Mount Cook Preschool (TLIF 5-038) - Sowing seeds of peace Publications
Publication Details
Project Reference: Mount Cook Preschool (TLIF 5-038) - This inquiry was inspired by an earlier research project conducted in the centre and led by two researchers who became the project’s critical friends. Their research (Dalli, Strycharz-Banaś, & Meyerhoff, 2020) had investigated how children negotiate conflict and peace-making and the impact this has on wellbeing and belonging.
Author(s): (Inquiry Team) led by Rebecca Miller
Date Published: August 2021
Overview
Teachers and children at Mt. Cook Preschool had participated in research into how children negotiate conflict and peace-making and the impact of this on their sense of belonging and wellbeing (Dalli, Strycharz-Banaś, & Meyerhoff, 2020). The research had included the identification of a ‘typology of responses’ – descriptors for the different ways a teacher might intervene in conflict. This, and messages from parents and whānau about the importance of socio-emotional learning, inspired teacher inquiry into improved ways of using language to foster children’s wellbeing and involvement in learning and promote peaceful conflict resolution.
We’ve all noticed that when Borey feels insecure, he uses words that compare his own achievements against others. We now recognize that in these instances, he has a strong need to be seen/acknowledged, so showing him we understand is important. When he said to Hasith, “My dinosaur is stronger than yours”, Frances responded by saying, “You’re really proud of your dinosaur” to give him the acknowledgement he needed. Replacing labels and judgements with facts and observations is helping us recognise the needs that underlie the behaviours we are seeing. So instead of thinking of Borey as being competitive, when we understand that he is feeling insecure and needs to be acknowledged and appreciated, our own attitudes towards him change. We are able to show more empathy.
Staff meeting minutes
Teachers learned to look below the surface of children’s behaviour during conflict to the feelings they were expressing and the needs that were not being met. They learned to empathise with all those involved and to pause before intervening, tuning in to their own feelings and considering whether and how they should respond. They developed a sequence of responses called SNAILS: slowing down, noticing what is happening, acknowledging feelings, identifying needs, listening to check, and supporting children to create solutions.
The teachers’ approach was successful in supporting children to regulate their emotions and creating a more peaceful, collaborative environment where children feel they belong and are ready to learn. Unexpectedly, an innovation that was initially focused on conflict intervention led to the construction of new professional ways of being that have strengthened learning, relationships, and emotional literacy for teachers, as well as children.
One of the biggest lessons from the project was around the importance of teachers being aware of their own emotional state and of the beliefs, assumptions, and histories that can inform their response to conflict or stress. Self-awareness is key to teachers being able to offer compassionate support to children as they learn about their emotions and how to manage them.
The inquiry story
This inquiry involved all four teachers at Mt. Cook Preschool. The preschool has a roll of around 26 children from diverse cultural backgrounds, speaking 12 home languages between them. Initially, there were four ‘target’ children and later, fifteen.
What was the focus?
This inquiry was inspired by an earlier research project conducted in the centre and led by two researchers who became the project’s critical friends. Their research (Dalli, Strycharz-Banaś, & Meyerhoff, 2020) had investigated how children negotiate conflict and peace-making and the impact this has on wellbeing and belonging. The researchers found that when children seek to restore relationships after a conflict, they are actively working to restore their sense of belonging and wellbeing.
In reflecting on their research learning, the teachers were drawn to explore how a more intentional teacher approach to conflict intervention might impact children’s interactions and the overall culture of the centre. This would mean shifting away from strategies focused on stopping conflict and towards strategies that were responsive to the underlying needs motivating children’s behaviour and involving the children in finding solutions.
The teachers had also asked parents and whānau about their aspirations for their children and what should be in their preschool’s local curriculum. Many of the responses emphasised the importance of values like respect, kindness, and compassion; possessing the skills to make and maintain friendships; effective communication; and the ability to solve problems independently.
The teachers regarded this innovation as an opportunity to examine their own responses to children’s conflict and the impact these responses have on children’s ability to resolve problems respectfully and using their own initiative. They hoped that it would enable them to develop, implement, and test the effectiveness of a consistent approach to conflict that empowers children with peaceful ways of interacting and results in the construction of a local curriculum that the community finds relevant and meaningful.
The inquiry commenced with the following overarching questions:
- How do our responses to conflict affect children’s wellbeing and involvement in learning at preschool?
- What types of interventions into children’s conflict will promote peaceful conflict resolution?
What did the teachers try?
The project unfolded in four phases over four terms, with the timeline adjusted to respond to the pandemic lockdown.
In the first phase, the teachers focused on their own understandings, beliefs, and knowledge about conflict. Using data collected from the previous research, they examined their habitual responses to conflict and the impact of this upon children. They used this to develop a typology of responses (such as ‘giving solutions’, ‘emotional presence’, and ‘conveying expectations’) and identifying the practices that seemed to impact best on children’s sense of wellbeing and belonging. In subsequent phases, they focused on intentionally responding to children’s conflict using these practices and on evaluating their impact.
