Abstract Syftet var att undersöka vad tidigare forskning kommit fram till gällande relationella aspekter i en förskolekontext, med betoning på det relationella i de mellanmänskliga interaktionerna, vad ett relationellt perspektiv kan ses betyda för barns utveckling och lärande. Detta i förhållande till den helhet på omsorg, utveckling och lärande som skrivs fram i förskolans läroplan. I syftet fanns även en förhoppning om att få en förståelse för hur man kan placera in det relationella i en funktionell teori med bäring på förskolans (var)dagliga praktiker. En fråga som funnits parallellt i arbetet är vilken roll de relationella aspekterna får i en mål- och resultatstyrd förskolepraktik med dokumentationsskyldighet och utvärdering. Detta utifrån att vissa forskare lyfter fram en mätbarhetsdiskurs inom utbildning som ses ge dominans för det mer enkelt mätbara och där de mer svårmätta relationella värdena då riskerar att komma i skymundan. Då syftet var att undersöka vad forskning kommit fram till valde jag att göra en litteraturstudie. I de texter som valdes ingick både praktiknära och mer teoretiska och filosofiska texter. Texterna analyserades med hjälp av tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att genom att förstå det relationella som flerdimensionellt kan det relationella ses som det "kitt" som binder samman utveckling och lärande. Ett relationellt perspektiv på utbildning fångar in alla delar i helheten av omsorg, utveckling och lärande och inom ramen för detta perspektiv kan även undervisning förstås.

Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT), which is an adaptation of the empirically-based treatment of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), addresses the needs of children and teachers through increasing positive teacher-child interactions while educating teachers on effective discipline techniques. The theoretical and empirical basis for PCIT provides the foundation for the appropriate and effective application of the adaptation of this treatment model for use with teachers.<br>The efficacy of Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT) with a clinical preschool population was evaluated through a single subject A-B design conducted across subjects. The current study examined the impact of the intervention, TCIT, on child behavior, teacher skill development and use, as well as the quality of teacher-child relationships. Results suggest that the intervention positively impacted the behavior of preschool children diagnosed with a Disruptive Behavior Disorder, as indicated by a reduction of disruptive behaviors and increase of prosocial behaviors within a therapeutic classroom setting. Additionally, teacher skill use and the quality of teacher-child relationships were evaluated following implementation of the TCIT intervention. Findings indicate that the intervention positively impacted teachers use of the positive attention skills over the course of the intervention.<br>This study, which examined the efficacy of Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy with preschool-aged children diagnosed with a Disruptive Behavior Disorder, provides initial support for the implementation of a relationship-based technique to support teachers in addressing the disruptive behaviors of children within a classroom environment. / School of Education; / School Psychology / PhD; / Dissertation;

A model of Teacher Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT) was implemented in two kindergarten classrooms of students (n = 2) who successfully completed Parent Child Interaction Therapy, but continued to demonstrate disruptive behaviors in the classroom. The current study first indicated that TCIT was implemented with integrity by both the therapists and teacher participants. Next, the effects of this intervention on the teacher’s skills, students’ disruptive behaviors, teacher’s stress, and teacher-child relationships were investigated. The treatment acceptability was also examined. Both visual and statistical analyses found a treatment effect in both cases was seen for both teachers’ increased use of positive interaction skills and decrease of negative interaction skills during the intervention session. However, these skills generalized to the interactions between the teacher and student during classroom instruction. Mixed results were found related to teachers’ use of effective commands. Results from visual analysis indicated that one child participant demonstrated a decrease in disruptive behaviors according to both teacher rating scales and classroom behavior observations. Neither teacher indicated significantly reduced stress over the course of TCIT. Teacher-child relationships improved for both students; however, one teacher also reported increased conflict in the relationship. Both teachers expressed high levels of treatment acceptability for the intervention. Further research should investigate the underlying causes for the nuances in the findings of this study. Additional research is also warranted to determine whether these results can be generalized to other students as well as best practices for implementing this intervention in schools.

