The Effect of Relationships with Teacher and Peers on Pre-school Students' School Adjusment

Children's relationships with their peers and teachers are closely related to their social skills,academic achievements and probable problems which can come out in their later school period. The aim of this study is to... [ view full abstract ]

Children's relationships with their peers and teachers are closely related to their social skills,academic achievements and probable problems which can come out in their later school period. The aim of this study is to investigate effects of relationships with peers and teachers on children's school adjustment skills in the preschool period. The participants of the study were 24 teachers and 222 children in 7 state preschools in Adana, a city in southern Turkey. 49,11% of the children were girls and 50,9% of the children were boys. The mean age of them was 66,3 months. From the relational research methods, predictiverelational research design was used in this study. In this study, Child Behaviour Scale developed by Ladd and Profilet was used to determine the degree of children's relationships with their peers and Student-Teacher Relationship Scale developed by Pianta  was used to determine the extent of children'srelationships with their teachers. In addition, Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment developed by Ladd, Kochenfender and Coleman was completed by teachers.The results of the study showed positive significant relationships between closeness and prosocial with peers, between cooperative participation and self-directedness in teacher-child relationships. Negative significant relationships were found out between conflict, asocial with peers, excluded by peers, anxious-fearful, hyperactive-distractible and school liking, cooperative participation and self-directedness. Also, positive significant relationship was seen between asocial with peers, anxious-fearful and school avoidance.