TEACHER’S PERCEPTIONS, BELIEVES AND PRACTICES RELATED
TO SOCIALIZATION STRATEGIES IN KINDERGARTEN
Beasidou Elefteria & Botsoglou Kafenia.
University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
This study portrayed a picture of kindergarten through teacher’s perceptions of the value of children’s socialization, their socialization
teaching practices and major factors and/or influences that affect them. The sample of this study consisted of 22 teachers with least
teaching experience (M=2 years, SD= +/-6months) of the region of karditsa. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews.
The analysis of the study was founded on a constant comparative method of data analysis. Results from this study firstly indicated that
kindergarten teachers held similar views regarding the values and purposes of kindergarten education as well as autonomy over
planning decisions; they believe that teaching is an ever-changing process, which requires them to be flexible. Results revealed that
socialization strategies include modeling and instruction of prosocial behavior, communicating positive expectations and reinforcing
desired behavior through classroom’s rules and positive relationships with students. They also believe that group work promotes
socialization in the classroom. The large number of preschoolers in the classroom influences their socialization teaching practices
negatively. The findings and implications in curriculum planning and school behavior policies are discussed.
Key words: socialization strategies, kindergarten
Introduction
Socialization is the process whereby individuals learn to establish and maintain relationships with others become
accepted members of society, regulate their own behavior in accordance with society’s codes and standards, and get
along with the others. (Damon, 1983). Socialization generally refers to the process in which people learn the skills,
knowledge, values, motives, and roles (i.e., culture) of the groups to which they belong or the communities in which
they live. During socialization, we learn the language of the culture we are born into as well as the roles we are to
play in life. For instance, girls learn how to be daughters, sisters, friends, wives, and mothers. In addition, they learn
about the occupational roles that their society has in store for them. We also learn and usually adopt our culture's
norms through the socialization process. Socialization consists of the social learning we have when we interact with
others.
Some of the more significant Contributors to the socialization process are: parents, friends, schools, siblings, and
co-workers. Each of these groups include a culture that must be learned and to some degree appropriated by the
socialize in order to gain admittance to the group. After family, schools are probably the most important influence
on an individual. Schools help pass on knowledge, create awareness and inculcate the feelings of tolerance in
individuals. The child meets different kinds of children and learns to make out the right and wrong. Peers shave great
impact on an individual's thoughts and line of thinking. An individual learns to behave in a manner that they think
will be acceptable to their peers. Peer acceptance is an important part of socialization. Children have to learn through
experience how people like them are expected to behave in their society. Interactions with peers offer unique
contributions to the growth of social and emotional competence, to the acquisition of social skills and values, and to
the development of the capacity to form relationships with others (Berndt & Ladd, 1993). Children between the ages
of 3 and 7 are better at initiating friendships than they are at keeping them. Students this age often have a hard time
initiating play with others, or accepting another child’s invitation to play (Kostelnick et al., 2004). Later in their
understanding of friendship children begin to look for qualities in how they pick and who they consider to be their
friends. Between the ages of 4 and 9 years, children begin to look for pleasing behaviors from others, such as giving
one another, turns, sharing toys or choosing to sit together. The socialization of prosocial development progresses
through the ongoing and dynamic exchanges between children and their parents, siblings, peers, teachers, and
culture. This give-and take nature of social influence underlies the complex processes shaping social and emotional
development (Kuczynski, 2003). Research on children’s friendships and peer relationships show that more prosocial
children and youths are more popular and well liked, and are more likely to have close friends (Clark & Ladd, 2000;
Gest, Graham-Bermann, & Hartup, 2001). Also have indicated that prosocial behavior serves as the link between
parental socialization and children’s popularity and acceptance by peers (Dekovic & Janssens, 1992). Thus, effective
parental socialization can support and increase children’s prosocial characteristics, which in turn will foster their
social competence and elicit positive responses from other children, which could further support youths’ continued
prosocial development.
The teacher has many roles to play in the classroom for the students. A major role for the early childhood
teacher is to see that children have enjoyable social contacts and to help children desire to want to be around others
(Gordon & Browne, 2008). Suggestions to promote socialization among children include arranging a social
environment. The teacher needs to provide opportunities for child-initiated activities as well as group activities.
Teachers should help children develop trust by trusting themselves, their peers, and their teachers. During the
preschool years, children spend long periods of time in play with others. Early childhood programs are one of the
primary settings where young children play with peers, learn social skills, and form peer relationships. To understand
the guiding theory behind decisions in planning and teaching, we need to understand what teachers believe to be
important and what they believe is not to be important. The literature on teacher training and development
acknowledges that teachers bring with them informal knowledge of processes and concepts related to classroom
teaching and learning. These beliefs about teaching and learning are known to provide teachers with the direction to
teach (Biggs, 1999). Beliefs that teachers hold often influence their perceptions and judgments, which in turn, affect
their behaviors in the classroom ( Nepsor, 1987; Wilcox-Herzog, 2002). Recently, there has been an increased
interest in understanding teachers’ thoughts and beliefs (Clark & Peterson, 1986; Isenberg, 1990; Pajares, 1992) and
their influence on teachers’ classroom practices (Charlesworth, et al., 1993; Kagan 1992).
