Nursery nurses and nursery teachers I: Their assessment of children's verbal-social behaviour.

Ratings of verbal-social behaviour assigned by nursery nurses in day nurseries, nursery schools and centres were compared with those assigned by nursery teachers. There were significant differences in ratings assigned by the different professional groups of staff: nursery nurses in day nurseries assigned the highest verbal-social ratings, but these were not supported by observations of the children's verbal-social behaviour or by language test scores. Correlations showed that, while the nursery nurses were assessing directly measurable verbal and social behaviour, the teachers were not, and it is suggested that they were assessing a more complex reasoning skill.