This study examined the direct and indirect relationships between playfulness (social and cognitive spontaneity), executive functions, convergent thinking, divergent thinking, and academic skills in Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children. Participants were 181 second-year (4 to 5 years) kindergarten children (45.9% boys) and their parents. Parents reported demographic information and children's playfulness and executive functions through a questionnaire. Children were administered behavioral assessments of convergent thinking, divergent thinking, Chinese word reading, and number word comparison at their kindergarten. Results from a path analytic model revealed the mediating roles of convergent and divergent thinking in the relationship between playfulness and number word comparison. In contrast, convergent thinking mediated the link between playfulness and Chinese word reading. Executive functions were positively related to playfulness but unrelated to children's academic skills. The findings suggest that playful children might develop better creative thinking processes, supporting their academic skills. Practically, the findings underscore the importance of play-based learning in developing children's creativity and academic skills in the early years. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Background: Preschool teachers’ well-being is positively associated with their students’ development and learning outcomes. Developing a positive psychological intervention that can foster preschool teachers’ well-being would be essential.Purpose: This study examined the effects of an intervention based on the PERMA (i.e., positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment) model on well-being outcomes among preschool teachers in Hong Kong.Method: We recruited 116 preschool teachers (Mage = 34.14 years, SD = 10.17, range = 21–59; female = 98.51%). Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 51; received four online workshops that cultivated the PERMA dimensions in 4 weeks) and waitlist control group (n = 65; only received the workshops after the data collection). Participants completed a survey that measured the PERMA dimensions of well-being at baseline 4- and 8-week follow-up occasions. MANCOVA and ANCOVA, controlling for gender, age, and teaching experience, were employed to examine the intervention effects.Results: A significant time x group interaction effect was found in the MANCOVA, Wilks’ Lambda F(10,102) = 2.19, p = .02, η2 = .18. The results of ANCOVA revealed that participants in the intervention group scored significantly higher on engagement, relationship, and accomplishment (η2 = .02 to .05, p < .05) than those in the control condition across time.Conclusion(s): Our findings highlighted the effects of PERMA-based interventions to promote mental health of preschool teachers. Teachers are encouraged to engage in positive psychological activities (e.g., positive reappraisal and self-compassion) to cultivate their well-being. Copyright © 2023 ICBM.

In multicultural education, empathy has been regarded as an essential teacher disposition that enables teachers to better understand culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students through perspective-taking. However, less is known about the mechanism that underlies how empathy fosters teachers’ competence in supporting CLD students, i.e., their multicultural teaching competence. This study fills the research gap by investigating multicultural beliefs as a potential mediator between teacher empathy (operationalized via perspective-taking) and multicultural teaching competence (as indicated by knowledge, skills, and relationship-building abilities). A total of 445 Chinese preschool and kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong (188 pre-service and 257 in-service teachers) completed a self-report questionnaire assessing teacher empathy, multicultural beliefs, and multicultural teaching competence. Mediation analyses revealed that teacher empathy was related to higher support for multicultural beliefs, which in turn predicted better multicultural skills, knowledge, and relationship-building abilities. The multi-group analysis further indicated equivalent mediation paths for both pre-and in-service teachers. Extending past research underscoring empathy as an essential teacher disposition for multicultural teaching competence, the present study showed that the crucial role of empathy in transforming teachers’ belief in favor of multiculturalism helps foster teachers’ multicultural teaching competence. A practical implication of the present study calls for including perspective-taking and critical examination of teacher beliefs as key elements in teacher education programs that are aimed at facilitating early childhood teachers’ multicultural teaching competence. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

Background: The school is one of the most salient developmental contexts for children. However, little is known about the associations linking the school environment to child adjustment in a non-Western context, not to mention the potential processes that may mediate these associations. Aims: This study examined the associations of school- and classroom-level characteristics with child adjustment and tested whether these associations were mediated by teacher–child relationship qualities. Sample: Cross-sectional data were collected on a representative sample of 1777 children (mean age = 55.14 months; 50% of them were girls) from 100 kindergartens in Hong Kong, China. Methods: Using self-reported questionnaires, teachers rated their school-level environments, their classroom chaos, their closeness and conflict with children and children's socioemotional competence and academic ability. Meanwhile, parents rated children's behavioural problems. Results: Multilevel structural equation modelling revealed that the school-level environment and classroom chaos were uniquely associated with children's socioemotional, behavioural and academic adjustment. Moreover, the associations of the school-level environment and classroom chaos with child socioemotional and academic adjustment were mediated by teacher–child closeness and conflict, whereas the associations of the school-level environment and classroom chaos with child behavioural problems were mediated by teacher–child conflict only. Conclusions: Findings indicated how school- and classroom-level characteristics may be uniquely associated with child adjustment and how teacher–child relationships may be implicated in the underlying mechanism, highlighting the potential utility of targeting school- and classroom-level environments and teacher–child relationships in promoting child development. Copyright © 2024 British Psychological Society.

