Toddler-Teacher Interaction and Teachers’ Sensitivity as Predictors of
Toddler’s Development during COVID-19: Stability or Change over Time
Abstract
This study examined the stability and change patterns among toddlers’
interactions with their teachers, teachers’ sensitivity, and toddlers’
development during the COVID-19 pandemic and the three plausible paths
were tested to identify which of the study variables affected the
developmental trajectories in toddlers over time. Sixty- three toddlers
and six head teachers from a childcare center in Korea were sampled. The
data on toddler-teacher interaction and teachers’ sensitivity were
collected by observation during free play using a camera, and the
toddler’s temperament and development were assessed by his or her
mother. Toddlers who had been actively involved in initiating their
verbal interactions with teachers showed more verbal interactions with
their teachers even after 4 months passed. Also, the study found that
the early (T1) social disposition of toddlers and the behavioral
interaction that toddlers had initiated with teachers revealed each of
the simultaneous, cumulative, and complex effects. These results support
the contention that the nature of interactions vary by contexts of
subject, time, and socio-history, and new competencies should be
required for teachers within the multi-faceted pandemic and its
ramifications on toddler development.