Ever wondered how children relate to their peers, adults and community? Watch this lecture by Indiana University’s Emeritus Professor William A. Corsaro to find out.
Young children can develop strong bonds with adults, classmates and friends at preschool. And children’s relationships with others vary across cultural contexts.
Emeritus Professor William A. Corsaro compared children’s relationships at American private preschools, American Head Start Centres (early years’ settings catering mainly to African American children from families with lower incomes), and Italian preschools.
In the process, he made some fascinating observations. Italian children appeared to have more lively discussions in school than their American peers. They would interrupt classmates in order to share their opinions, and made deep discoveries. Their teachers did not rush their conversations. Community dialogue was valued.
By contrast, children at schools in America would have to take turns to speak. They often spoke too softly for their peers to hear, and were only allowed a limited amount of time to present their ideas. Their classmates gave them little feedback.
Also, at Italian preschools, adults rarely got involved in children’s conflicts. Rather, the children were able to manage any tensions that arose on their own. On top of that, when two children had a disagreement, their classmates would jump in and try to help.
On the other hand, at American preschools, children would react to conflict by accusing their peers of “hurting their feelings”, and threating to disinvite classmates from their birthday parties. They looked to their teachers to resolve disagreements.
Children at Italian preschools were connected to their wider community. Italian preschool teachers had strong relationships with children’s families as teachers stayed with the same group of children for multiple years. American children were comparatively less visible in their communities. Teachers did not know children’s families as well, as they were usually attached to a class for only a year.
All this knowledge can help preschool teachers and families as we consider what relationships we would like children to have in Singapore. By being reflective and thoughtful about our actions, we can support children in developing positive relationships in early childhood.
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