This study examined the interrelationships among parental play belief, household playfulness, kindergarten play behaviors, and social competence in a sample of Hong Kong Chinese children. Participants were teachers and parents of 140 children (52.1% boys, mean age = 4.35). Parents reported their parental play belief and their child’s playfulness through a questionnaire, while teachers reported children’s kindergarten play behaviors and social competence. Multiple regressions and path analytic model revealed that children’s kindergarten social play, rough play, and reticent behaviors were correlates of their social competence; and that children’s social spontaneity, social play, and reticent behaviors act as potential mediators underlying the relationship between parental play belief and social competence. These findings suggest that parents holding positive play belief may promote their child’s social competence by shaping children’s household playfulness and kindergarten play behaviors. They also highlight the utility of promoting parental play belief, children’s social spontaneity, and kindergarten social play. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

This longitudinal study examined the interactive effects of individual- and classroom-level teacher−child relationships on developing externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors in kindergarten children over time. On two occasions separated by about 1 year, data were collected from 473 kindergarten children (52% boys, Mage = 4.36 years) and their class teachers and mothers in Hong Kong, China. Class teachers reported the closeness and conflict in their relationships with each participating child of their class at Time 1, and mothers reported the child’s externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors at Times 1 and 2. Results indicated that controlling for child age, gender, grade, maternal education, and prior levels of child adjustment, individual-level teacher−child closeness was negatively associated with internalizing behaviors, and individual-level teacher−child conflict was positively associated with child externalizing behaviors over time. Classroom-level teacher−child closeness and conflict emerged as moderators. The longitudinal association between individual-level teacher−child closeness and externalizing behaviors was negative in low-closeness classrooms but not in high-closeness classrooms. However, the longitudinal association between individual-level teacher−child conflict and child prosocial behaviors was negative in low-conflict classrooms but not in high-conflict classrooms. Despite the statistical significance of the cross-level interaction effects, they were of small effect sizes and explained only very small amounts of variance. Theoretically, our findings demonstrated the interplay of the individual- and classroom-level teacher−child relationships in shaping children’s psychosocial adjustment over time. Practically, our findings highlighted the importance of enhancing teachers’ awareness of the affective quality of their relationships with children at both classroom and individual levels, which could potentially impede or promote

Teachers’ well-being and self-efficacy are two important factors linked to quality education. Recent research examining their bidirectionality has revealed inconsistent findings, while those examining the relationships among pre-service and in-service teachers are scarce. This study investigates the reciprocal relationships between teachers’ well-being and self-efficacy in a sample of Hong Kong early childhood education teachers. Participants were 155 pre-service (n = 77) and in-service (n = 78) teachers (Mage = 23.97, SD = 4.46, female = 92.9%). Participants reported their teachers’ well-being (PERMA model including positive emotion, engagement, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment) and teachers’ self-efficacy at two-time points. The results from the cross-lagged panel model revealed that teachers’ self-efficacy at baseline significantly predicted all aspects of prospective well-being except for engagement. In contrast, none of the teachers’ well-being components significantly predicted later teachers’ self-efficacy, except for accomplishment. The associations between teachers’ self-efficacy and well-being were invariant across pre-service and in-service teachers. The results underscored the importance of teachers’ self-efficacy in facilitating teachers’ well-being. The findings also highlight the utility of intervention efforts targeting teachers’ self-efficacy and well-being, especially in promoting teachers’ accomplishment, at an early stage of their careers. Copyright © 2023 De La Salle University.

This study aims to compare auditory temporal processing and phonological processing across locations and age levels and to test the direct and indirect effects of auditory temporal and phonological processing on proficiency in Chinese character reading. We recruited 108 typically developing children — 25 and 24 kindergarteners from Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively, and 34 and 25 primary school students from Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively. Our findings showed that, before learning PCS, the languages’ phonological complexity did not affect the importance of ATP in Chinese reading. Also, we found the use of PCS could lead to a direct effect from students’ ATP to Chinese character reading as well as through phonological awareness. Our findings indicated that ways of learning to read influence children’s patterns of cognitive and linguistic abilities, which should be considered in teaching designs for reading. Copyright © 2023 Fundacion Infancia y Aprendizaje.

This study examined the interrelationships among playfulness, prosocial skills, and school readiness of Hong Kong kindergarten children across time. Participants were 106 local children (55.6% boys, mean age = 60.0 months) and their parents and teachers. At time 1, parents reported their child’s age, gender, and playfulness. Six months later at time 2, teachers reported children’s prosocial skills and school readiness. The structural equation model revealed that children’s playfulness at time 1 significantly predicted their prosocial skills at time 2, and that their prosocial skills and school readiness at time 2 were positively associated. The indirect relationship between playfulness and school readiness as mediated through prosocial skills was significant, whereas the direct relationship was non-significant. These findings suggest that children’s playfulness may contribute to school readiness by fostering prosocial skills. Practically, results highlight the utility of promoting children’s playfulness and prosocial skills to support their formal school transition. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Effective teacher training programs entail cultivating not only professional teaching competencies but also promoting psychological strengths. However, there is a lack of investigation into how different modes of delivering psychological interventions influence well-being outcomes in the teaching profession, such as preschool educators. This study examines the effects of different technologically driven modes of implementing a PROSPER-based psychological intervention on positivity, relationship, outcome, strengths, purpose, engagement, and resilience. One hundred twenty-eight pre-service preschool teachers were randomly assigned to (1) the full intervention (i.e., online workshop and smartphone app); (2) the online workshop; (3) the smartphone app; and (4) the wait-list control group. The results demonstrated that the online workshop mode yielded the strongest intervention effects on well-being outcomes: positivity, purpose, engagement, and resilience. Although the smartphone app mode did not significantly improve psychological outcomes, combining this approach with the online workshop format appeared to have positive retention effects on positivity at the Time 3 follow-up. The findings suggest that the traditional mode of implementing positive psychological interventions could be more effective than the smartphone app-based mode in bolstering pre-service teachers' well-being. Copyright © 2023 International Association of Applied Psychology.