ABSTRACT

This study examined the extent to which the quality of teacher-infant interactions varies across play and routine care activities. In addition, the effects of the quantity of adult involvement in the quality of teacher-infant interactions were investigated. Participants were teachers and infants from 90 infant classrooms in Portugal. Classrooms had, on average, six infants enrolled (M = 6.38, SD = 2.34), with the number of adults ranging from 1 to 3 (M = 2.00, SD = 0.60). Classrooms were observed by trained observers using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Infant (CLASS-Infant). Research Findings: Multilevel models showed that interaction quality varied as a function of type of activity. The quality of interactions of all CLASS domains was lower in routine care activities compared to play activities. Findings further showed that adult involvement was positively associated with all CLASS domains. In addition, after adding adult involvement to the models, differences between play and routine care activities were no longer statistically significant for most CLASS domains. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest the importance of considering the context of the activity and the levels of adult involvement when assessing and improving the quality of teacher-infant interactions.

摘要

本研究调查了师婴互动质量在游戏和日常护理活动中的差异程度。此外，还研究了成人参与的数量对师婴互动质量的影响。参与者是来自葡萄牙 90 个幼儿教室的教师和幼儿。教室平均招收 6 名婴儿（M = 6.38，SD  = 2.34），成人人数从 1 到 3 不等（M = 2.00，SD  = 0.60）。训练有素的观察员使用课堂评估评分系统 - 婴儿（CLASS-Infant）观察教室。研究成果：多层次模型表明，交互质量随着活动类型的变化而变化。与游戏活动相比，常规护理活动中所有 CLASS 领域的互动质量都较低。调查结果进一步表明，成人参与与所有 CLASS 领域呈正相关。此外，在将成人参与添加到模型后，游戏和日常护理活动之间的差异对于大多数 CLASS 领域而言不再具有统计学意义。实践或政策：调查结果表明，在评估和改善师婴互动质量时，考虑活动背景和成人参与程度的重要性。