O desenvolvimento de repertórios verbais é reconhecido como sendo fundamental para a inserção do indivíduo na cultura. Pesquisas têm indicado que existem características de interação adulto-criança, que, quando presentes desde muito cedo, favorecem esse desenvolvimento. A escola é um contexto privilegiado para que a criança desenvolva repertórios verbais. No Brasil, a educação infantil objetiva promover o desenvolvimento integral (inclusive da linguagem) de crianças de 0 a 5 anos. Por isso, um dos objetivos deste estudo foi averiguar a presença de condições estruturais e de interação (adulto-criança), que a literatura destaca como sendo importantes para a aprendizagem da linguagem por crianças, em escolas municipais de educação infantil. Além disso, objetivou-se comparar essas mesmas condições em turmas de educação infantil com faixas etárias diferentes (de aproximadamente 2 a 3 anos Maternal I; e 4 anos de idade Etapa I). Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo exploratória, com método observacional. Participaram do estudo duas turmas, uma com crianças que tinham aproximadamente 3 anos (Maternal I M1) e a outra 4 anos (Etapa I E1) quando a pesquisa foi iniciada (n total = 35 crianças e duas professoras). O procedimento envolveu cinco etapas: i) ingresso nas salas de aula e avaliação das crianças; ii) observações e filmagens na sala de aula; iii) análise do ambiente escolar, entrevista com as professoras e preenchimento de escalas padronizadas; iv) devolutivas para as escolas; v) transcrição e análise categorizada das filmagens. A análise de dados foi feita pelo registro das frequências (absoluta e relativa) de cada categoria, para cada turma. Também foi calculado o coeficiente de correlação de Pearson para verificar se os desempenhos dos alunos no teste de linguagem tinham correlação com o quanto eles falavam nas aulas. Os resultados indicam que as crianças mais bem avaliadas quanto à linguagem também foram aquelas que falaram mais durante as aulas. Em ambas as turmas, os alunos emitiram mais respostas verbais estritamente relacionadas àquilo que as professoras haviam perguntado. Mas, os alunos de E1 iniciaram mais interações com a professora, emitiram mais perguntas e responderam fazendo mais expansões àquilo que a professora havia perguntado. As professoras, por sua vez, arranjaram contingências muito semelhantes para as duas turmas: emitiram mais respostas verbais que não propiciam o desenvolvimento de linguagem das crianças (e.g., perguntas fechadas e instruções relacionadas à atividade); apresentaram a mesma variabilidade de palavras (types e tokens); e organizaram atividades que demandavam desempenhos com o mesmo nível de complexidade para as duas faixas etárias. As condições da escola foram bem avaliadas apenas no que diz respeito à qualidade das interações e aos cuidados pessoais dispensados às crianças, em detrimento de condições estruturais que efetivamente favorecessem a realização de atividades acadêmicas de qualidade. Esses resultados indicam que a escola, como uma instituição na qual devem existir agentes culturais, que ensinem repertórios verbais ao indivíduo, tem cumprido pouco seu papel / The development of verbal repertoires is recognized as being fundamental to insert the individual into the culture. Researches have indicated that there are characteristics of adult-child interaction, which, when present from a very early age, favor this development. The school is a privileged context for the child to develop verbal repertoires. In Brazil, early childhood education aims to promote the integral development (including language) of children from 0 to 5 years old. Therefore, one of the objectives of this study was to verify the presence of structural and interaction conditions (adult-child), which the literature highlights as being important for children\'s language learning in municipal schools for early childhood education. In addition, it aimed to compare the same conditions in preschool classes of children with different ages (approximately 2 years old - Maternal I and 4 years old - Etapa I). For that, an exploratory field research was carried out, with an observational method. Two groups participated in the study, one with children who were approximately 3 years old (Maternal I - M1) and the other 4 years (Etapa I - E1) when the research was started. In total, there were 35 children and their respective teachers. The procedure involved five steps: i) entrance into the classrooms and evaluation of the children; ii) observations and filming in the classroom; iii) analysis of the school environment, interview with teachers and filling of standardized scales; iv) devolutive for schools; v) transcription and categorized analysis of filming. Data analysis was done by recording the frequencies (absolute and relative) of each category, for each class. Pearson\'s correlation coefficient was calculated to verify if students\' performances in the language test correlated with how much they spoke in class. The results indicate that the children who were better evaluated for language were also the ones who spoke the most during the lessons. In both groups, students spoke more verbal responses strictly related to what teachers had asked. But the students at E1 started more interactions with the teacher, asked more questions and answered by making more expansions to what the teacher had asked. The teachers, on the other hand, arranged very similar contingencies for the two classes: they issued more verbal responses that did not support children\'s language development (e.g., closed-ended questions and instructions related to the activity); they spoke the same word variability; and organized activities that demanded performances with the same level of complexity for the two age groups. School conditions were well evaluated only in terms of the quality of interactions and personal care provided to children, but not about structural conditions that effectively favored quality academic activities. These results indicate that the school, as an institution in which there must be cultural agents who teach verbal repertoires to the children, has been accomplishing little its role

