Browsing by Subject "puutuminen"

The purpose of this study was to find out what kindergarten teachers, who work with 3–5-year old children, think about bullying, what do they do to prevent bullying in their own group and how they interfere bullying that is happening. Previous studies have shown that even young children, aged 3–5 years, bully. Still, there are not many studies made of bullying among young children. Bullying is an important and current topic and that is why I would like to get more information about it through this study. This is qualitative study. The material for this study was collected in October – November 2016. Before the real study was made, the questionnaire was pretested by three kindergarten teachers, who were able to comment it. All 18 Kindergarten teachers, who participated in this study, were randomly selected on the area of Helsinki. The questionnaire included nine open questions. The answers were analysed by forming constructs from the study material. By interrelating these constructs main categories, which represent the study material, was formed. These main categories were combined according to the research questions. According to the results of this study, kindergarten teachers had noticed various forms of bullying in their groups. Kindergarten teachers mentioned direct, indirect, physical, psychological and verbal forms of bullying. Bullying prevention was important part of everyday actions in each group. The kindergarten teachers prevented bullying by addressing it in general level and through different every day customs, which improved cohesiveness, accepting disparity and consideration. Equal treatment, common understanding and adult’s role were named to be important matters in bullying interfering. Adults’ presence and children´s observation are crucial requirements to prevent and interfere bullying.