Most studies on teachers’ beliefs have explored beliefs about classroom practices and curriculum. Several
studies in preschool settings have demonstrated the importance of teachers’ educational and developmental beliefs as
determinants of process quality (Abbott-Shim, Lambert, & McCarty, 2000; Maxwell, McWilliam, Hemmeter, Jones
Ault, & Schuster, 2001; Philips, Mekos, Scarr, McCartney, & Abott-Shim, 2000; Scott-Little & Holloway, 1992).
Belief systems include values and norms regarding children’s personal and social development, and specify
appropriate strategies to socialize these values and norms (Harkness & Super, 1999; McGillicuddy-DeLisi &
Subramanian, 1996). Early childhood educators play a critical role in the transmission of cultural values and
practices. We thing methods for children’s socialization can and should be employed in schools to make it easier for
the students, with identified socialization problems, to effectively socialize and feel comfortable in front of their
peers. This study was designed to find out teacher’s perceptions of the value of children’s socialization, their
socialization teaching practices and major factors and/or influences that affect them.
Research Question:
1. What are the teacher’s perceptions of the socialization in the classroom?
2. What socialization opportunities do teachers provide in their classrooms?
3. What are the major factors that influence the teacher’s practices for socialization?
METHODOLOGY
Population
The study was carried out in the town of Karditsa. The targeted population for this study was composed of the preschool teachers. The total number of Pre-school teachers was twenty – two with a minimum teaching experience
(M=2 years, SD= +/-6months) and age M=28 years, SD=+/-8 months
Instrument and Measures
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty two different teachers. Interviews were used because they
provide insights to the teacher’s opinions, perceptions, and attitudes (Glesne, 1999). Interviews were used because
they provided the simplest, most convenient way to gain knowledge of the teacher’s beliefs of the value of children’s
socialization to identify current practices related to socialization strategies in the teacher’s classroom and information
relating to the socialization opportunities in their classrooms. Open ended questions were used in each interview.
Semi structured interviewing starts with more general questions. The majority of questions were created during the
interview, allowing both the interviewer and the person being interviewed the flexibility to probe for details or
discuss issues. Also, we had provided a framework for the interview. The interviews all took place in training center
for teacher (P.E.K) during specific time after training lessons. All interviews were tape recorded. Research guided by
principals of autonomy and beneficence, sufficient information given to participants to allow an informed decision to
participate, also no identifiable information was used.
Analysis and results
Tape recording each interview helped ensure all the data described were collected. After completing our interviews
and transcribing the tapes, the data were analyzed. The analysis of the study was founded on a constant comparative
method of data analysis. We systematically review the transcripts and field notes in relation to research questions.
Analysis concerned with summarizing the informational contents of the data. According to Glesne (1999), after
interviews are conducted the data should be coded to provide ease in analyzing the data. We made a list of common
themes among the twenty two interviews. The categories that were developed based on our interviews were:
1.
Peer interactions influence children’s socialization in the classroom.
2. Social-emotional learning is related with socialization.
3. Teaching is an ever-changing process, which requires the teacher to be flexible. Group work, classroom
management, free play activities, role play activities and literacy are the main strategies that promote
socialization in the classroom.
4. The main difficulty that teachers meet when they implemented socialization activities is the large number of
student in each classroom.
In response to interview question number 3 (what is the meaning of “children’s socialization in the context of school
socialization?), the results illustrate in figure 1.
Figure 1: teacher’s perception for the meaning of children’s socialization
Note:
77,2% of the teachers believe that children’s socialization in the classroom is successful interaction among peers, 13,6% believe that
children’s socialization in the classroom is the ability to work and communicate with others and 9,09% of the teachers answered that children’s
socialization in the classroom is the ability to play with peers.
In response to interview question number 4 (what are the main skills that should be promoted for the quality of
socialization?). Most of the teachers believe that cooperative learning groups support socialization in the classroom,
so the main skills that should be promoted in classrooms are social and emotional skills for enhancing the ability to
work towards a common goal and cooperation with the peers and adults. A teacher said: “children who do not have
siblings or peers to interact with and their teachers don’t engage in social activities enhancing not only social but
also emotional skills and their parents don't communicate, talking and playing with their children enhancing not
only their speech but also cooperative skills , maybe these children will have socialization problems …”. A teacher
said: “…when children have the ability to play and work with others for many minutes without conflicts……these
children have the ability for sharing many things with others, also waiting their turn without conflicts…”While many
teachers agree with the idea that social emotional learning promote children’s socialization four out of twenty two
teachers interviewed described that: “ laughs and smiles and humor are some skills for socialization, I see that happy
children as more cooperative than the others e.g withdrawn, shy, very sensitive children …”
In response to interview question number 5-6(How often do you enhance children’s ability for prosocial
behavior-sharing-waiting turn- helping others-asking help? How often do you enhance children’s emotional
learning- to identify emotions- to express emotions- to regulate emotions?) Each question ranges 1 to 4, with 1 being
the lowest and 4 being the highest.
