Observação da Interação Professor-Aluno no Jardim de Infância: O Teacher-Pupil Observation Tool.

The purpose of this study was to present the Portuguese version of the Teacher-Pupil Observation Tool (T-POT), in terms of agreement and reliability among observers and the categories of behaviors observed in teachers when used in preschool setting. Three observers were trained in scoring 11 T-POT teacher's behavior categories. Subsequently, 65 preschool teachers were observed with T-POT during 25 minutes, while interacting in their classrooms with a small group of children. A mean of 74% of agreement was reached between observers for the training sessions and intraclass correlation coefficients of 0,90-0,99. The results indicate that the T-POT categories most used by teachers in their interactions with children are questions, acknowledgments and commands. The discussion highlights the implications for practice and research on the use of observation measures in the assessment of teacherstudent interaction in preschool classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]