Within this first phase, the team also began using the Leuven wellbeing and involvement scales (Laevers, 2005, 2015, and CEGO Experiential Education website) to measure the target children’s level of wellbeing and involvement. This provided a baseline against which shifts could be measured. They adapted their use of the scales to get a more nuanced understanding of the behaviours of each child and to give transparency to their ratings. They observed and rated the target children three times a week, at three different times in the day, so that they could pinpoint times when a child might need more support. The teachers continued to use the scales throughout the project. They reviewed the ratings and comments during team meetings to develop a shared understanding of each child’s individual patterns and needs and the support the team could offer.
In Phase 1, the team also introduced video recording. The teachers used a Go Pro to systematically collect records of teacher-child interactions for joint analysis as a team. This contributed further to the process of refining their understandings of the most productive teacher responses to children’s conflict.
Through phases 2–4, the teachers used a rapid cycle methodology, incorporating their new learning into each new cycle. The teachers intended to develop a refined typology of effective responses to children’s conflict but soon discovered that it was not the specific responses that made the difference, but the order in which they were used, together with teachers’ awareness of themselves and their own responses and teachers’ attunement to children’s feelings and socio-emotional needs. This was captured in the SNAILS model described below.
As they moved through the project, the teachers made the following shifts in practice:
- Pause before responding: Drawing on Viktor Frankl’s (1959/2006) insights into the power of the space between stimulus and response (the space where we have the freedom to choose our response), the teachers learned to check in with their own emotional state before intervening in an interaction. They could then make a considered decision about whether to respond, and how.
- Pay attention to language in emotionally difficult situations: This involves moving from evaluations, judgements, and analyses of children and their behaviour to statements of fact about what they observe. The shift in language also involves moving from focusing on describing behaviour towards tuning into children’s feelings and needs that may motivate the behaviour. They are cultivating ‘unconditional positive regard’ (Rogers, 1956) and seeking to guess and name children’s feelings and needs.
- Use SNAILS to mediate children’s conflicts. The teachers searched research into brain development and emotional regulation to understand how best to support children in moments of threat, tension, and stress. They moved from the idea of a typology of alternative responses to the following sequence:
Slow down: Breathe. Take a pause to recognise your own emotional state.
Notice: Recognise the facts and provide commentary in observation.
Acknowledge feelings: Guess feelings with empathy (“I wonder if you are feeling…?”)
Identify needs: “What is the need you are longing for right now?” “What would you really like?”
Listen: Did I get it right? Is there more? Do I need to go back and repeat any previous steps?
Support child-led solutions.
SNAILS is used to support children in difficult situations, including when they need to solve conflicts. It is also used when they engage in play, to help increase their emotional vocabulary and awareness of other people’s perspectives. The teachers use it to regulate their own emotional state, to provide models of how to do this, to have open and honest conversations with each other, and to connect with parents and whānau.
- Needs-based pedagogy: The teachers used Rosenberg’s (2003) list of universal human needs as a starting point for identifying the most important needs of children at the centre and appropriate pedagogical responses. For example, children’s needs for safety, security, and stability can be addressed by maintaining consistent rhythms and routines and providing clarity about boundaries and expectations. This is a tool for reflection that will continue to develop. The goal is to reduce challenging behaviours by being proactive in addressing children’s pressing needs.
What happened as a result of this innovation?
The teachers report that their growing self-awareness and increased understanding of the emotional responses that motivate their own behaviour has helped them better understand the children’s needs and explore peaceful ways of meeting them. They are more responsive to children’s emotional needs ‘in the moment’ and outside of conflicts and have been encouraging the children to notice their own needs, too.
Taking time to pause before responding means teachers intervene less frequently. Instead, they often choose to remain close but allow the children space to resolve conflicts themselves. They are responding with greater compassion for all children involved in conflict.
The observations and use of the Leuven scales have helped the teachers identify children’s sense of wellbeing and involvement and respond when these are low. They have strategies for bringing children back to a regulated state, including Perry et al.’s (2008) neurosequential model of Regulate-Relate-Reason.
Teachers notice that their emotional vocabulary is growing, they are more attuned to children’s emotional states, and are using what they have observed about children’s individual stress responses to foster their ability to self-regulate. They are more curious about children’s behaviour and feel more ‘present’ with all children, but at the same time, they feel less stressed.
Children are learning to resolve conflict peacefully and respectfully and with an awareness of their own emotional states and that of others. Teachers support the children to work through their emotions fully by naming them, offering their calm presence (‘co-regulating’), and empathising with them. This is impacting on children’s emotional literacy. The children are using more complex feeling words and are guessing each other’s feelings and needs.
