Teacher–Infant Interactions in Early Childhood Education and Care: A Review from an Embodied, Intersubjective, and Multimodal Perspective

Abstract

This narrative review examines multimodal interactions between teachers and infants and toddlers aged 0–3 years in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. It focuses on dyadic teacher–infant interactions from embodied and intersubjective perspectives, with particular attention to nonverbal and prelinguistic forms of exchange. Early communication is inherently multimodal, integrating visual, tactile, rhythmic, vocal, and affective dimensions. This perspective has gained relevance in recent decades, partly through the development of embodied approaches in developmental psychology and, more specifically, through the framework of communicative musicality. However, although educational quality during the first years of life depends substantially on teachers' relational competence and responsiveness, research in educational settings remains limited compared with the extensive literature on adult–infant interaction in family contexts. The findings indicate that the field is still incipient, with a clear predominance of qualitative, especially ethnographic, studies and limited use of quantitative, longitudinal, and microanalytic designs. Key gaps include the scarcity of research on children under one year of age and the methodological complexity of analyzing both dyadic and group dynamics in ECEC. The review argues that strengthening empirical research and incorporating tools such as video feedback may improve teacher education and educational practice. Future studies should examine how educators sustain intersubjective connection through multimodal resources such as gaze, proximity, bodily orientation, rhythm, and affect attunement, while also exploring care routines as privileged contexts for early interaction.