Impact of pedagogical intervention on early childhood professionals’ emotional availability to children with different temperament characteristics

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of pedagogical intervention on early childhood education professionals’ emotional availability to children with different temperament characteristics. Participants were 136 children (intervention group = 87; control group = 49) aged 1–6 years from 16 early childhood and care centres in Finland. The PedaSens intervention was a 9-month programme that included theory and video-based training for the professionals. Adult–child interaction was assessed with the Emotional Availability Scales before and after the intervention, and children’s temperament was assessed with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. According to results, early childhood professionals’ emotional availability increased in the intervention group, especially to children with high levels of activity and pleasure seeking and with low levels of attentional focusing. We argue that the quality of interaction in early childhood education and care can be increased by targeting professional trainings to support children with different temperament characteristics.