How pre-service early childhood teachers respond to children s negative emotions

Teachers, like parents, have important roles in socializing children’s emotions by providing experiences that affect the emotional competence of children. The aim of this study is to examine pre-service early childhood teachers’ response preferences to children’s negative emotions. Data was collected using the Teachers’ Attitudes/Behaviors Questionnaire administered to 393 senior early childhood education students from six universities in Turkey, all of whom had registered to attend a teaching application course starting in the fall semester of 2013. We found that pre-service teachers mostly prefer to use problem focus, emotion regulation, label feelings, and behavior focus responses towards children’s emotions. Those who prefer to use punishment responses towards children’s negative emotions were less likely to label feelings and refer to emotions responses, and most likely to prefer a minimization response. Overall, pre-service early childhood teachers’ responses to children’s negative emotions are seen to be generally shaped by their education and educational experiences. © 2014 European Journal of Research on Education by IASSR.