AUTHOR=Sanches-Ferreira Manuela , Gonçalves Joana L. , Araújo Sara Barros , Alves Sílvia , Barros Sílvia 

TITLE=Building inclusive preschool classrooms: How desirable and feasible is a set of strategies that facilitate teacher-child relationships?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Education

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.944822

DOI=10.3389/feduc.2022.944822

ISSN=2504-284X

ABSTRACT=<p>Positive teacher-child relationships promote children’s engagement, as children feel more secure to explore and participate in free or oriented activities. For children with disabilities, a context wherein they can receive the support to maintain a positive engagement in different activities is even more relevant. A scarcity of research exists on how to promote ECEC quality, namely, how to facilitate teacher-child interactions in inclusive environments. This study aims to evaluate preschool teachers’ opinions about the <italic>desirability</italic> and <italic>feasibility</italic> of a set of empirically validated strategies to improve teacher-child interactions in ECEC classrooms, for the group and children with disabilities. The participants were 89 Portuguese preschool teachers. Based on a non-systematic literature review, a questionnaire composed of 22 strategies to facilitate teacher-child interactions (in 4 dimensions: emotionally responsive interactions, classroom management, attend to children’s perspectives, and scaffolding learning) was developed. Along with the questionnaire, a set of socio-demographic variables was also collected. ECEC teachers scored significantly higher in the <italic>desirability</italic> subscale compared with the <italic>feasibility</italic> subscale in all dimensions and at both the <italic>child</italic> and the <italic>group</italic> level. This gap between teachers’ perceived <italic>desirability</italic> and <italic>feasibility</italic> provides important insights regarding the dimensions which are important to reinforce in ECEC teachers’ education and professional development. The mean difference between the <italic>desirability</italic> and <italic>feasibility</italic> subscales registered a higher effect size at the <italic>child</italic>’s level than at the <italic>group’s</italic> level, confirming that the inclusion of children with disabilities in preschool settings remains a challenge. Moreover, the effect size was small to moderate in the <italic>Emotionally Responsive Interactions</italic> dimension for both <italic>child</italic> and <italic>group</italic> levels. These results are aligned with previous studies stating that among different self-identified dimensions for improvement, emotional support is the less evoked by ECEC teachers. Across all dimensions, the main reason teachers give for difficulty in <italic>feasibility</italic>, both at the <italic>group</italic> and <italic>child’s</italic> level, is lack of <italic>knowledge</italic>. Overall, understanding the reasons teachers attribute to the difference between the strategies’ <italic>desirability</italic> and <italic>feasibility</italic> informs the assessment of teacher education needs and might be operationalized as a new observation instrument.</p>