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Does the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management programme improve child–teacher relationships in childcare centres? A 1-year universal intervention in a Norwegian community sample

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Abstract

The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) programme has shown promise in reducing behaviour problems among high-risk children in childcare. However, at present, we do not know whether the IY TCM successfully improves the child–teacher relationship in childcare and whether the effects manifest in both the population and in high-risk groups. Hence, we conducted a quasi-experimental pre-post study with a matched control condition to examine the changes in child–teacher relationships in a sample of 1085 children aged 3–6 years after implementing the IY TCM programme. Linear mixed models revealed favourable group-by-time differences benefitting the intervention compared to the control condition. Subgroup analyses of children scoring at or above the 90th percentile on either internalising or externalising behaviour problems showed that the preventive effects persisted in both high-risk subsamples. In sum, the findings indicate that the IY TCM programme does improve child–teacher relationships and that the effect is present for the entire study population as well as children scoring in the clinical range on behaviour problems. This suggests that the application of the IY TCM programme in childcare settings has important preventive effects. Implications and limitations are further discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Professor Willy-Tore Mørch for his contribution to the study design, Anne-Kari Johnsen, Merete Aasheim and Oddbjørn Løndal for acquisition of data, parents for their willingness to participate, and the childcare teachers for completing the assessments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare - Central Norway, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

    Håvard Horndalen Tveit & May Britt Drugli

  2. Centre for the Study of Educational Practice (SePu), Hedmark University College, Elverum, Norway

    May Britt Drugli

  3. The Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare - North, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

    Sturla Fossum & Bjørn Helge Handegård

  4. Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

    Frode Stenseng

  5. Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education (DMMH), Trondheim, Norway

    Frode Stenseng

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  1. Håvard Horndalen Tveit
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  2. May Britt Drugli
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  3. Sturla Fossum
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Correspondence to Håvard Horndalen Tveit.

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All the procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Tveit, H.H., Drugli, M.B., Fossum, S. et al. Does the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management programme improve child–teacher relationships in childcare centres? A 1-year universal intervention in a Norwegian community sample. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 29, 625–636 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-019-01387-5

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