"Så man får jobba direkt när en konflikt uppstår" - En intervjustudie om hur pedagogens förhållningssätt i konflikter kan stötta barns utveckling av empatisk förmåga.

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