The overall aim of the Educational Process Reflection (EPR) studies has been to develop a better understanding concerning interaction between adults and children and the conditions for children’s peer play and interaction within the pre-school arena. The ultimate goal of the present study is to explore how practitioners through the use of EPR may develop the dimension of social interaction between practitioners and children and between children, in order to consciously create a more healthy and inclusive experience for all children and especially for children at risk. The study is based on a hermeneutic and a socio cultural perspective and a combination of activity theory and object relation theory. The methodology draws on activity theory and Yrjö Engeström’s (1987) development work research and specifically a more elaborated version of learning activity termed Educational Process Reflection, which is a model for professional development created in the previous EPR-studies presented in Bygdeson-Larsson (2005a; b; 2006). It builds on practitioners´ observations of peer play interactions and practitioners retold experiences of interaction with the children. The model consists of an oscillation between EPR-sessions and pre-school practice. The results of the study are presented in a narrative way and show how changes in pre-school grow out of collaborative reflection combined with new theoretical perspectives. The practitioners´ competence or professionalism concerning the interactive dimension was improved and individual children at risk got new and better conditions for being included in positive peer play and interaction experiences. The pre-school turned out to become a resilient environment for children in peer play and interactive difficulties. The main results illuminate and give an understanding of how practitioners´ ways of working with children in peer play problems or special needs turned out to become more resilient and how children got better possibilities to be included in positive ways. It also enhances the understanding of how the processes in peer play situations changed for the better for other children and how the whole climate in the pre-school also seemed to change and become more inclusive. Overall the results of this study bring about an enhanced understanding of the complexity of the pre-school seen as an activity system and the need for new tools concerning interactive processes. This study implicates that pre-school practitioners own investigation and reflection of interactive processes in pre-school is essential, and may well be used before applying a categorising or diagnostic approach concerning children in special needs. This study has implications for professional development, researcher-practitioner co-operation and consultative activities concerning pre-schools and children. The present study implies that all these activities have an advantage of taking the dynamics of the pre-school as an activity system into account before focusing on practitioners or children as individuals.

Improvisation is a construct that uses a set of minimal heuristic guidelines to create a highly flexible scaffold that fosters extemporaneous communication. Scholars from diverse domains: such as psychology, business, negotiation, and education have suggested its use as a method for preparing professionals to manage complexity and think on their feet. A review of the literature revealed that while there is substantial theoretical scholarship on using improvisation in diverse domains, little research has verified these assertions. This dissertation evaluated whether improvisation, a specific type of dramatic technique, was effective for training pre-service teachers in specific characteristics of teacher-child classroom interaction, communication and affective skills development. It measured the strength and direction of any potential changes such training might effect on pre-service teacher’s self-efficacy for teaching and for implementing the communication skills common to improvisation and teaching while interacting with student in an inclusive classroom setting. A review of the literature on teacher self-efficacy and improvisation clarified and defined key terms, and illustrated relevant studies. This study utilized a mixed-method research design based on instructional design and development research. Matched pairs ttests were used to analyze the self-efficacy and training skills survey data and pre-service teacher reflections and interview transcripts were used to triangulate the qualitative data. Results of the t-tests showed a significant difference in participants’ self-efficacy for teaching measured before and after the improvisation training. A significant difference in means was also measured in participants’ aptitude for improvisation strategies and for self-efficacy for their implementation pre-/post- training. Qualitative results from pre-service teacher class iv artifacts and interviews showed participants reported beneficial personal outcomes as well as confirmed using skills from the training while interacting with students. Many of the qualitative themes parallel individual question items on the teacher self-efficacy TSES scale as well as the improvisation self-efficacy scale CSAI. The self-reported changes in affective behavior such as increased self-confidence and ability to foster positive interaction with students are illustrative of changes in teacher agency. Self-reports of being able to better understand student perspectives demonstrate a change in participant ability to empathize with students. Participants who worked with both typically developing students as well as with students with disabilities reported utilizing improvisation strategies such as Yes, and…, mirroring emotions and body language, vocal prosody and establishing a narrative relationship to put the students at ease, establish a positive learning environment, encourage student contributions and foster teachable moments. The improvisation strategies showed specific benefit for participants working with nonverbal students or who had commutation difficulties, by providing the pre-service teachers with strategies for using body language, emotional mirroring, vocal prosody and acceptance to foster interaction and communication with the student. Results from this investigation appear to substantiate the benefit of using improvisation training as part of a pre-service teacher methods course for preparing teachers for inclusive elementary classrooms. Replication of the study is encouraged with teachers of differing populations to confirm and extend results.