The Early Childhood Educators’ Knowledge of Self-Regulation Skills Questionnaire (ECESRQ) was devised to measure current teacher knowledge and implementation of pedagogical tools that enhance self-regulatory skills in the early childhood classroom. The purpose of the first phase of this study was to conduct test validation on the ECESRQ. The purpose of the second phase of this study was to (a) assess if teacher knowledge of self-regulation skills predicted teachers’ attitudes and beliefs in the classroom, and if (b) the results from the ECESRQ predicted knowledge of instruction of self-regulation skills.
To address the first phase of the study an exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the Likert Style items in the ECESRQ. Three factors were extracted and named as teacher attitudes and beliefs (factor 1), children’s behavior (factor 2), and child behavior (factor 3). Cronbach’s Alpha was reported as high for factor 1 (.718), moderate for factor 2 (.552) and factor 3 (.529), suggesting that the survey demonstrated high to moderate estimates of internal consistency.
To address the two questions in the second phase of the study, linear regression and multiple regression analysis were conducted. It was found that teacher attitudes and beliefs (represented by the three factors found in phase one) did not significantly predict teacher knowledge where factor 1 was the dependent variable (R2=.003, F(1, 172)=.503, pR2=.010, F(1, 172)= 1.732, pR2=.007, F(1, 172)=1.221, p
However, in the second equation, predicting knowledge of instruction, both variables (age and factor 2) were significant in predicting knowledge of instruction accounting for 7% of the variance in the model.
Overall, the results suggest a discrepancy between teachers’ attitudes and beliefs and reported classroom management implementation. This indicates that teachers believe children are capable of internal control, yet implement external over internal control in the classroom. Possibilities for this phenomenon are discussed and implications for future research are presented in the discussion of this study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fiu.edu/oai:digitalcommons.fiu.edu:etd-3128 |
| Date | 19 May 2015 |
| Creators | Willis, Elizabeth |
| Publisher | FIU Digital Commons |
| Source Sets | Florida International University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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