The Importance of the Activity Setting for the Quality of Children's Interactions in Preschool

The Importance of the Activity Setting for the Quality of Children's Interactions in Preschool Abstract. Empirical studies show significant differences in the quality of educational processes depending on the activity setting in preschools. Hardly any empirical evidence, however, is available regarding the quality of children's interactions. This paper examines the importance of the activity setting (didactic phase, group structure, role of the teacher) in which the children are involved on the quality of interaction of preschool children. We used covariance analyzes to investigate the question of the extent to which differences in children's interaction quality occur depending on the activity setting. The study is part of the DFG project Quality of Children's Interactions in Preschool. The sample consists of 253 children who were in their second year of preschool at the time of the survey. The quality of their interactions was assessed using the standardized observation instrument inCLASS Pre-K (Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System; Downer et al., 2010). The activity setting was recorded synchronously with the Instrument Target Child Observation (ZiKiB; Kuger et al., 2006). On average, the quality of the children's interactions with teachers and peers is rather low. Children observed showed a higher quality of interaction with their peers during free-play phases. In dyads and small groups, the children's interaction quality was in part lower than in other group settings, though it was significantly higher in cases of scaffolding-like behavior of the teachers. The findings show only limited consistency with the current international state of research. The reasons for this are discussed.