Abstract
The risk for many young children from minority backgrounds of being excluded from a quality education might be reduced through the creation of a positive classroom climate. A systematic review was conducted to gain a better understanding of the pedagogical and structural aspects that foster a positive classroom climate in multicultural early childhood education settings. Following a systematic review procedure, 14 articles were selected and included in the analysis. The findings indicate that eight aspects contribute to a positive climate in these settings: on the one hand, pedagogical practices, including increased instructional time, teacher-student supportive interactions, peer interactions and friendship, child engagement, teacher training on emotionally supportive environments and teacher-family trust-based relationships, and on the other hand, structural aspects, including small peer groups and materials shared among children. This evidence may be used to foster a classroom climate that enhances learning processes and social development in multicultural preschool groups. However, more research is needed to better understand the particular role that cultural diversity plays in the classroom climate.
Highlights
As the United Nations stated in the fourth Sustainable Development Goal, obtaining a quality education is the foundation for creating sustainable development aimed at achieving fairer and more supportive societies
This systematic review aims to respond to the following question: Which pedagogical or structural aspects are related to a positive classroom climate in early childhood education in culturally diverse contexts?
These aspects can be grouped under the two dimensions that have been agreed upon in the literature to define quality in early childhood education: “structural aspects” and “pedagogical practices” (Andrews et al 2014; Barros et al 2016; Løkken et al 2018; Mathers et al 2014)
Summary
As the United Nations stated in the fourth Sustainable Development Goal, obtaining a quality education is the foundation for creating sustainable development aimed at achieving fairer and more supportive societies. Both dimensions shape the classroom climate based on how social interactions between children and between children and the teacher occur through pedagogical practices in the classroom. Childhood Education Journal refers to the global classroom atmosphere that is shaped by the interactions that take place in the classroom as a whole, including the teacher’s behaviour, students’ responses to the teacher, the teacher’s response to students, and interactions among students (Gazelle 2006). The classroom climate is reported to be a “positive climate” when a sense of connectedness and belongingness, enjoyment and enthusiasm, and respect are observed among the students and in the teacher-student relationship. A “negative climate” is reported when a sense of frequent disruption, conflict, and disorganization is observed (Gazelle 2006; Reyes et al 2012)
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