Teacher-child relationships, early childhood programme quality and early learning in two-year-old toddlers

Background: Empirical attention on infant-toddler early learning following attendance at early childhood care and education (ECCE) group settings has been scant. 

Aims: This study examines the quality of ECCE programmes designated for children from birth to three years, and considers how ECCE programme quality works with teacher-child relationships to shape early learning in very young children. 

Sample: Participants were 128 two-year-old toddlers (M_age = 33.11 ± 3.56 months) from Hong Kong who were enrolled in ECCE programmes and their teachers. 

Methods: The toddlers were tested on early language, literacy, and mathematics abilities. Teacher Behaviour Rating Scale, an observational tool which captures both the quantity and quality of early childhood teachers’ instructional behaviour, was used to measure ECCE programme quality. Teacher-child relationships was reported by the early childhood teachers using Student-Teacher Relationships Scale. 

Results: (i) ECCE programme quality and teacher-child closeness positively predicted the toddlers' early academic skills; (ii) teacher-child conflict was not associated with the toddlers' early academic learning; (ii) ECCE programme quality mediated the link between teacher-child closeness and the toddlers’ gains in early language skills three months later. 

Conclusions: The findings are novel in revealing the role of teachers' practice as indexed by programme quality in explaining the association between teacher-child relationship and toddlers’ early academic abilities, adding to our knowledge of how relationship-based curriculum and pedagogy for infants and toddlers foster learning in our youngest citizens. Copyright © 2025 The Authors.