Thesis abstract:

«p»The first five years of a child’s life are critical in terms of their lifelong health and wellbeing. Indeed, early development directly influences academic achievement, health outcomes and social-emotional wellbeing in adolescence and adulthood. Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is a crucial opportunity to support early development; however, challenging behaviours in ECEC settings can negatively impact outcomes for both children as well as educators. Whilst behavioural support interventions have been shown to be effective ways to reduce challenging behaviour in ECEC settings, educators acknowledge that they do not have sufficient knowledge about behaviour support interventions and strategies and studies have shown they feel overwhelmed and unprepared in dealing with behavioural issues. Furthermore, the value of the ECEC quality and assessment process for educators is not well understood particularly with regards to how outcomes influence classroom practices and their relationships with students. Given this context, this study aims: 1) assess and explore the prevalence and range of challenging as well as prosocial behaviours amongst children aged 0-5 years that are most commonly exhibited in Australian ECEC settings; 2) scope current interventions to support educators in Australian ECEC centres; 3) assess and explore early childhood educator’s knowledge of and engagement with behaviour support interventions; and 4) examine early childhood educators’ perceptions of the Australian quality assessment process regarding supporting children classroom behaviour.«/p»