| Summary: | The purpose of this observational study is to examine the role of the
teacher during free play in preschool. The specific objectives are to document:
the duration and extent of supervisory, facilitating and housekeeping duties;
various aspects of teacher-child interactions such as reason, location, language
mode, duration of the exchange including number and gender of children; and to
determine if boys and girls are equally demanding of the teacher's time and
attention. The nature of unsolicited attention is recorded and the teacher's
responses to given situations are noted to determine if gender differences exist.
Successive naturalistic observations of six different teachers were
undertaken at four separate preschool centres in Vancouver, Canada. An attempt
was made to seek a representative sample of both teachers and schools. Extensive
field notes documenting the teachers' duties, behaviors and interactions with the
children provide the observational data. This data, comprising some thirty hours
of observations, was analyzed and interpreted with reference to the above research
questions.
The data shows that these six teachers spent an average of 80 percent of
the free play period in classroom management. That is, they were predominantly
involved in housekeeping, facilitating and supervising the play environment
interspersed with momentary and fragmented interactions with children. The
remaining 20 percent of the time, the teachers were engaged in sustained interactions (over 2 minutes) with the children. The sustained interaction data
shows distinct variations along gender lines. While language facilitation was the
main reason for teacher/child interactions, definite gender variations were
reflected in the reasons for interaction, the nature of the verbal exchanges, as well
as the duration and boy/girl ratio of the interaction episodes. When the context of
the interactions was considered it was apparent that approximately one third of the
teacher/child interactions were in the area of art activities, while the teachers'
presence in other areas of the play environment was significantly less well
represented. The study concludes that the teacher's role during free play was
predominantly one of managing the environment. This preoccupation with making
sure that the play scene proceeds smoothly and harmoniously left little remaining
time for more educationally valuable interactions with the children. === Education, Faculty of === Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of === Graduate
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