Naslov
CLOSENESS AND CONFLICT BETWEEN TODDLERS AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THEIR PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS?

Autori
Tatalović Vorkapić, Sanja

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
INTED2023 Proceedings, 17th International Technology, Education and Development Conference / Gómez Chova, L. ; López Martínez, A. ; Lees, J. - Valencia : IATED Academy, 2023, 7488-7497

ISBN
978-84-09-49026-4

Skup
17th International Technology, Education and Development Conference

Mjesto i datum
Online ; Valencia, Španjolska, 06.03.2023. - 08.03.2023

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
closeness ; conflict ; early childhood educators ; personal variables ; toddlers

Sažetak
One of the most important tasks of the preschool educators in kindergarten is the development of positive relationships as a basic prerequisite for the healthy and optimal socio-emotional development of children. Starting from the definition and operationalization of the relationship between educators and children in terms of two basic areas: Closeness and Conflict. This paper analyses these two aspects, as well as the role of personal characteristics of educators and children in their development. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the younger the children, the greater the specifics and challenges in developing the relationship between educators and children, so this paper focuses on analysing some aspects between educators and toddlers. Since previous research has shown that the relationship between educators and children is significantly determined by several variables (the personality traits of educators, their well-being, the temperament of children, and socio-demographic characteristics such as the gender and age of children and educators, as well as the difficulty of working with children), closeness and conflict between educators and children are analysed in relation to these variables. The relationship between them and whether it is possible to predict closeness and conflict between educators and toddlers based on the above variables are investigated. A total of 22 kindergarten teachers from 6 randomly selected kindergartens in the counties of Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Istria participated in the study. The kindergarten teachers assessed their relationship with toddlers in their groups, their temperament, the difficulty of working with them, their own personality traits, optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness. A total of 77 children (35 boys and 42 girls) with a mean age of M=2.74 were assessed in the range of 1 to 3 years. The educators evaluated 1 to 8 children in the groups they work with, maintaining anonymity and confidentiality of the data at the highest level. On average, they rated working with children as easier, closeness as greater, and conflict with young children as less. After performing correlation analyses, high and significant correlations of closeness and conflicts with ease of work, gender and age of children, age of educators, and temperament of children were found. Accordingly, the regression analyses performed showed that significant predictors of high closeness between educators and young children were high ease in working with children, high sociability and emotionality, and low activity of children, and low happiness in educators. For conflict between educators and children, greater difficulty at work, same as higher age and activity and lower sociability in children and in relation to boys showed to be significant predictors. Although this is one of the few studies in this area, the results indicate the importance of developing the quality of the relationship between educators and young children and professional programs to support educators, taking into account the described results on significant predictors of closeness and conflict in their relationship.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Psihologija, Obrazovne znanosti (psihologija odgoja i obrazovanja, sociologija obrazovanja, politologija obrazovanja, ekonomika obrazovanja, antropologija obrazovanja, neuroznanost i rano učenje, pedagoške discipline)

POVEZANOST RADA