Browsing by Author "Ruohonen, Anni"

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to find out the experiences of pre-school children on how to deal with bullying situations. The aim was to get the children to have their own voice in an issue that touches their world of experience. The study also sought to find out how children define bullying and whether they feel some ways of resolving bullying situations as negative. Earlier studies have shown that bullying also occurs with early childhood education. Studies have also found that intervention methods classified as sensitive produce better results from both victim and bullying perspectives than non-sensitive methods. This research provides an important child perspective on how to deal with bullying situations. Methods. This research is qualitative research and research perspective is phenomenology. The research material was collected from two kindergartens in Espoo, where a total of five pre-school children were interviewed. A total of three children were interviewed in the first nursery and two children in the other. The interviews were carried out in thematic interviews at the nursery premises in November 2018. Individual interviews were recorded and transcribed. The material was analyzed by material-based and theory-driven content analysis. Results and conclusions. From the results of the research it can be stated that children could name different forms of bullying: psychological, physical and verbal. The easiest thing is to name physical forms of bullying, such as hitting, kicking and throwing goods. The solutions to bullying situations in children's experiences varied between sensitive and non-sensitive methods, and it was not possible to name very in-depth solutions - for some, simply telling the adult was enough. From children’s point of view it seems to be important either to learn something or move forward from the bullying situations. Adult’s role didn’t always seem to be central in solving the bullying situations, but children also named the victim, the bully and a defender. On the other hand, in the case of negative solutions, the adult was always a key factor. Negative solutions are, according to the investigator's interpretation, mostly those in which the situation is not actually solved, only suspended. This research can be used as a tool to develop activities to prevent and tackle day-to-day bullying.