Browsing by Author "Rautakoski, Marjaana"

The aim of the present study was to determine agency and practices of pre-school aged children in peer conflict situations. Furthermore, based on the children's experiences, adults' practice was studied in peer conflict situations of children as well as the relationship between children and the personnel of day care center. Thus this study is a qualitative research with child perspective and features of narrative research. Previous research shows that children solve conflicts in different ways, and interestingly, conflict situations do not necessarily appear especially negative to children. According to general understanding in the childhood studies, children are able to affect their environment as competent social actors. The agency involves both the activity and the opportunity to participate and influence. In the context of day care centers, pedagogical skills of the adults are essential and as previous studies confirm, such skills are required to guide children in conflict situations. The research data consists of the material collected from narrative interviews made with ten pre-school aged children (5 girls and 5 boys) and the observation diary of the researcher. All children were in the same pre-school group and the data was gathered in the spring of 2016. Narrative analysis methods and elements of the British discourse analysis were utilized in data analysis. The present study shows that children resolve their peer disputes in various ways. Moreover, children have an active role in play and conflict situations especially when adults are not present. Actually, in children's descriptions adults are far from children although the adults are of importance in resolving conflicts. Based on this research, pedagogical skills and adults' presence in the children's play activities should be in focus in early childhood education. The supporting of children's agency and skills is possible, if the adults of day care centers are more present to children, acknowledge the power relationship between children and adults and understand the importance of pedagogical competence. The results suggest that the quality of early childhood education is associated with the interaction between adults and children.