship quality and child outcomes both concurrently and over time and 5) the influence of teacher gender and teacher-child gender match on relationship quality. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development (SECCYD), these questions were explored in a sample of 682 children at first, third, and fifth grade. Analyses revealed relative stability in teacher-child relationship quality across grade level with no significant gender differences in stability. However, girls were consistently rated higher in closeness and boys higher in conflict across the grade levels. The child's affiliative orientation toward the teacher was found to partially mediate the link between child gender and relationship quality, such that girls' greater affiliation predicted greater closeness and lower conflict with the teacher. Child gender was found to moderate associations within grade level, such that closeness was associated with greater social competence for girls than boys. Conflict was also associated with more externalizing behaviors for girls than boys. Teacher-child gender match was also found to play a significant role in predicting teacher-child closeness. This study highlights important and significant contributions gender makes to teacher-child relationship quality.

Examination of child temperament and early adult-child relationships is of vital importance to children's socio-emotional development, school success, and the prevention of future problem behaviors. In response, the current project examined the interaction of parenting style, child temperament, and the quality of the teacher-child relationship in predicting low-income children's school adjustment. One hundred fifty-four children (70 girls and 84 boys), their parents, lead teachers, and teacher aides participated in this study with data collected in both preschool (Head Start) and in Kindergarten. Parents completed questionnaires pertaining to parenting styles and child temperament, while teachers also completed questionnaires on child temperament, teacher-child relationships, social / behavioral adjustment at school, and academic achievement. Children also reported on their relationships with teachers using a puppet interview format. Analyses indicate that children's effortful control and negative reactivity are associated with a wide range of academic, behavioral, and socio-emotional variables. Results of the current study also provide evidence that negative reactivity, parental hostility, and teacher-child conflict are related to children's social-emotional and academic difficulties; however, effortful control and reduced teacher-child conflict moderate the effects of these negative factors on lowincome preschoolers' school adjustment. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of intervention efforts aimed at reducing negative parent-child and negative teacher-child relationships in order to promote positive school adjustment for low-income children.

There has been a growing amount of research on play therapy skills training both with parents and teachers. These studies revealed promising results on the effectiveness of play therapy skills training; however, a majority of the studies were quantitative in nature. The current study implemented a qualitative approach to exploring teachers’ beliefs about children’s play and play therapy by investigating the perceptions and experiences of a group of teacher participants who received play therapy skills training. Individual interviews were conducted and data analysis generated category themes to answer research questions. Findings suggested that the play therapy skills training had an impact on teachers, the child of focus, and the teacher-child relationships. The training led to changes in teacher participants’ perceptions of play, play therapy, and children, and a pattern seemed to emerge in the influence the training had on teachers. Teachers perceived changes in themselves in terms of awareness, attitudes, skills, and emotions. Teachers’ views of play appeared to be changed and shaped to be more consistent with the ideas of play therapy. Two of the four teachers reported observing positive changes in behaviors of the child of focus. Three of the teacher participants indicated changes in teacher-child relationships with the child of focus. Teachers seemed to generalize play therapy skills from the playroom to the classroom. Teachers perceived that using play therapy skills helped them build better relationships with children, interact with children more positively, manage the class more effectively, and ultimately reduce their stress and frustration. Overall, the play therapy skills training suggested positive results with teacher participants, the child of focus, and teacher-child relationships. However, there were also challenges, disadvantages, and constraints observed and perceived by the teachers. Challenging issues in applying play therapy skills in the classroom included the perceived difficulty of being both a teacher and a therapeutic agent to the child of focus, and finding an appropriate classroom balance between permissiveness and structure. Three of the four teacher participants expressed their desire and excitement to continue applying play therapy skills with other students in a new school year. Implications and limitations of the study, and recommendations for further research are discussed. / text

Teachers appear to feel challenged by children’s off-task behavior in the classroom. Children’s off-task behavior can result in reduced academic engagement, increased teaching stress, and strained teacher-child relationships. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of kinder training on young children’s on-task behavior in the classroom. This study utilized an experimental single-case methodology and a multiple baseline across subjects design. Three elementary school teachers conducted weekly individual play sessions with students they identified as frequently exhibiting off-task behavior. The three children ranged in age from five to six years: two males and one female, two Caucasian non-Hispanic and one biracial. Two trained observers repeatedly assessed the child participants’ on-task behavior using the Direct Observation Form throughout the baseline and intervention phases. The findings provide support for kinder training as an effective play-based professional development-training model that can improve children’s on-task behavior. Results demonstrated that all child participants showed improvement in on-task classroom behavior. Visual analysis revealed that all child participants demonstrated a positive change in on-task behavior during the intervention phase. All teacher participants reported observing improvement in the child participants’ on-task behavior and teacher-child relationships. Teachers’ post-intervention reports supported the notion of reciprocal interactions among teacher-child relationships, understanding of children’s lifestyle and goals of misbehavior, and children’s on-task behavior.

