Beschreibung:
<jats:title>SUMMARY</jats:title><jats:p>Ratings of verbal‐social behaviour assigned by nursery nurses in day nurseries, nursery schools and centres were compared with those assigned by nursery teachers.</jats:p><jats:p>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.</jats:p><jats:p>Correlations showed that, while the nursery nurses were assessing directly measurable verbal and social behaviour, the teachers were not, and it is sugguested that they were assessing a more complex reasoning skill.</jats:p>