Patterns of teacher-child relationships quality: Young children’s perspectives

Examining children’s perspectives about the quality of teacher-child relationships can contribute significantly to our understanding of how the quality of these relationships is developed. The Child Appraisal of the Relationship with the Teacher Scale (CARTS) is a newly developed measure that assesses the quality of teacher-child relationships from children’s perspectives. The purpose of this study was a) to confirm the factor structure of the Greek version of CARTS, b) to examine whether any patterns of teacher-child relationships exist, and c) if they are associated with children’s gender and age. The sample consisted of 365 preschool children from Greece. Results confirmed the construct validity of the CARTS scale. Consistent with attachment-based research, results revealed four types of teacher-child relationships. In addition, results showed that patterns of teacher-child relationships based on children’s perspectives, similar to those of teachers’ perspectives, are existent from the early years

Child, teacher and preschool characteristics and child-teacher relationships in Greek preschools

Three dimensions of child–teacher relationships (derived from the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale) closeness, conflict and dependency have been conceptualized and investigated. In individualistic cultures a close relationship has been associated with children's academic performance and behavioural adjustment, conflictual relationships have been associated with maladjustment and externalising behaviours, and the dependency dimension has been negatively associated with closeness. We expand previous studies by first investigating the factor structure of the STRs amongst 2,130 preschool children and their 267 teachers in a collectivistic culture, Greece. Second, we investigated effects of child (gender, age, country of origin and special educational needs), teacher (teacher gender, age and affective well-being), and preschool characteristics (school-type, number of children, observed quality using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), on STRS. Using exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) adjusting for differences between preschools we replicated the three-factor solution of the STRS. Consistent with previous studies in collectivistic cultures, closeness and dependency were positively (not negatively) associated. Children's gender and teachers’ affective well-being were found to be consistently associated with all three dimensions of the STRS. In conclusion, the STRS can capture the relationship accurately in a Greek early years setting, and the analysis has demonstrated that the three STRS dimensions are associated with different child and teacher characteristics

Current Needs of Preschool Teachers for Professional Development in Greece

This paper presents a brief overview of the literature regarding preschool teachers’ careers and professional development. The main purpose of the part of the study presented here was to conduct a needs-assessment exercise to identify the specific needs for professional development of early childhood teachers’ in Greece. Data were collected through a focus group. Results highlighted the challenges of moving forward in a teaching career and the need for increasing professional development opportunities that match teachers’ needs and interests. Professionals indicated that the absence of teacher-parents’ collaboration and structured practices for dealing with children’s discipline issues are their basic concerns. Implications of the study’s results are also discussed This project has been funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. Project Number: 626146-EPP-1-2020-2-EL-EPPKA3-PI-POLIC