The Effect of Teacher Communication and Parental Involvement on Children's Behavioral Development Through Parental Satisfaction in a Montessori Kindergarten

Early childhood behavioral development depends on continuous learning experiences between school and home. However, the relationships among teacher communication, parental involvement, parental satisfaction, and children’s behavior remain insufficiently understood in Montessori settings. This study examined the direct effects of teacher communication and parental involvement on children’s behavioral development and the mediating role of parental satisfaction at TK Lovely Bee Montessori School 2 in Malang, Indonesia. An explanatory quantitative design was employed using questionnaire responses from 101 parents out of 117 families. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 3.0. The results showed that teacher communication had no significant direct association with children’s behavioral development but positively influenced parental satisfaction. Parental involvement positively influenced children’s behavioral development but was not significantly associated with parental satisfaction. Parental satisfaction positively influenced children’s behavioral development and significantly mediated the relationship between teacher communication and children’s behavioral development. However, it did not significantly mediate the relationship between parental involvement and children’s behavioral development. These findings suggest that communication and involvement operate through different pathways. Nevertheless, the findings should be interpreted cautiously because the study relied on parental perceptions, involved one Montessori school, and identified a convergent validity limitation in the parental involvement construct.