C U P I D C OLLABORATIVE FOR U NDERSTANDING THE P EDAGOGY OF I NFANT / TODDLER D EVELOPMENT CUPID: A Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Effort to Improve Teaching and Enhance Practice for those Serving Infants, Toddlers, and their Families Rachel Chazan-Cohen Claire D. Vallotton & Julia C. Torquati Associations between attachment style & beliefs about child development in a sample of college students The Collaborative for Understanding the Pedagogy of Infant/toddler Development (CUPID) is a group of scholars from 20 U.S. universities who have joined together to understand how to better prepare pre-service child development students for future careers in early childhood education and development. We outlined 9 competencies that every infant/toddler professional needs (Table 1), and identified a set of research questions to fill the gap in knowledge about developing these competencies in college students: Who are our students? What and how are we teaching What do students learn? What supports and hinders student learning? How can we better prepare the future infant/toddler workforce We developed a pilot study to describe students’ background characteristics, attitudes, knowledge, and skills, and explore the connections between these. We focused on 3 of our 9 competencies – (3) supporting relationships, (4) supporting learning, and (5) guidance of infant/toddler behavior. Our results demonstrate that early childhood students’ attachment styles are related to their knowledge, attitudes, and skills relevant to infant/toddler development and care. Attachment security is associated with more knowledge and developmentally supportive attitudes. Although further research is needed, this suggests that adult attachment is important in the early childhood workforce, and pre-service teachers’ education. Faculty preparing future early childhood teachers may need to watch for indicators of difficulty in students’ work with children and find ways to support better child-teacher interactions; incorporating knowledge of students’ characteristics and dispositions, including attachment, into pedagogical considerations and reflective supervision. Knowledge and Attitude Dimension Attachment SecureDismissiveFearful KIDI: Tolerance of Individual Differences KIDI: Appropriate Expectation KIDI: Effective Guidance 0.24** Guidance: Strictness of Discipline-0.12~ 0.26* 0.15* Guidance: Spanking is Useful-0.14*-0.21** 0.11 Beliefs ~ Learning: Endorse Child Lead 0.36**-0.19** 0.03 Beliefs ~ Learning: Early Learning Matters 0.32**-0.18** 0.03 Beliefs ~ Learning: Basic Skills ~ 0.21** Beliefs ~ Learning: Didactic * Beliefs ~ Learning: Endorse Teacher-Lead-0.24** 0.26** 0.09 Individual Diff’s: Treat Children Same * Individual Diff’s: Treat Children as Individuals 0.28**-0.23**-0.09 Individual Diff’s: Tolerate, Challenge-0.14* 0.19** 0.17* Teachers have Little Effect on Children-0.20** 0.18** 0.10 Organismic Development: Teachers Must Monitor/Intervene 0.14* Organismic Development: Dvpt is Self-Righting 0.30** Support for Parent- Child Relationship 0.35**-0.23**-0.01 Support for Teacher-Child Relationship 0.16*-0.18*-0.16* Research Questions Understanding how adult attachment influences early childhood-related attitudes and skills may help university instructors better understand their students and help students better understand their own attitudes and responses toward children. Therefore this study explores the following questions:. How is attachment style associated with child development students’ knowledge and attitudes about infants, toddlers, and young children? Do attitudes mediate effects of attachment and knowledge on child development students' skills for working with infants and toddlers in developmentally supportive ways? Method 200 college students from 4 universities, who were enrolled in courses with early childhood content, completed a web-based survey which assessed the following: Student background factors, including demographic variables, family composition, attachment, experience with children, political affiliation, and career goals To assess tendencies toward security, fearfulness, dismissiveness, or preoccupation in close relationships, we used 24 items from the Attachment Styles Questionnaire (Van Oudenhoven, Hofstra, & Bakker, 2003). Students’ practice-relevant knowledge, attitudes, and skills in three competences: (3) Understanding and Supporting Relationships, (4) Understanding and Supporting Learning, and (5) Guidance of Infant/ Toddler Behavior were assessed using measures in Table 2. Students skills were assessed using 12 vignettes asked students “What would you do?” in response to hypothetical caregiver-child interactions. Multiple-choice response options tap caregiving styles that reflect (a) laissez-faire attitudes with tendency to miss teachable moments, (b) intrusiveness/ over-involvement, or (c) balanced/ supportive scaffolding. Aspect of Knowledge/AttitudesItem Sources Knowledge of infant development Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI; MacPhee, 1981) Concern about infant/toddler dependence and spoiling Parental Opinion Survey (POS; Luster, 1981) Beliefs about infant/toddler guidance Includes beliefs about strictness and spanking POS Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (Bavolek & Keene, 2001) Trust in organismic development Mothers’ trust in children’s natural ability to develop in a healthy, autonomous fashion predicts autonomy-supportive (rather than controlling) parenting (Landry et al 2008). Landry et al., (2008) Support for infant/toddler learning Includes assessment of beliefs about infant/toddler language development and the effectiveness of teacher-led, basic skills versus child-centered learning. POS Parental Modernity Inventory (PMI; Schaefer & Edgerton, 1985) Teaching Beliefs Scale (Stipek & Byler, 1997) Newly created item Beliefs concerning the significance of nature in relation to nurture POS Respect for individual differences Includes assessment of beliefs that all children need identical versus individualized approaches. PMI Newly created items Beliefs regarding relationships with parents Includes assessment of beliefs about the importance of partnering with parents Newly created items Student Opinions about Infant/Toddler Care Survey (SOITCS; Anderson, 2013) Beliefs regarding teacher:child ratios and continuity of care SOITCS Table 2: Correlations between Attachment and Knowledge and Attitudes Figure 1: Mediation of the Effects of Attachment through Attitudes Discussion Does attachment influence these competencies? Results Table 1 Table 2: Measures of Knowledge and Attitudes for Working with Infants and Toddlers Attachment fearfulness was most strongly associated with skills(r=-0.17, p<.05), with evidence of mediation through attitudes (Figure 1) as follows: Significant PathsTrends attitudes related to supporting the parent-child relationship (Z = 2.06, p <.05) supporting the teacher-child relationship (Z = 1.74, p =.08) attitudes related to child-focused supports for learning (Z = 1.97, p <.05) optimistic views of development (Z = 1.81, p =.07) attitudes of strictness and control in infant/toddler guidance (Z = 2.84, p <.01) Understanding & Supporting Relationships Teacher-Child Relationships -0.17* (0.09) Parent-Child Relationships -0.15* -0.21* 0.23*** 0.20** Understanding & Supporting Learning Learning: Optimistic View Learning: Child-Focused -0.15* -0.26*** 0.29** 0.19* -0.17* (0.06) Guidance of Infant / Toddler Behavior Strictness & Controlling 0.24*** -0.57*** -0.17* (0.07) Interaction Skills Attachment Fearfulness