Sims-Schouten2015
| Sims-Schouten2015 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Sims-Schouten2015 |
| Author(s) | Wendy Sims-Schouten |
| Title | Bullying in early childhood and the construction of young children as premoral agents: implications for practice |
| Editor(s) | |
| Tag(s) | EMCA, Bullying, Children |
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| Year | 2015 |
| Language | English |
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| Month | |
| Journal | Pastoral Care in Education |
| Volume | 33 |
| Number | 4 |
| Pages | 234–245 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1080/02643944.2015.1094121 |
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Abstract
Bullying continues to be common, despite extensive research and policy focus. With few studies concentrating specifically on early childhood, there are indications that more research is needed to establish the different mechanisms related to direct and relational victimisation in young children. The current paper sets out to analyse parents’ and early years practitioners’ talk in relation to bullying in early childhood in the light of notions of young children’s agency, intentions and morality. The key question here is how practitioners and parents make sense of this, and what narratives are invoked. In-depth focus group discussions are analysed, drawing on multi-level ‘synthesised’ discourse analysis as a methodological framework. Firstly, drawing on discursive psychology, I focus on the interactive accomplishments of talk, such as managing facts, blame and accountability. The second level of discourse analysis focuses on the wider discourses that participants draw on to make sense of themselves, which includes common sense discourses and ideologies. Findings show that in their narratives, early years practitioners and parents move from discussing examples of bullying in early years, to suggesting that young children ‘don’t understand’ and are incapable when it comes to deciding about right and wrong behaviour. Implications and issues to do with early intervention are discussed.
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