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Publication
Stability and change in teacher-infant interaction quality over time
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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 countries, understanding infants’ education and care experiences in these settings is essential. The aims of
this study are to examine change in teacher-infant interaction quality over time, and to determine the
extent to which teacher and classroom structural characteristics are associated with change in teacherinfantinteraction 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 Time
1 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 provided demographic information aboutthemselves and structural characteristics ofthe classroom. Overall
results indicated that the quality of teacher-infant interactions changed over time, with a general trend
toward lower quality at Time 2. The increase in infant:adult ratio from Time 1 to Time 2 was an important predictor of process quality levels at Time 2, after controlling for prior quality and other structural
characteristics. These findings can be informative for policymaking as group size and number of adults
per classroom are regulated features of childcare in many countries, including Portugal
Description
Keywords
Infants Early childhood education and care