Elementary Preservice Teachers' Reactions to Shy, Exuberant, and Typical Children

The study explored elementary preservice teachers’ reactions (self-efficacy, warmth, academic expectations) and strategies working with children frequently demonstrating temperamentally shy, exuberant, and typical behaviors in the classroom. A total of 354 preservice teachers responded to three hypothetical vignettes. Results indicated participants were most likely to show warmth to shy children, higher self-efficacy for teaching typical children, and higher academic expectation for typical children than both shy and exuberant children. Developmentally-supportive strategies would be used most frequently for shy children and least for typical children, whereas non-developmentally supportive strategies would be used most frequently for exuberant children and least for typical children. When exiting the program, preservice teachers reported higher self-efficacy and more warmth toward all three types of children.