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Classroom organization and teacher stress predict learning motivation in kindergarten children

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Abstract

This study examined the extent to which observed teaching practices and self-reported teacher stress predict children’s learning motivation and phonological awareness in kindergarten. The pre-reading skills of 1,268 children were measured at the beginning of their kindergarten year. Their learning motivation and phonological awareness were assessed in the following spring. Questionnaires measuring teacher stress were filled out by 137 kindergarten teachers. A pair of trained observers used the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (Pianta et al. 2008) to observe 49 kindergarten teachers from the whole sample on their emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. The results of multilevel modeling showed that low teacher stress and high classroom organization predicted high learning motivation in children and that the children’s learning motivation contributed to their level of phonological awareness. Moreover, children’s learning motivation mediated the association between teacher stress and children’s phonological awareness. The results emphasize the importance of teachers’ pedagogical well-being and classroom organizational quality for children’s learning motivation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylän Yliopisto, Finland

    Eija Pakarinen, Noona Kiuru & Jari-Erik Nurmi

  2. Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylän Yliopisto, Finland

    Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen & Anna-Maija Poikkeus

  3. Philosophical Faculty, School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Martti Siekkinen

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  1. Eija Pakarinen
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  2. Noona Kiuru
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  3. Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen
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  4. Anna-Maija Poikkeus
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  5. Martti Siekkinen
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  6. Jari-Erik Nurmi
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Correspondence to Eija Pakarinen.

Additional information

This study has been carried out in the Centre of Excellence in Learning and Motivation Research financed by the Academy of Finland (Nr. 213486 for 2006-2011) and other grants from the same funding agency (Nr. 213353 for 2005–2008 and Nr. 125811 for 2008–2009).

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Pakarinen, E., Kiuru, N., Lerkkanen, MK. et al. Classroom organization and teacher stress predict learning motivation in kindergarten children. Eur J Psychol Educ 25, 281–300 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-010-0025-6

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