engleski

Preschool Teachers’ Concern for Challenging Behaviors of Children

It is not uncommon for children entering schools to exhibit behaviours that interfere with learning. Preschool teachers have an important role of supporting young children in the development of social, emotional and behavioural competencies that lead to success in the classroom environment and beyond. In order to assist educators in this work, we need to understand the types of challenging behaviours they face in their classrooms and how they perceive such behaviours. The aim of this study was to examine the level of concern preschool teachers have related to the externalizing and 47 internalizing behaviours exhibited by students in their classrooms. The study included 204 preschool teachers from Rijeka Kindergarten who completed the Preschool Teachers’ Concern for Challenging Behaviours Scale. Factor analysis revealed a two- factor structure: (1) concern for externalizing and (2) internalizing behaviours and the scales showed good psychometric properties. Not surprisingly, the challenging behaviour which preschool teachers rated as the most concerning one was physical aggression towards peers. In general, internalizing and externalizing behaviours received similar mean ratings of concern. Preschool teachers’ level of concern for challenging behaviour was not connected with their age, years of teaching experience or the number of students with challenging behaviours in the class. However, larger class size was associated with higher levels of concern. Moreover, there were strong associations between teachers’ level of concern for the type of challenging behaviour (externalizing, internalizing) when that behaviour was observed in their classrooms. Specifically, teachers reporting high reoccurrence of externalizing behaviours expressed greater concern for externalizing behaviours. The same pattern held for internalizing behaviours with concern for students’ internalizing behaviours significantly associated with reports of higher occurrence of internalizing behaviours. Preschool teachers need support to address the challenging behaviours they face in their classrooms as the presence of these behaviours is directly related to their concerns. Recommendations for future practice include teacher training in the use of positive behavior supports to address behaviors of both externalizing and internalizing nature.

teachers' concern, preschool teachers, internalizing behaviour, externalizing behaviour, teacher training

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