Teacher S Perceptions, Believes and Practices Related to Socialization Strategies In

TEACHER’S PERCEPTIONS, BELIEVES AND PRACTICES RELATED TO SOCIALIZATION STRATEGIES IN KINDERGARTEN

Beasidou Elefteria & Botsoglou Kafenia.

University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece

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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 ofsocialization. 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 pre-school 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

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.