TABLE 1: the frequency of enhancing social and emotional skills in classroom
items
1.never
2.sometimes
3.Almost
4.always
always
How often do you enhance children’s ability for sharing
-
-
22,7%
77,2%
How often do you enhance children’s ability for waiting turn
-
-
27,2%
72,7%
9,09%
18,1%
27,2%
45,4%
-
-
13,6%
86,3%
How often do you enhance children’s ability for identifying emotions
31,8%
13,6%
45,4%
9,09%
How often do you enhance children’s ability for expressing emotions
27,2%
31,8%
22,7%
18,1%
How often do you enhance children’s ability for regulating emotions
90,9%
9,09%
-
-
How often do you enhance children’s ability for helping others
How often do you enhance children’s ability for asking help
In response to interview question number 7(Have you implemented activities in your classroom to support
children’s socialization?).Teaching is an ever-changing process, which requires the teacher to be flexible. Teachers
implement many strategies and activities which meet the needs of children for socialization if they see that
something is not working well they will change it. When teachers asked about current ways they promote
socialization in their classrooms, teachers interviewed described classroom management rules and procedures, group
work among peers, conversations in cycle time activity, free play in playgrounds, role play and literacy.
Figure 2: the proportion of socialization strategies in preschool
Note:
86,3% of the teachers have implemented free play activities for socialization 77,2% of the teachers have implemented group work
activities 63,6% of the teachers have implemented conversation strategy in cycle time activity 54,5% of the teachers have implemented classroom
management rules and procedures 40,9% of the teachers have implemented literacy strategies and 27,2% of the teachers have implemented role
play activities.
In response to interview question number 8(What are the main difficulties that have you meet?). Difficulties
emerged for the implementations of socialization’s strategies are: inappropriate physical classroom environment and
the large number of students in each classroom.
Figure 3: difficulties that teachers meet when they implemented socialization activities.
Note:
86,3% of the teachers answered that the main difficulty that they meet is the large number of the students, also 31,8% of the teachers
answered that the main difficulty that they meet is the inappropriate physical environment.
Conclusion
Throughout this study, we wanted to understand the teacher’s perception of children’s socialization and how they
promote it in their classroom.
The research questions were answered through interviewing teachers, finding out what they believe for the
meaning of children’s socialization and the main skills which should be enhanced for the quality of children’s
socialization in their classrooms. Also, finding out what they currently implemented in their classrooms, and asking
them to identify any difficulties that they meet when they implemented socialization activities.
Through the interview data, it is obvious that these teachers all take teaching very seriously, they understood the
importance of socialization processing and they believe that teaching is a profession that changes over time in order
to meet the needs of their students. Children have many opportunities for socialization throughout the day, but
depending on the age and abilities of the child that may vary. Learning in the early childhood education classroom
involves both education and socialization of children. Socialization and education are shaped to a significant extent
by social and communicative interactions. They answered that play, group works literacy and conversation are basic
socialization strategies. Most of them reported that one of the major tasks of the early childhood years is to learn
positive and socially acceptable ways of interacting with others. While most of them attempt to incorporate social
and emotional activities within preschool curriculum, the large number of the students in each preschool classroom
does not allow them to take care of each child individually, i.g consultations for regulating emotions. The lack of
classroom equipment impedes children’s ability to appropriately engage in social activities.
Comparing the teacher’s perception with what the literature says, these results are in line with the research of
Brown, Ragland and Fox, (1988). They indicated that group socialization procedures were a practical and effective
method for improving young children's social interaction during both structured games and unstructured play
activities. Cohen & Uhry (2007) observed the communication strategies children used in block play they concluded
that blocks are a wonderful resource that encourages language development and social competence. Our research has
indicated that social emotional skills were related to socialization. It is in agreement with research of Cassidy et al.
(1992), they found that children’s emotion understanding was positively related to peer ratings of their social
acceptance. Without the ability to consciously label emotions, children are unable to recognize and regulate their
own negative feelings, to identify and solve problems in social interactions, and to empathize with others (Denham &
Burton, 1996). Interaction amongst children does not take place in a vacuum, but is heavily influenced by the social
experience that children bring to classroom. Partners will not only be interacting, but also interthinking (Mercer
2000). Kesebir, Uttal, Gardner (2010) their research review links basic social cognitive mechanisms to socialization
processes.
In conclusion, teachers believe that early socialization strategies have the potential to influence early
developmental pathways and promote positive interaction outcomes.
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