The effects of parental involvement, trust in parents, trust in students and pupil control ideology on conflict management strategies of early childhood teachers

In this study it was aimed to determine the effects of parental involvement, teachers' trust in parents and students, and teachers' pupil control ideology on the conflict management strategies used by teachers in classroom management. Data were collected from a sample of 254 teachers through paper and pencil questionnaires. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling approach and using Maximum Likelihood method. According to the results, as the parents are more involved, teachers develop trust in parents and their students, and their higher levels of trust lead teachers to develop a more humanistic orientation towards their students. Parental involvement and teachers' trust in parents and their students cause teachers to use more constructive conflict management strategies such as integrating, compromising and obliging. Teachers' lower levels of trust and their custodial orientation cause them to use dominating strategy. The results imply the importance of parental involvement and building trust for effectively solving the conflicts in the classroom