Abstract

FARINHA, Sofia  and  FUERTES, Marina. As mother and as educator! A study to compare mothers and educators in a collaborative task with their or others' children. Invest. Práticas [online]. 2018, vol.8, n.2, pp.47-74. ISSN 2182-1372.  https://doi.org/10.25757/invep.v8i2.151.

The research highlights differences between the behavior of fathers/mothers versus early childhood Educators both in experimental and naturalistic observations. The following question were raised: Do childhood educators act with their children predominantly as the generality of parents (spontaneously) or as educators (with educational intention)? The present study seeks to compare the interactive behavior of Mothers, childhood Educators, and Mothers-educators. In this study, mothers and educators were observed, in the same quasi-experimental conditions, as partners in a play construction activity with the child. For that effect, 20 dyads mother-child, 21 dyads educator-child, and 20 dyads educator-offspring were asked to create, in 20 minutes, a product of their choice with the available materials and tools. The children were 3 to 5 years old and did not present identified development problems. In the three groups, the intention was: 1) to compare the interactive quality of Mothers, Mothers-Educators and Educators regarding empathy, attention, reciprocity, cooperation, elaboration/fantasy, proposed challenge; 2) to describe and to compare the created products made by the dyads as well as the choices of materials and tools; 3) to relate obtained data with demographical variables. The results indicate that Educators give, in average, more appropriate answers than other participants and few differences can be found between Mothers and Mother-Educators. The interaction's quality is better in the dyads where the child is the product's author, and such is less prevailing in dyads Mother or Educator with their children. In sum, Educators give fewer exploration and performance opportunities to their own children than Educators with children from the classroom.

Keywords : Parenthood; Childhood Education; Child-Adult Interaction; Interactive Behavior.

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