A relação professor-aluno é fator essencial no processo de desenvolvimento físico, social e emocional dos alunos, principalmente em se tratando de alunos da primeira infância, sendo este o momento de maior aprendizado em nossas vidas. Desta forma, estruturar uma boa relação com a criança permite ao professor consolidar um ambiente propício e estimulante ao ensino, além de facilitar ajustes comportamentais. Assim, este trabalho busca captar efeitos determinantes para uma boa relação professor-aluno, mais especificamente via nível de amabilidade do professor. Esta análise foi possível utilizando dados da cidade de Petrolina, coletadas pelo Instituto Alfa e Beto, contendo informações a respeito da escala de relação professor-aluno (ERPA) e o nível de amabilidade do professor via instrumento SENNA. O município de Petrolina utilizou-se do processo de convênio para expandir o número de vagas em educação infantil através do projeto denominado \"Nova Semente\". Entretanto, constatamos características divergentes entre a rede pública e conveniada sobre a composição da equipe de docentes, de forma que estas indiquem um cenário de baixa qualidade no ensino oferecido pela rede conveniada. Por fim, encontramos vestígios de que maiores níveis de amabilidade do professor de creche compensa em partes uma baixa qualificação. / The teacher-child relationship is an essential factor in the process of physical, social and emotional achievement of the students, especially in early childhood, the moment of highest development in the life. This way, structuring a good relationship with the child, allows the teacher not only consolidating a favorable and stimulant learning environment, but also provide behavioral adjustment. Therefore, this study aims at show determinants of a good teacher-child relationship, more specifically by teacher agreeableness. The analysis became possible by the use of a database from Petrolina (PE, Brazil) collected by Alfa e Beto Institute, which contains information related to a scale of teacher-child relationship (ERPA) and the score of teacher agreeableness measured by SENNA instrument. The city of Petrolina used the agreement process to increase the number of vacancies in early childhood education day care centers through a project named \"Nova Semente\" (New Seed). Distinct characteristics were registered between the public and chartered projects regarding the composition of teaching staff, indicating a low quality income in teaching process offered by chartered sector. It is fair to infer that teacher agreeableness in day care center compensates for low training level of teaching staff.

Objectives The development of aggression from childhood to adulthood is well-researched, and extant work has identified a large number of developmental risk factors within the individual, family, and social domains. Among them, poor parenting, including harsh practices like corporal punishment, have repeatedly been found to predict adolescent behavioural problems, that may then negatively affect adult behaviours such as violence and offending. An area of research that is becoming increasingly important is one that seeks to identify the reasons why some people do not become aggressive, even when they have been exposed to well established risk factors. What is it that has protected them from becoming aggressive later in life? The current study examined whether self-control and having a positive teacher-child relationship acted as protective factors between corporal punishment and adolescent aggression. Methods An autoregressive cross-lagged panel model was used to examine self-control and teacher-child relationships as both direct and interactive protective factors between corporal punishment and adolescent aggression. Teacher and self-reported data was used from three waves (waves 4-6) of the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths (Z-proso), a prospective longitudinal study of adolescents in Switzerland. Results The results show that both self-control and having a positive teacher-child relationship were direct protective factors against concurrent aggression. However, the interactive protective effect of these factors differed depending on the stage of adolescence and level of exposure to risk. Furthermore, differences were found when considering males and females separately.

