Browsing by Subject "Itsesäätelytaidot"

Abstract Self-regulation means the ability to control own emotions, behavior and cognitive operations as required by the environment. This research focuses on examining how self-regulation skills of children from 3 to 5 years are supported in the kindergarten. The research question was (1) how is the development of self-regulation skills of children from 3 to 5 years supported in the kindergarten according to kindergarten teachers? The research question had three parts. (1.1) How kindergarten teachers define self-regulation? (1.2) In which ways development of self-regulation is supported in the kindergarten? (1.3) How kindergarten teachers explain these methods? Previous research has shown that child learns self-regulation by interacting with others. Feedback from environment and the way how adult responds to child’s actions have an impact on development of self-regulation. The method of this research was qualitative. The data was collected by using half-structured interview. The data consists of three interviews, which were conducted in three different kindergartens in Vantaa. All three interviewees had kindergarten teacher degree and they all had worked in the field at least five years. The data was analyzed by themes, which were based on research questions and interview questions. The results of this research brought out that the way adult guides and encourages child in the kindergarten activities in the early childhood education were essential. Creating positive atmosphere, presence of an adult, and adult’s own example were seen as important parts of teaching self-regulation skills. It also seemed to be important to use different kind of pictures while guiding child and vary the size of child groups. Kindergarten teachers defined that self-regulation skills include of the way child controls their actions, behaviors and how child concentrates on doing something without the distraction of environment.