Using a Classroom Environment Instrument in an Early Childhood Classroom

Abstract

Remarkable progress has been made internationally over the past two decades in the conceptualisation, assessment and investigation of perceptions of the classroom environment. However, there are no published studies that have been conducted in early childhood classrooms. This paper reports the first use of a classroom environment instrument, the My Class Inventory (MCI), in a Year 1 class. Students responded to both the actual and preferred forms of the MCI. The teacher then implemented selected strategies in a practical attempt to improve the classroom environment by changing it towards that preferred by the students. After six months of applying these strategies, readministration of the actual form of the instrument indicated that the classroom environment indeed had been changed in the desired direction.