This study utilized longitudinal correlational and regression analyses to examine children’s internalizing behaviour problems, while focusing on the predictive function of peer victimization, the quality of the teacher-child relationship and child gender in early school years. Given the relationship between peer victimization and internalizing problems, the teacher-child relationship and gender was hypothesized to influence the strength and/or direction of this relationship. Participants included children in pre-kindergarten (n = 258) to grade one (n = 272) from twelve schools in an Australian city. Parent reports were used to assess child internalizing problems and peer victimization, and teachers reported on the teacher-child relationship and peer victimization. A significant main effect was found for child gender and kindergarten teacher-child conflict on internalizing behaviours in grade one, whereas no main effect was found for grade one internalizing behaviours for parent-rated peer victimization and teacher-child warmth. The quality of the teacher-child relationship was not found to moderate the relationship between peer victimization and internalizing problems, while child gender did moderate the influence of teacher-child relationship conflict on internalizing problems a year later. The results of the present study indicated that the relationship between teacher-child conflict and internalizing problems a year later differs for boys and girls. The importance of specific microsystems (i.e., teacher-child relationships) over time on children’s behavioural development is discussed, and implications for future research and teacher-child interventions are presented. / Graduate / 0518 / 0525 / 0530 / zerffm@gmail.com

This study utilized longitudinal correlational and regression analyses to examine children’s internalizing behaviour problems, while focusing on the predictive function of peer victimization, the quality of the teacher-child relationship and child gender in early school years. Given the relationship between peer victimization and internalizing problems, the teacher-child relationship and gender was hypothesized to influence the strength and/or direction of this relationship. Participants included children in pre-kindergarten (n = 258) to grade one (n = 272) from twelve schools in an Australian city. Parent reports were used to assess child internalizing problems and peer victimization, and teachers reported on the teacher-child relationship and peer victimization. A significant main effect was found for child gender and kindergarten teacher-child conflict on internalizing behaviours in grade one, whereas no main effect was found for grade one internalizing behaviours for parent-rated peer victimization and teacher-child warmth. The quality of the teacher-child relationship was not found to moderate the relationship between peer victimization and internalizing problems, while child gender did moderate the influence of teacher-child relationship conflict on internalizing problems a year later. The results of the present study indicated that the relationship between teacher-child conflict and internalizing problems a year later differs for boys and girls. The importance of specific microsystems (i.e., teacher-child relationships) over time on children’s behavioural development is discussed, and implications for future research and teacher-child interventions are presented. / Graduate / 0518 / 0525 / 0530 / zerffm@gmail.com

La relation affective entre le maître et l’élève n’est pas une notion évidente à considérer et à mettre en pratique dans la relation d’enseignement en France. De nombreuses études étrangères, pourtant, montrent les bénéfices d’une telle relation lorsqu’elle est de qualité et éclairée par les principes fondamentaux de la théorie de l’attachement (Bowlby, 1978). L’objectif de cette étude, est d’observer, en utilisant la méthode éthologique, les affects et la relation affective qui se met en place entre l’enfant et l’enseignant au cours d’interactions pédagogiques en grande section de maternelle, dans les quartiers très défavorisés. Nous utilisons la théorie de l’attachement afin de constater si l’attachement développé par l’enfant a un impact sur les diverses actions pédagogiques et de soutien de l’enseignant au cours de la réalisation (attention conjointe) d’une tâche-problème : en quoi l’attitude enseignante est susceptible de favoriser l’entrée de l’enfant de maternelle dans les apprentissages ? Les résultats nous montrent qu’un des éléments primordial de l’attitude enseignante serait la capacité d’adaptation au comportement de l’enfant, la flexibilité de l’enseignant face à de jeunes enfants présentant des difficultés sociales et scolaires. Bien qu’il s’agisse d’une étude, s’appuyant sur peu de sujets (19 enfants), il est possible d’observer que l’engagement relationnel et pédagogique de l’enseignant peut sécuriser des enfants jusque-là très en difficulté et les amener à une réussite positive au cours d’une tâche-problème. / The affective relationship between teacher and child is not an obvious notion to consider and put into practice in the teaching relationship, in France. Many foreign studies, however, reap the benefits of such a relationship when it is of high quality and enlightened by the fundamental principles of Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1978). The objective of this research is to observe, using the ethological method, the affects and the affective relationship that develops between the child and the teacher during pedagogical interactions in the last year of prescool, in a disadvantaged area. We use the Attachment Theory in order to ascertain whether the attachment developed by the child has an impact on the various pedagogical actions and support of the teacher during the realization (joint attention) of a task-problem: in what way the teaching attitude is likely to favor the entry of the preschool child into teaching relationship. The results show that one of the essential elements of the teacher's attitude would be the ability to adapt to the child's behavior, the teacher's flexibility in dealing with young children with social and academic difficulties. Although it is a qualitative study, relying on few subjects (19 children), it is possible to observe that the relational and pedagogical commitment of the teacher can secure children until then very difficult and bring them to a positive success, during a problem-solving-operation.