Given the recognised importance of self-regulation (SR) and executive functioning (EF) in young children's academic and social-emotional wellbeing, their development should not be left to chance. This mixed methods study investigated whether the children taught by educators trained in the SOWATT program, a purposively designed professional learning program targeting self-regulation and executive functioning, would achieve better outcomes on a range of SR/EF measures than a control group who followed their usual program. Participants were 14 educators and 106 children, between the ages of 4 and 5 years, from four early childhood centres, run by the same not-for-profit organisation in Melbourne, Australia. Following a six-month intervention period, multiple regression analysis of pre and post task-based measures and a behaviour rating questionnaire, indicated that the children in the intervention group had made significantly greater gains than those in the control group. Qualitative data obtained from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, confirmed the acceptability of the program by educators as easy to implement, and as a catalyst for change in their practice. Findings support previous research that building educator capacity through in-service professional learning is a viable, and potentially sustainable approach to improving young children's self-regulation and executive functioning abilities.

中文翻译：

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支持幼儿教育工作者通过专业学习培养儿童的自我调节和执行功能

鉴于自我调节（SR）和执行功能（EF）对幼儿学业和社会情感健康的重要性已得到公认，他们的发展不应听之任之。这项混合方法研究调查了受过 SOWATT 计划（一项专门设计的针对自我调节和执行功能的专业学习计划）培训的教育工作者所教的孩子，在一系列 SR/EF 测量方面是否会比遵循其方法的对照组取得更好的结果。平常的节目。参与者包括来自澳大利亚墨尔本同一非营利组织运营的四个幼儿中心的 14 名教育工作者和 106 名年龄在 4 至 5 岁之间的儿童。经过六个月的干预期后，基于任务的测量前后的多元回归分析以及行为评分问卷表明，干预组的儿童比对照组的儿童取得了显着更大的进步。从问卷调查和半结构化访谈中获得的定性数据证实了教育工作者对该计划的接受度，因为该计划易于实施，并且可以作为其实践变革的催化剂。研究结果支持了之前的研究，即通过在职专业学习来建设教育者能力是提高幼儿自我调节和执行功能能力的可行且可能可持续的方法。