Browsing by Subject "Compassion"
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(2019)The aim of the study was to research the manifestation of compassion in the peer interaction situations of toddlers in day care center and the impact of adult involvement on the expression of children's compassion. The research is part of a research project on Constituting Cultures of Compassion in Early Childhood Education (CoCuCo). Compassion research has not been done earlier by observing children's interaction in a natural environment. This study will provide the elements for developing early childhood education environments and interaction situations for toddlers in a day care center in order to strengthen the compassionate culture. Interest in the meaning of compassion for social change has increased. The meaning and power of compassion has been studied from many perspective of sciences. In this qualitative video research the research material was the video material compiled by the CoCuCo-research team on the different interaction and action situations of children aged 1–3 years in one day care center in the metropolitan area in Finland. The research methods were the observation and analysis of the video material. In the analysis of the data, I shared the compassion situations I found with the episodes in two main categories: 1. expression of compassion in children's interaction situations and 2. the effect of adult involvement on the expression of children's compassion. After this, I analyzed the various manifestations of compassion and the various effects of adult involvement that I found within the episodes. This study showed that there were compassionate acts of interaction between toddlers in terms of comforting, sharing, helping, and anticipating. Most often, the acts of children's com-passion were appeared as physical and verbal comforting or through objects and functional sharing. Adults contributed to their day care with their involvement, mostly to promote com-passion, but sometimes to undermine compassion. The results of this study support the view that young children have a natural way of working with compassion. The influence of adults on the development of a compassionate culture is very important. Adults need to realize the importance of the moments leading to compassion and give children time enough and compassionate guides.
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(2020)Compassion in early childhood education settings is a phenomenon that hasn´t been researched a lot despite its appearance in everyday interactions in early childhood education. In this study I examined how the acts of compassion were constituted in a Finnish 2-5-year olds kindergarten class. I conducted this research by using an observation method resembling ethnography and analysing the data using Grounded Theory -method. I answer to three research questions which were: 1) How the need for compassion is noticed in kindergarten? 2) What kind of characteristics can be found on situations where there are compassionate acts in kindergarten? and 3) What kind of compassionate acts are done in a kindergarten setting? This survey was conducted in one Finnish metropolitan area kindergarten class where there were 27 children, aged 2¬–5, two early childhood education teachers, two nurses and one nursing student doing her practical training. The research material consisted of observation notes of situations where there was suffering or compassionate acts during 10 days of observation. In this research construction of compassion included different ways of noticing the need for compassion, situational factors and assessments and acts of compassion. The child´s need for compassion could be noticed by the child’s emotional reactions, the way the child acted, hearing about the need for compassion or anticipating a situation likely to cause the need for compassion. In this kindergarten class the acts of compassion consisted of the acts of comforting, helping, influencing the person or matter that produced the need for compassion, flexibility, including, sharing and humour. Compassionate acts were not automatic. There were situational elements and assessments that could have had an effect on whether compassionate acts were conducted. Conduction of compassionate acts seemed to be influenced by who noticed the suffering, in what kind of situation suffering was noticed and what kind of assessments were made in the situation. This research is a qualitative research and it has limitations to its generalization, but it can shed a light to the phenomenon of compassion and construction of compassion in early childhood education settings.
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(2019)Objectives. Compassion is a fundamental motivational system in the human being (Gilbert 2015). Its function is to alleviate suffering (Goetz, Keltner & Simon-Thomas 2010). Compassion is one of the key skills needed in a global world (OECD 2016). Supporting the development of compassion and the skills of taking others into account is an obligation imposed on professionals by the National Curriculum Guidelines on Early Childhood (EDUFI 2016; Lipponen, Hilppö, Rajala 2018). Compassion has not been studied as an independent feeling in children’s natural environment. Previously research has been done about prosociality from individual psychological point of view (Warneken & Tomasello, 2006; Dunfield, et al. 2011). The research assignment of my thesis is to examine the every-day practices of spontaneous compassion in an early childhood group. The thesis is part of the CoCuCo research project. My goal was to generate new information about the compassion from practice perspective. The research problems were how sensemaking is occurs during the compassionate process and how compassion relates to the flow of action. Methods. I compiled the material I used in my thesis in an early childhood education group of Helsinki city. The group consisted of 23 children, an early childhood education teacher, a part-time special education teacher, and 2 nannies. I observed group members' who participated in the study for 2 weeks. I performed observation and material analysis with an exploratory and ethnographic approach. The data consisted of 32 observations I recorded on the observation form. The observation form served as a heuristic tool that guided me to discover acts of helping, comforting, sharing, and including others. In the data analysis, I used data-driven and theory supported methods. Results and conclusions. Sensemaking continued throughout the compassionate process. Joint understanding was formed through negotiations and non-verbal reaction to one another's actions. Sensegiving and sensebreaking occurred during negotiations of meanings. Verbalizing feelings and others’ points of view supported the compassionate process. During the compassionate process, emotions were regulated, conflicts were resolved, others were involved, and care was taken of oneself, others, and the environment. Through the compassionate process, interrupted action was able to continue, new action emerged, and previous action took new course. Compassion acts as a social tool that directs the flow of action. It supports children’s participation in activities, role in the kindergarten group and the development of positive peer relationships. By modelling compassionate interaction, early childhood teachers and caregivers can support compassionate processes between children.
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