Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article

Perceptions of kindness in pre-service early childhood teachers

Article Sidebar

Kindness themes and examples
Download PDF
Submitted   May 17, 2021
Published   Jul 14, 2021
Issue    Vol 3 No 1 (2021)
DOI   10.25082/ADEP.2021.01.002

Views

3013

Downloads

939

Citations

PlumX Metrics

Main Article Content

Maria S. Poulou corresponding author
Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

Abstract

Research evidence on Social and Emotional Learning implementation at schools has long been recognized. Most of the research however, has been focused on cultivating explicit social and emotional skills and relatively scant attention has been given to those positive human qualities or virtues such as kindness. Current study aims to illuminate pre-service early childhood teachers’ conceptualization of kindness. Two hundred and nineteen pre-service students described their perceptions of kindness. Kindness was conceptualized as a range of acts and words indicating respect, understanding and emotional support, which promote personal development and healthy relationships. Teachers’ kindness specifically was perceived important in cultivating students’ personality and teacher-student relationships. The findings of the study contribute to the topic of kindness in education which is a promising but undervalued area of school-based programming.

Keywords
kindness, early childhood teachers, social and emotional learning

Article Details

How to Cite
Poulou, M. (2021). Perceptions of kindness in pre-service early childhood teachers. Advances in Developmental and Educational Psychology, 3(1), 90-96. https://doi.org/10.25082/ADEP.2021.01.002
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

