The Effects of a Self-Regulation Professional Learning Intervention on Early Childhood Educator Beliefs and Practices Regarding Child Behaviour, Relationships with Children, and Professional Stress

Decades of research on early student-teacher relationships (STRs) show that they play a pivotal role in the behavioural, academic, and social outcomes of the child. This research allows us to conclude with near certainty that early STRs have a lasting impact on the academic and developmental trajectories of children. Studies show that child behaviour is a significant contributor to the quality of this relationship. Given the importance of STRs in the early years, the purposes of this study were to explore the variables associated with the development of early STRs and to investigate the potential of a professional learning course on the neurophysiology of child behaviour, as framed by Self-Reg theory, to impact these variables. To achieve these ends, this study utilized a mixed method, quasi-experimental, pre-test, intervention, posttest design in which a sample of early childhood educators (n = 104) were surveyed on their experience with challenging child behaviour, their relationships with students, their beliefs and practices regarding child behaviour, their beliefs about self-regulation, and their own professional stress. A subset of survey respondents who expressed an interest in the professional learning were randomly assigned to either a PL (n = 20) or control group (n = 22). PL participants then participated in a two-day professional learning course that explained child behaviour as a neurophysiological, stress-related phenomenon, as framed by Self-Reg theory. In order to investigate the impact of the PL on the STR variables, PL participants and controls were re-surveyed eight weeks post-intervention and PL participants were also interviewed, individually and in focus groups. Exploratory analyses of survey data confirm the role of challenging child behaviour in the conflictual STR and further highlight the role of educator emotional exhaustion, revealing it as both related to challenging child behaviour and a predictor of educator practices regarding challenging child behaviour. Findings in regards to the Self Reg PL show a significant impact on educator beliefs and practices regarding challenging child behaviour and their understanding of self-regulation as a neurophysiological construct. These results suggest that a two-day Self Reg PL intervention can produce a shared neurophysiological understanding of the self-regulation construct with associated changes in educator cognition and behaviour.