Norwegian ECEC staff’s thinking on quality of interaction

The purpose of the study is to investigate what Norwegian kindergarten teachers think about the quality of interaction between kindergarten teachers and children. The research questions are: What type of theories and beliefs do Norwegian kindergarten employees express about the quality of interaction, with focus placed on the role of carer compared to the role of educator?

The study indicates that kindergarten teachers focus on both basic interaction and more educational interaction when talking about the quality of interaction. The kindergarten teachers’ perspective was narrow and they mostly focused on perspectives related to the CIP scale. The study also shows that kindergarten teachers have difficulty expressing how and when they should use scaffolding, i.e. facilitating activities the children are unable to do alone. These results are consistent with results from similar studies in other countries.

The study focuses on the thoughts of 22 kindergarten teachers regarding the quality of interaction between children and the kindergarten teacher. In order to obtain information, the kindergarten teachers were interviewed individually. The Caregiver Interaction Profile (CIP) was used as an analysis tool.

Baustad, A. G., Rønning, W. & Bjørnestad, E. (2020). «Norwegian ECEC staff’s thinking on quality of interaction». Early Child Development and Care, 190(12):1969-1982.