The teachers know to wait until children are back in a regulated state before attempting to help them unpack the situation that led to the emotional response. They do this using narrative, storytelling, imaginative play, and metaphor. The children have begun using the same strategies as the teachers, noticing their own and other people’s emotions, trying to name those emotions, and asking for support when they recognise their feelings are becoming difficult. The teachers have observed how some children use play and storytelling to work through conflicts and are prompting and supporting other children to try this strategy.
SNAILS has proven very helpful for navigating conflict and difficulties and supporting children’s socio-emotional development. The teachers also find it useful as a reflective tool for analysing past interactions where they wish they had responded differently. They can review these interactions and collectively look for alternatives.
There have been several unintended positive outcomes. Teachers feel less stressed and more confident. They are more in tune with themselves and each other. Trust has increased and they are willing to engage in difficult conversations within the team. Because they can identify and acknowledge the needs and emotions behind children’s behaviour, they no longer use praise and rewards to motivate behavioural change. Teachers’ increased awareness of children’s needs and emotions is also enabling deeper conversations with parents and whānau.
What did they learn?
An unexpected lesson for the teachers was the importance of tuning in to their own emotional states, needs, and beliefs around conflict before they could attune themselves to the children’s needs. The innovations reinforce the critical importance of relationships– teachers need to spend time developing close relationships with children before they can ‘read’ their levels of wellbeing and belonging and identify the needs driving behaviour. The teachers also learned to differentiate between “competent conflict resolution behaviours” (Chen, 2001) when children can resolve conflict themselves and unproductive situations where they need teacher support using a model like SNAILS.
While the SNAILS model proved effective, the teachers came to understand that it required a demanding change in practice. Using it to support children’s socio-emotional development and emotional literacy in periods of calm is a useful strategy for making this change. It helps both children and teachers to tune in to their emotions and needs, developing strategies that can be applied during conflict. Finally, the teachers learned that following conflict or stress, it is important to support children to regulate and to process what happened.
Inquiry team
This inquiry was led by Rebecca Miller. The rest of the team consisted of Toni Fraser, Angela Siaosi, Frances Hu, and Chrissy Cook.
The project’s critical friends were Anna Strycharz-Banaś and Carmen Dalli, both of Victoria University of Wellington.
For further information
If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact the project leader, Rebecca Miller, at rebecca.miller@mtcookpreschool.org.nz
Reference list
Chen, D. W. (2003). Preventing violence by promoting the development of competent conflict resolution skills: Exploring roles and responsibilities. In Early Childhood Education Journal, 30(4).
Dalli, C., Strycharz-Banaś, A., & Meyerhoff M. (2020). Negotiating wellbeing and belonging in an early childhood centre: What children’s conflicts can teach us. Early Childhood Folio 24(1). Wellington: NZCER Press.
Frankl, V. E. (1959/2006). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
Laevers, F. (Ed.) (2005). Well-being and involvement in care settings. A process-oriented self-evaluation instrument. Kind & Gezin and Research Centre for Experiential Education.
Laevers, F. (2015). Making care and education more effective through well-being and involvement: An introduction to experiential education. Belgium: Research Centre for Experiential Education, University of Leuven.
Leuven Scale for Well-Being: CEGO Experiential Education: http://expertisecentrum.cego.be/leuven-scale-for-well-being/?lang=en.
Macpherson, G. (Host) (2018). The Trauma Therapist (Episode 264), with Dr Bruce Perry. Retrieved from www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcast/bruce-perry/
Hanson, R., & Hanson, F. (Hosts) (2019). Being Well Podcast (Episode 85), with Dr Bruce Perry. Childhood Trauma. Retrieved from www.rickhanson.net/being-well-podcast-childhood-trauma-with-dr-bruce-perry/
Perry, B. D, & Hambrick, E. P. (2008). The neurosequential model of therapeutics. In Reclaiming Children and Youth Journal, 17(3).
Rogers, Carl (1956). On becoming a person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, Carl (1956). Client-centered therapy (3 ed.). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Schwandt, T. A. (1994). Constructivist, interpretivist approaches to human inquiry. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 118–137.
Shanker, S., & Barker, T. (2016). Help your child deal with stress and thrive – The transformative power of self-reg. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Siegel, D. J., & Payne Bryson, T. (2012). The whole-brain child. New York: Random House.
Siegel, D. J. & Payne Bryson, T. (2020). The power of showing up. London: Scribe Publications.
Siegel, D. J. (2017). Mindful parenting demonstration. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkfv6oU4nEA&t=1250s
Siraj, I., Kingston, D., & Melhuish, E. (2015). Assessing Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care – Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Well-being (SSTEW) Scale for 2–5-year-olds provision. London: UCL IOE Press.
Navigation
Contact TLIF
If you have any questions about TLIF projects, please contact us at:
Email: TLIF Mailbox