A Study of Ontario Full-Day Kindergarten Educators’ Responses to Children’s Emotions

Abstract

It is well documented that children’s negative behaviours and emotions are stressors for educators (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). The ways educators respond to children’s dysregulation are dependent, in part, on their social emotional competencies (SECs) (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009) and a contributing factor in socializing children’s emotional development (Morris et al., 2013). In this dissertation, I examine the relationship between Ontario Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) educators’ emotion regulation strategies, dispositional mindfulness, and their contingent responses to children’s negative behaviours.

A total of 47 FDK educators, both Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) (n=13) and Ontario Certified Teachers (OCTs) (n=34) working within a large school board in Ontario, completed an online survey measuring two emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression), dispositional mindfulness, and their positive and negative responses to children’s negative emotions. The descriptive statistics show educators used more cognitive reappraisal than emotion suppression strategies and also reported a lack of both pre-service education and professional development training in relation to stress and coping in FDK classrooms. Regression analysis resulted in a significant relationship between educators’ cognitive reappraisal and their positive responses to children’s negative emotions. Dispositional mindfulness was an insignificant variable within the model of educators’ emotion regulation and contingent responding.

The relationship between educators’ cognitive reappraisal and their positive responses to children’s negative emotions is addressed within the broader literature on educators’ SECs, and within the prosocial classroom model (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). I re-examine psychometric and Buddhist conceptualizations of dispositional mindfulness to explain its non-significance within this study. The implications of the study findings are discussed within their practice and policy implications, specifically around pre-service education and professional learning opportunities, and future research in both education and parenting fields is addressed. Understanding educators’ SECs, and specifically cognitive reappraisal as skills that underlie mental health in general, which contribute to socializing children’s emotions, drives the need for more research and skill building in this area.