Abstract

Self-regulation is a key competency which develops rapidly over the early childhood years and plays an important role in early academic skills and socioemotional development. An estimated one-third of Australian children experience self-regulation difficulties and living in socioeconomic disadvantaged contexts can impede self-regulation development. While research has established the benefits of coordinated music and movement activities to improve self-regulation, a lack of classroom-based programs focussing exclusively on rhythmic movement activities are available. The novel Rhythm and Movement for Self-Regulation (RAMSR) program incorporates targeted rhythmic and coordinated movement and music activities to boost early self-regulation skills. The overall objective of this PhD project is to extend and build upon a larger randomised control trial (RCT) conducted in 2020 evaluating program outcomes. This was achieved by following-up children from the 2020 RCT, six-months later as they transitioned into their first year of formal schooling (Prep in 2021). Significant intervention effects were documented where children who participated in RAMSR demonstrated steeper growth in self-regulation, inhibition, and school readiness, six-months post-intervention. Additionally, this PhD project aimed to understand the RAMSR implementation behaviours of early childhood educators and to identify the facilitators and barriers which influenced their implementation. This occurred through a mixed-methods study involving a series of interviews as well as a two-phase survey exploring educator’s intentions (using the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework) to implement RAMSR immediately after receiving training and their implementation behaviour, two months later. Facilitators and barriers identified from both the interviews and surveys followed an established ecological framework of individual, intervention and contextual level factors. The overall findings indicate that RAMSR is an effective way to improve early self-regulation skills and these intervention effects are sustained as children transition to school and can be successfully implemented by generalist teachers with no prior musical experience.