Individual toddlers' interactions with teachers, peers, and the classroom environment in Danish and Dutch childcare: First validation of the inCLASS Toddler

The purpose of the study was to test a new observation tool called inCLASS Toddler, which is used to look at toddler interactions with employees, other children and the kindergarten environment. The researchers wanted to find out if this tool provides a good and reliable assessment of how children interact in kindergartens in Denmark and the Netherlands. The research questions are:

1) What is the factor model of inCLASS Toddler (structural validity)?

2) Are there differences in toddler interactions based on age and gender (construct validity)?

3) What is the relationship between individual toddler interactions and their linguistic, mathematical and social-emotional skills (criteria validity)?

The study concluded that inCLASS Toddler reliably measures interactions in both countries, although validity was somewhat stronger for Denmark. Positive engagement with kindergarten teachers was associated with better language skills and mathematical language, while behavioural control correlated with self-regulation. The results also showed that the observed interactions can provide more nuanced information than general kindergarten measurements.

The data consist of observations of 211 toddlers aged 13 to 42 months in 58 kindergartens in Denmark and the Netherlands. In Denmark, the data were collected using observations carried out by master’s students, while video recordings were used in the Netherlands. The observations were conducted in 15-minute cycles, with 10 minutes of observation and 5 minutes of coding. Each dimension was assessed on a 7-point scale that measured the quality of children’s interactions with kindergarten teachers, peers and their ability to manage tasks and behaviour. Multiple observation sessions were collected for each child to ensure reliability.

Slot, P. L., Willemsen, M. M., Bleses, D., & Downer, J. (2023). Individual toddlers' interactions with teachers, peers, and the classroom environment in Danish and Dutch childcare: First validation of the inCLASS Toddler. Learning and Individual Differences, 107, 102347.