THIS PAPER REPORTS THE viewpoint of 10 children (aged five–six years) on social rules in their Catholic (Singapore) preschool classrooms. Rather than doing research on children and construing a judgement on their behalf, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the children. This study provides valuable insights into children's meaning-making about social practices, examples and non-examples of social rules, and how children view themselves as rule learners and followers. Themes recognised through the analysis process identified that children were united in their views about conventional social norms, including their understanding of and necessity for the rules (Thornberg, 2008b). The children acknowledged specific social standards as essential practices for an orderly and harmonious preschool environment.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BellN. (2008). Ethics in child research: Rights, reason and responsibilities. Children's Geographies, 6(1), 7–20. doi: 10.1080/14733280701791827
2.
BraunV., & ClarkeV. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
3.
BurtonL., WestenD., & KowalskiR. (2009) Psychology, 2nd Australian and New Zealand edition.Brisbane: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
4.
CarterM. A. (2015). Young children's social behaviour: A Singapore perspective. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 40(2), 30–38.
5.
CarterM., FrewenA., & ChunnJ. (2014). Through the eyes of parents: A Singaporean perspective of the importance of cognitive and non-cognitive skills for six-year-old children. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 39(3), 57–65.
6.
CassidyJ., WoodhouseS. S., ShermanL., StupicaB., & LejuezC. (2011). Enhancing infant attachment security: An examination of treatment efficacy and differential susceptibility. Development and Psychopathology, 23(1), 131–148. doi: 10.1017/S0954579410000696
7.
ChenX., & FrenchD. (2008). Children's social competence in cultural context. Annual Review of Psychology, 59(1), 591–616. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093606
8.
DahlA., & KimL. (2014). Why is it bad to make a mess? Preschoolers' conceptions of pragmatic norms. Cognitive Development, 32, 12–22. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.05.004
9.
DahlbergL. L., & KrugE. G. (2002). Violence—A global public health problem. In KrugE., DahlbergL. L., MercyJ. A., ZwiA. B. & LozanoR. (Eds.), World Report on Violence and Health.Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. Retrieved 22 April, 2015, from www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/introduction.pdf.
DelorsJ. (2013). The treasure within: Learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be. What is the value of that treasure 15 years after its publication? International Review of Education, 59(3), 319–330. doi: 10.1007/s11159-013-9350-8
12.
EinarsdottirJ. (2007). Research with children: Methodological and ethical challenges. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 15(2), 197–211. doi: 10.1080/13502930701321477
13.
GoertzD. (2001). Children who are not yet peaceful. Preventing exclusion in the early elementary classroom.Berkeley, CA: Frog, Ltd.
14.
JoffeH. (2011). Thematic analysis. In HarperD. & ThompsonA.R. (Eds.), Qualitative research methods in mental health and psychotherapy: A guide for students and practitioners (pp. 209–223). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. doi: 10.1002/9781119973249.ch15
15.
HarveyS. T., BimlerD., EvansI. M., KirklandJ., & PechtelP. (2012). Mapping the classroom emotional environment. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(4), 628–640. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2012.01.005
16.
HazenN., JinM., JacobvitzD., & JungS. (2012). Maternal sensitivity and infant attachment security in Korea: Cross-cultural validation of the strange situation. Attachment & Human Development, 14(1), 33–44. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2012.636656
17.
KochanskaG. (2001). Emotional development in children with different attachment histories: The first three years. Child Development, 72(2), 474–490. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00291
18.
LandryS., SmithK., SwankP., AsselM., & VelletS. (2001). Does early responsive parenting have a special importance for children's development or is consistency across early childhood necessary? Developmental Psychology, 37(3), 387–403. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.37.3.387
19.
LieberE., FungH., & Wing-Leung LeungP. (2006). Chinese child-rearing beliefs: Key dimensions and contributions to the development of culture-appropriate assessment. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 9(2), 140–147.
20.
LiebermanA., ChuA., Van HornP., & HarrisW. (2011). Trauma in early childhood: Empirical evidence and clinical implications. Development and Psychopathology, 23(2), 397–410. doi: 10.1017/S0954579411000137
21.
MaloneB., & TietjensC. (2000). Re-examination of classroom rules: The need for clarity and specified behavior. Special Services in the Schools, 16(1), 159–170. doi: 10.1300/J008v16n01_11
22.
NewmanB., & NewmanP. (2015). Development through life. A psychosocial approach.Stamford, CA: Cengage Learning.
23.
O'DwyerS. (2003). Democracy and Confucian values. Philosophy East and West, 53(1), 39–63. doi: 10.1353/pew.2003.0007
24.
OverH., & CarpenterM. (2012). Putting the social into social learning: Explaining both selectivity and fidelity in children's copying behavior. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 126(2), 182.
25.
RakoczyH., HamannK., WarnekenF., & TomaselloM. (2010). Bigger knows better: Young children selectively learn rule games from adults rather than from peers. The British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28(4), 785–798. doi: 10.1348/026151009X479178
26.
RakoczyH., & SchmidtM. (2013). The early ontogeny of social norms. Child Development Perspectives, 7(1), 17–21. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12010
27.
RakoczyH., WarnekenF., & TomaselloM. (2008). The sources of normativity: Young children's awareness of the normative structure of games. Developmental Psychology, 44(3), 875–881. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.875
28.
RakoczyH., WarnekenF., & TomaselloM. (2009). Young children's selective learning of rule games from reliable and unreliable models. Cognitive Development, 24(1), 61–69. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2008.07.004
29.
RosaE. M., & TudgeJ. (2013). Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory of human development: Its evolution from ecology to bioecology. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 5(4), 243–258. doi: 10.1111/jftr.12022
30.
SchmidtM., & TomaselloM. (2012). Young children enforce social norms. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(4), 232–236. doi: 10.1177/0963721412448659
31.
SmithK., & KotsanasC. (2014). Honouring young children's voices to enhance inclusive communities. Journal of Urbanism, 7(2), 187–211. doi: 10.1080/17549175.2013.820211
32.
SullivanA., JohnsonB., OwensL., & ConwayR. (2014). Punish them or engage them? Views of unproductive student behaviours in the classroom. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(6), 43–56.
33.
SullivanR., PerryR., SloanA., KleinhausK., & BurtchenN. (2011). Infant bonding and attachment to the caregiver: Insights from basic and clinical science. Clinics in Perinatology, 38(4), 643–655. doi: 10.1016/j.clp.2011.08.011
34.
ThornbergR. (2008a). A categorisation of school rules. Educational Studies, 34(1), 25–33. doi: 10.1080/03055690701785244
35.
ThornbergR. (2008b). School children's reasoning about school rules. Research Papers in Education, 23(1), 37–52. doi: 10.1080/02671520701651029
36.
ThornbergR. (2008c). Values education as the daily fostering of school rules. Research in Education, 80(1), 52.
