The Relationship between Classroom Quality-Related Variables and Engagement Levels in Swedish Preschool Classrooms: A Longitudinal Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between Swedish preschool classroom quality and children's engagement levels. The study assesses preschool classroom quality and children's engagement levels on the basis of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS); an observation tool to measure the quality of the activities and interactions taking place in the group of children/classroom. The CLASS system is divided into three overall domains: (1) Emotional support, including the climate in the group, responsiveness of the preschool teacher and consideration of child perspectives, (2) classroom organisation, which is about systems for behavioural control, routines, variation and structure in learning content, (3) instructional support, for example conceptual development, feedback and use of language.

Children's engagement levels were assessed at group level by observing, for example, the children's focus and participation in various preschool activities as well as their contact with other children and desire to play with the materials available in the environment.

The following research questions were investigated: What changes are seen in emotional support, classroom organisation, instructional support and the children's engagement levels over time? How can emotional support, classroom organisation and instructional support predict classroom engagement levels over time? What characterises the identified patterns in engagement levels and classroom quality?

Overall, the authors assess that the preschool units observed are characterised by relatively high levels of emotional support, classroom organisation and instructional support, and the children's engagement levels are also generally high. However, whereas the level for the three domains – emotional support, classroom organisation and instructional support – improves over time, the children's engagement levels remain stable. According to the authors, this may be due to the fact that the children's engagement levels are generally high. Moreover, the analysis shows that emotional support is the strongest predictor of children's engagement levels over time. According to the authors, the overall results indicate that the quality of preschools in Sweden is high, especially in relation to the preschool teachers' emotional support for the children, which explains the children's high engagement levels.

The empirical material consists of CLASS observations of 165 preschool teachers from 55 preschool units. The data was collected through observations of preschool teachers and children while engaged in various daily activities. The observations were not aimed at the individual children, but at the classroom as a whole. The children observed were aged 1 to 5 years. The classroom engagement levels were also assessed on the basis of the CLASS scoring system, whereas background information about the preschool teachers was collected through a questionnaire. Each preschool unit was observed twice with an interval of 12 months. This enabled the authors to examine the development in engagement levels and preschool quality over time

Castro, S., Granlund, M., & Almqvist, L. (2017). The Relationship between Classroom Quality-Related Variables and Engagement Levels in Swedish Preschool Classrooms: A Longitudinal Study. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 25(1), 122-135.