Experience in Applying the CLASS Method for Assessing the Quality of the Educational Environment of a Kindergarten

Background. The quality of preschool education is of great importance for the subsequent adaptation and academic success. The ECERS-R methodology is available for Russian psychologists for assessing the quality of the educational environment of a kindergarten with a large array of accumulated data. ECERS-R is aimed at assessing more the material and subject arrangement of a preschool educational institution and the nature of the child's interaction with the environment (including social). At the same time, in our opinion, insufficient attention is paid to assessing the emotional climate of interactions between children and teachers and assessing the extent to which the proposed training is in the zone of proximal development of the child.

Objective. To compensate for the identified deficit, work was carried out to start adapting another tool for assessing the quality of the educational environment — the CLASS methodology, based on the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky about the optimal construction of the educational process.

Methods. The study was conducted in 41 preparatory groups of Moscow kindergartens. In these groups, to assess the quality of the educational environment, the CLASS methodology was used, which includes 10 dimensions combined into 3 main domains: Emotional support, Classroom Organization and Instructional support. Also, on a part of the sample (N=26 groups), the ECERS-R method was additionally used.

Results. Analysis of the internal reliability of the instrumentation showed satisfactory results. Although the scores for all three domains are related, the Instructional Support scores were significantly lower than the Emotional Support and Classroom Organization scores. Comparison of the results of the CLASS and ECERS-R methods showed a small number of relationships between the scores of the scales of the two methods. At the same time, the CLASS parameter Instructional support is more related to ECERS-R.

Conclusion. The data obtained confirm our assumption that the CLASS method provides significant information about the quality of interaction between a teacher and children in a kindergarten group, which complements the results of ECERS-R, which means that this tool will be useful for a full assessment of the quality of the educational environment in a kindergarten.

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