Kindergarten Programmes and the Young Child's Task Orientation and Understanding About Time Scheduling

S ummary . In a cumulative study over five years, detailed evaluation of kindergarten programmes was made along the dimensions of teacher treatment of time, classroom spatial arrangement, equipment and materials, and communication between people. After preliminary studies, four types of programme varying in time scheduling and planning for and reinforcement of task orientation were defined. The effects of the programmes on four‐ and five‐year‐old pupils were observed. As predicted, the task orientation of the children in both age groups varied with the degree of attention to programme planning to enhance it. Detailed description of the task orientation enhancing programme is provided. Girls in all programmes increased their task orientation more than boys, and in regular programmes decreased their task orientation in response to teacher‐planned interruptions. In the enhancing programmes, children felt more responsibility for their own learning. It is concluded that the climate of the classroom for young children is set mainly through the treatment of time. The early part of the school is the period when task orientation can be increased and during the second half of the year it is consolidated or decreased. In programmes of the type most commonly used in North America and Great Britain, task orientation was found to decrease between January and May for almost half the children

Developmental psychology · Management · Mathematics education · Orientation (vector space) · Pedagogy · Reinforcement · Task (project management) · Collaborative Teaching and Inclusion · Early Childhood Education and Development · Psychology · Social Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies