Mediator role of executive functions of children between the quality of early childhood education classes and children's independent learning behaviors

The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of executive function levels of pre-school children in the relationship between the quality of early childhood education classrooms and children's independent learning behaviours. The model, which was created by considering the related literature, was evaluated by path analysis. A total of 323 children aged between 49-71 months and attending pre-school education institutions in Balıkesir province centre and their teachers participated in the study. Childhood Executive Functioning Invantery (CHEXI) was used to determine the executive function levels of the children participating in the study, the Early Childhood Classroom Environment Assessment Scale (ECCEAS) was used to evaluate the quality of the classrooms participating in the study, and the Children's Independent Learning Development (Child 3-5) Checklist was used to determine the learning behaviours of the children participating in the study. The scales were evaluated by the teachers. Normality assumptions were checked by examining the skewness and kurtosis values of the obtained data and it was found that the data were normally distributed. Path analysis, which is a special case of structural equation modelling in which direct and indirect, causal relationships between two or more observed variables are evaluated, was performed using Mplus. At the end of the analyses, it was concluded that the fit indices of the tested model were excellent. The direct effects found significant in the model are as follows: Independent learning behaviours were predicted positively by working memory and negatively by inhibitory control. Inhibitory control is predicted negatively by encouraging positive behaviours and positively by supporting self-efficacy. None of the indirect effects through mediators reached statistical significance.