References

  1. Ashdown, D. M., & Bernard, M. E. (2012). Can explicit instruction in social and emotional learning skills benefit the social-emotional development, well-being, and academic achievement of young children? Early Childhood Education Journal, 39, 397-405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-011-0481-x
  2. Binfet, J. T. (2015). Not-so random acts of kindness: A guide to intentional kindness in the classroom. The International Journal of Emotional Education, 7(2), 49-62.
  3. Binfet, J. T., & Enns, C. (2018). Quiet kindness in school: Socially and emotionally sophisticated kindness flying beneath the radar of parents and educators. Journal of Childhood Studies, 43(2), 31-45. https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs.v43i2.18576
  4. Binfet, J. T., Gadermann, A, M., & Schonert-Reichl, K., A. (2016). Measuring kindness at school: Psychometric properties of a school kindness scale for children and adolescents. Psychology in the Schools, 53(2), 111-126. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21889
  5. Binfet, J. T., & Gaertner, A. (2015). Children’s conceptualizations of kindness at school. Child Study, 40(3), 27-39. https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs.v40i3.15167
  6. Binfet, J. T., & Passmore, H. A. (2017). Teachers’ perceptions of kindness at school. The International Journal of Emotional Education, 9(1), 37-53. https://www.um.edu.mt/ijee
  7. Binfet, J. T., & Passmore, H. A. (2019). The who, what, and where of school kindness: Exploring students’ perspectives. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 34(1), 22-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573517732202
  8. Bloomberg, L. D., & Volpe, M. (2008). Completing your qualitative dissertation: A roadmap from beginning to end. Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452226613
  9. Buchanan, K. E., & Bardi, A. (2010). Acts of kindness and acts of novelty affect life satisfaction. The Journal of Social Psychology, 150(3), 235-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540903365554
  10. Cekaite, A., & Kvist, M.H. (2017). The comforting touch: tactile intimacy and talk in managing childre’s distress. Research, Language and Social Interaction, 50, 109-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2017.1301293
  11. Datu, J.A., Wong, G. S.P., Rubie-Davies, C. (2021). Can kindness promote media literacy skills, self-esteem, and social self-efficacy among selected female secondary school students? An intervention study. Computers & Education, 161, 104062 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.104062
  12. Denham, S.A. & Bassett, H.H. (2019). Early childhood teachers’ socialization of children’s emotional competence. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching and Learning, 12(1), 133-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-01-2019-0007
  13. Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Wyatt, T. (2014). The socialization of emotional competence (pp.590-613). In Grusec, J. & Hastings, P. (Eds), The Handbook of Socialization, 2nd ed., Guilford Press.
  14. Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Zinsser, K. (2012). Early childhood teachers as socializers of young children’s emotional competence. Early Childhood Educational Journal, 40(3), 137-143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0504-2
  15. Eiseberg, N. (1986). Altruistic emotion, cognition, and behavior. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
  16. Grining, C., L., Raver, C. C., Champion, K., Sardin, L., Metzger, M., Jones, S. M. (2010).Understanding and improving classroom emotional climate and behavior management in the “real world”: The role of Head Start Teachers’ psychological stressors. Early Education and Development, 2(1), 65-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409280902783509
  17. Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2001). Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of children’s school outcomes through eighth grade. Child Development, 72, 625-638. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00301
  18. Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 1227-1288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276687
  19. Jerald, C. D. (2006). School culture: The hidden curriculum. The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement, 1-8.
  20. Jin, J., Mercer, S., Babic, S., & Mairitsch, A. (2021). ‘You just appreciate every little kindness’: Chinese language teachers’ wellbeing in the UK. System, 96, 102400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102400
  21. Kaplan, D. M., deBlois, M., Dominguez, V., & Walsh, M. E. (2016). Studying the teaching of kindness: A conceptual model for evaluating kindness education programs in school. Evaluation and Program Planning, 58, 160-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.06.001
  22. Krane, V., Ness, O., Holter-Sorensen, N., Karlsson, B., & Binder, P. (2017). “You notice that there is something positive about going to school”: how teachers’ kindness can promote positive teacherstudent relationships in upper secondary school. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(4), 377-389. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2016.1202843
  23. Kress, J. S., & Elias, M. J. (2020). Nurturing students’ character. Everyday teaching activities for Social-Emotional Learning. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429199875
  24. Layous, K., Nelson, K., Oberle, E., Schonert-Reichl, K., A. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2012). Kindness counts: Prompting prosocial behavior in preadolescents boosts peer acceptance and well-being. Plos one, 7(12), e51380. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051380
  25. Lee, C. K. J., & Huang, J. (2021). The relations between students’ sense of school belonging, perceptions of school kindness and character strength of kindness. Journal of school psychology, 84, 95-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2020.12.001
  26. Morris, C. A., Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Curby, T. W. (2013). Relations among teachers’ emotion socialization beliefs and practices and preschoolers’ emotional competence. Early Education & Development, 24, 979-999. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2013.825186
  27. Pearson, F. G. (2017). Exploring education professionals’ perceptions of the changes in their contexts, students’ experiences, and educators’ experiences as a result of implementing the secret kindness. Dissertation. University of Nebraska.
  28. Poulou, M. (2017). The relation of teachers’ emotional intelligence and students’ social skills to students’ emotional and behavioral difficulties: A study of Greek preschool teachers’ perceptions. Early Education and Development, 28 (8), 996-1010. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2017.1320890
  29. Rowland, L., & Curry, O. S. (2019). A range of kindness activities boost happiness. The Journal of Social Psychology, 159(3), 340-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2018.1469461
  30. Saldana, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.), Thousand Oaks. Sage.
  31. Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410
  32. Thapa, A., Cohen, J., Guffrey, S., & Higgins-D’Alessandro, A. (2013). A review of school climate research. Review of Educational Research, 83, 357-385. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654313483907
  33. Thomas, L. A., DeBellis, M. D., Graham, R., & LaBar, K.S. (2007). Development of emotional facial recognition in late childhood and adolescence. Developmental Science, 10, 547-558. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00614.x
  34. Triliva, S. & Author, M. (2006). Greek teachers’ understandings and constructions of what constitutes Social and Emotional Learning. School Psychology International, 27(3), 315-338. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034306067303
  35. Wolcott, H. F. (1990). Transforming qualitative data: Description, analysis, and interpretation. Thousand Oaks: Sage.