Cognitive style and kindergarten pupilsʹ preferences for teachers

This study investigated which cognitive style characteristics five-year-old kindergarten pupils (n=846) considered important in a teacher. Kindergarten pupils were individually administered the Preschool Embedded Figures Test to determine their cognitive style. Their responses to the Field Dependence Independence Characteristics Scale indicated their ratings of their preferred teacher characteristics. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance was computed with the kindergarten pupilsʹ ratings being the repeated measure. Significant interactions were found for the kindergarten pupilsʹ preferences of cognitive style characteristics based on their cognitive style. Thus, kindergarten pupils described their preferred cognitive style characteristics in a teacher. Field-dependent (FD) teachers received higher ratings. A preference for a Field dependence-independence (FDI) match of pupils and teachers was also found for both FD and Field-independent (FI) kindergarten pupils. Evidently FD characteristics and FDI matching based on the cognitive style of the teacher were preferred.