The role of teacher interaction in preschool children's dramatic play

Although practical guidelines in the field of early childhood education recommend a high level of involvement among teachers with children, empirical research on the effects of such involvement has been equivocal. This study assessed the contribution of teacher presence to the appropriate behavior of preschool children in a single area of the childcare setting, the dramatic play area. In addition, parent reports of child behavior problems were used to delineate two groups of children, with high and low scores on this measure. A normative analysis of differences across teacher involvement conditions indicated that children engaged in more social play when the teacher was absent. This was particularly true among those children with fewer behavior problems, and appears to have been due in part to a roughly proportional increase in interactions with an adult. Children's dramatic play also differed across these dimensions: the highest rate of this behavior occurred among low behavior-problem children when the teacher was absent, and the lowest rate was obtained among high behavior problem children when the teacher was present. Other useful indicators included age, gender, and socialization experience. In general, older children and those with more socialization experience engaged in more appropriate play, while boys exhibited more disruptive behaviors.