The Effects of Early Child Care Teachers' Communication Competence, Interpersonal Competence and Teacher Self-efficacy to Enlist Parental Involvement on Parent-Teacher Partnerships

This study examined the characteristics of early child care teachers and the ways this influences their abilities to promote the parent-teacher partnerships.266 early child care teachers participated in this study.Parent-teacher partnerships, communication competence, interpersonal competence, and teacher efficacy in enlisting parental involvement were measured by means of The Caregiver-Parent Partnership Scale, Global Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale, Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire and selected elements of the Teacher Self-efficacy Scale.The results indicated that parent-teacher partnerships were significantly different in terms of the characteristics of teachers.The hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the communication competence, interpersonal competence, and teacher self-efficacy significantly predicted the type and quality of parent-teacher partnerships.In conclusion, improving the effectiveness of parent-teacher partnerships seems heavily dependent upon the quality and personal abilities an beliefs of early child care teachers.