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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Given that an increasing number of infants spend part of the day in center-based childcare in many coun-tries, understanding infants’ education and care experiences in these settings is essential. The aims ofthis study are to examine change in teacher-infant interaction quality over time, and to determine theextent to which teacher and classroom structural characteristics are associated with change in teacher-infant interaction quality. Ninety infant childcare classrooms from the greater metropolitan area of Porto,Portugal, participated in this study. Each classroom was observed twice (6-month interval between Time1 and Time 2) by trained and reliable observers using the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale –Revised (ITERS-R; Harms et al., 2006), the Classroom Assessment Scoring System – Infant (CLASS-Infant;Hamre et al., 2014), and the Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS; Arnett, 1989). Additionally, teachers pro-vided demographic information about themselves and structural characteristics of the classroom. Overallresults indicated that the quality of teacher-infant interactions changed over time, with a general trendtoward lower quality at Time 2. The increase in infant:adult ratio from Time 1 to Time 2 was an impor-tant predictor of process quality levels at Time 2, after controlling for prior quality and other structuralcharacteristics. These findings can be informative for policymaking as group size and number of adultsper classroom are regulated features of childcare in many countries, including Portugal.
Description
Keywords
Infants Early childhood education and care Process quality Stability and change