Young children's prosocial behavior: The relationship between kindergarten teachers' beliefs and practices.

Abstract

An important aspect of early education is fostering children's prosocial development. Although there has been research investigating young children's prosocial behavior, there is little known about the ways in which early schooling addresses this aspect of development In particular, teachers' thinking related to this component of the educational process has been ignored. This qualitative dissertation is an exploratory study aimed at gaining a better understanding of the relationship between early childhood teachers' educational beliefs and their teaching practices associated with students' prosocial development. This is accomplished through case studies of four kindergarten teachers. The teachers were observed and interviewed over the course of one school year. The findings indicated a strong relationship between the teachers' beliefs and their practices. Each of the teachers held a few core educational beliefs that were linked with many of their practices related to students' prosocial development. The teachers also held secondary beliefs that were influential but had less pervasive effects. Each case study illustrates the association between the teacher's educational beliefs and the ways in which she created a classroom environment that fostered or inhibited students' prosocial development. This was the case for beliefs that were related to social development and, importantly, for beliefs that were seemingly unrelated to students' social development. Cross case analyses identified common themes pertaining to the nature of teacher beliefs in general and teacher beliefs and practices associated with children's prosocial behavior specifically. There were several key findings, such as: The teacher's belief systems were unique, complex, and internally consistent; the teachers' practices enhanced students' helping and cooperating behaviors much more than other types of prosocial behavior; and, students' prosocial behavior was more likely to be reinforced during group activities than other segments of the school day.