Morality in preschool interaction:

Teacher’s strategies for working with children’s

morality

Eva Johansson

Göteborg University

Aim

• What moral values and norms do teachers encourage children to develop?

• How do teacher’s attend to the values that children express in their daily interaction with teachers and peers ?

Ontology:Guides the investigation and

pedagogical practise

The life-world: that world that precedes

knowledge, of which knowledge always speaks

/…/

Merleau-Ponty, 1962, p. ix

Morality - a result of intersubjectivity

Methods

•Hermeneutics–Interactions–Interviews–Moral situations–Moral values and norms

To understand Others

• To understand a friend’s emotional feelings

• To understand connections between actions and emotions

• To share and support other’s emotions• To understand others’ perspectives

To learn morally good strategies

– To express one’s own - and respect others’ wills

– To express a moral message– Negotiate– To compensate– To share – Wait for one’s turn

Set limits

• To prevent and to admonish• Consequences - to threaten and

to condemn• To avoid moral conflicts• Preventing children’s morality

Children’s morality develops through :

–empathy –cognition–sanctions and guilt –understanding others’ perspectives

Being a good teacher?

The good child

How can teachers help children

to extend their moral learning

in pre-school?

A question of perspectives

Responsiveness:

Understanding the other’s condition

Act for the good of others

L. Blum 1994