| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to find empathy supporting strategies for educators to practice in
conflicts between children in preschool. To accomplish this we interviewed four preschool teachers
from three different preschools in Sweden, and asked them about their experience of development
of empathy in children and how conflict situations can be used as learning opportunities. Our aim
was to find a number of strategies that can be used to scaffold children forth in the sociocultural
perspective’s concept “the zone of proximal development”. This perspective is the theoretical
approach we have used to analyze the results of our study.
Our results suggested that the preschool teachers explain empathy as an inhered ability that is
determined by social- context and environment. It can therefore be said that a child that is
surrounded by empathic role models that encourages and supports the child’s empathic actions has
better possibilities to develop empathy. It’s impossible to teach someone empathy if you don’t
mediate it yourself. We also found that the preschool teachers describe that conflicts present
excellent opportunities to work with the development of empathy, and that the teacher’s main role
in children’s conflicts is to act as a mediator and support the children in a way that benefits the
ability of empathy. The strategies we found were (1) empathic role models, () confirming
emotions, (3) explaining experiences, (4) listening to all versions, (5) setting positive boundaries,
(6) turning attention to others’ perspective, (7) encouraging empathic actions and (8) reconciliation.
All the strategies we found require good communication, which according to the sociocultural
perspective is the most important tool to learn. To help children in the development of empathy, a
dialogue on equal conditions that allows all parties to express their experience and opinion, is
according to our study a significant part in the work of a preschool teacher.
Keywords: empathy, conflicts, conflict management, preschool, a teacher’s role, zone of proximal
development | sv |
