Lilian Katz: Reflections
Professional Responses in the Early Childhood Classroom
Introduction
Most teachers of young children, sooner or later, experience incidents like the
one described here:
Four-year-old Robin comes to the teacher and with some agitation
launches a protest, saying, “Leslie won't let me have a turn with the trike!”
There are probably scores of "right" as well as "wrong" ways to respond to this
predicament. In the following discussion, we take a quick look at a few of the
distinctions between possible responses to this situation typical in all kinds
of early care and education settings.
A defining characteristic of any profession is that the practitioner responds to
the standard predicaments that arise by using judgments on the basis of the
best available professional principles and knowledge. One of the ways of
appreciating the importance of professional development is to contrast the way
a professional and a nonprofessional might deal with these kinds of standard
predicaments frequently encountered by teachers of young children.
A professional teacher would respond to such situations by exercising judgment
based on professional knowledge in terms of (1) what she thinks could be taught
to the participants, (2) the clinical questions relating to particular
individuals in the incident, and (3) management issues, the curriculum, and
perhaps the philosophy of the program.
These considerations would not require long periods of reflection before
responding to Robin; with increasing experience, they would become deeply
integrated into the teacher’s regular way of dealing with the ups and downs of
events in a lively class with young children. Furthermore, one of the important
attributes of a professional teacher is that she exercises her professional
judgment even when she is not really “in the mood” and when she has other
pressing matters on her mind. Indeed, to respond to the situation without the
application of professional judgment would, in fact, be unprofessional. In such
a case, the teacher might simply ignore the plea or say something unhelpful to
Robin or Leslie such as, “Life is tough some days!”
A nonprofessional, on the other hand, is often a person who can do wonderful
things with young children, but the nonprofessional is more likely to respond
in terms of the immediate situation and to settle for what "works" well for the
moment rather than act in terms what is most likely to enhance the children's
long-term development.
Some examples of the application of professional judgment in this kind of
typical predicament are outlined below. These responses are contrasted with
those of a person without training, and a few points are also added concerning
what might constitute unprofessional responses to the same situation.
Responses by Professionals
Ideally, a trained teacher approaches the situation described by asking herself
questions like: What can I be teaching in this incident? In formulating answers
to this question, the teacher takes into account the most reliable knowledge
about the development of children; the norms of the age group; and the goals of
the parents, the school, and the community at large. Here are just a few
examples of possible professional responses to this predicament.
Social Skills. This incident presents an ideal situation in
which to support the development of a range of social skills, as described
below.
Turn-taking. The teacher might suggest to Robin that he or she simply
wait a few minutes, do something else for a little while, and then try asking
Leslie again for a turn. She might also suggest to Robin that Leslie be
observed for signs of weariness or boredom with the tricycle, indicating that a
bid for a turn as soon as such signs appear is likely to be successful.
Negotiating. During the preschool period, children can begin to acquire
bargaining skills. The teacher can encourage Robin to consider what might
appeal to Leslie. She can offer a verbal model of how the negotiations might go
by saying something like, “Go to Leslie and say, ‘I'll push you on the swing if
you give me a turn on the tricycle.’”
Coping with rebuffs. The teacher can help Robin to cope with denial of
her wishes by saying (in a matter-of-fact tone) something like, “All right.
Perhaps Leslie will give up the tricycle later. There are lots of other things
to do in the meantime...” Specific activities can then be suggested.
Verbal Skills. The tricycle situation is also a good one in
which to teach children how to express their feelings and assert their wishes
more clearly and effectively.
Assertive phrases. The teacher could respond to Robin's complaint by
saying something like, “Go back to Leslie and say, ‘I've been waiting a long
time. I really want a turn.’” In such a case, the teacher models a tone of
moderate but firm assertiveness that the child can imitate and introduces a
simple phrase to be used when the teacher is not there.
Social Knowledge. This typical incident also provides a good
opportunity to teach various kinds of social knowledge.
Social perspective. For example, the teacher might say to Robin
something like, “I know you're disappointed not to get a turn on the tricycle,
but there are other things you like doing.” The tone should be matter-of-fact
and pleasant, with no hint of reprimand.
Rudiments of justice. Even young children can begin to absorb some of
the rudiments of justice, particularly in the form of "ground rules." Thus, a
professionally trained teacher would not just say, “Leslie, I want you to give
Robin a turn now” but would add “and when you need help getting a turn with
something, I will be glad to help you also.”
Dispositional Learning. The professional teacher also considers
which dispositions could be strengthened or weakened in this situation.
Empathic and altruistic dispositions. For example, if Leslie resists
giving up the tricycle, the teacher could say, “Robin has been waiting for a
long time, and you know how it feels to wait a long time,” thereby arousing
empathic feelings and nurturing the disposition to be charitable as well.
Experimental disposition. The teacher can strengthen children's
dispositions to approach confrontations experimentally, as problem-solving
situations in which alternative solutions can be invented and tried, and in
which a few failures will not be debilitating. So, in this predicament, the
teacher can respond to Robin by modeling a mildly assertive tone and say, “I
suggest you say to Leslie, ‘I really want a turn. I've been waiting a long
time.’ If that doesn't work, come back and we'll discuss something else to
try.”
Responses by Nonprofessionals
The term "nonprofessional" implies no inferiority; this designation is used in
order to contrast the application of knowledge and professionally accrued
experience and practices with common-sense responses and to focus attention on
how professional education and judgment come into play in daily work with other
people's children.
In order to explore this contrast, it may be helpful to imagine how the person
without professional education and experience might respond in this situation.
The untrained individual is likely to focus on what is happening rather than
what is being learned. Similarly, she is likely to see the situation as calling
for "putting out the fire," hoping that will be the end of it, rather than one
that calls for teaching a variety of skills, knowledge, or dispositions. In
other words, the nonprofessional may wish simply to put a stop to the incident
without considering which of many possible interventions is most likely to
stimulate long-term development and learning.
Often untrained teachers use distraction in these situations. While distraction
"works," it does not really teach alternative approaches to the situation. On
the contrary, it may teach children that complaining, tattling, and so forth
very frequently get adult attention.
A unprofessional response might be to say something like, “Cut it out!” “Don't
be so selfish!” “Be nice!” “Don't be nasty!” “We take turns in this
school!”—even though we just didn't. While such exclamations are probably not
harmful, they are unlikely to teach the children alternative approaches to the
situation. Some nonprofessionals also respond to squabbling over equipment by
putting it away or locking it up. This strategy does "work," of course, but it
does not teach, and teaching is the professional's commitment.
Occasionally, a nonprofessional issues a threat such as, “If you don't let Robin
have a turn, you won't go to the zoo with us on Friday.” One problem with such
threats is that they are often empty. Will Leslie be prevented from going to
the zoo? Furthermore, threats do not teach the children alternative strategies
for solving the problem, nor do they encourage new knowledge or strengthen
desirable dispositions.
Some nonprofessionals in this kind of situation use time-out procedures—removing
the child from contact with the ongoing life of the group. Time-out procedures
often seem to "work." Indeed, many teachers are trained to use them. The main
problem is that time-out procedures do not teach new skills or desirable
dispositions, although they do sometimes change behavior for a while.
Many adults in such predicaments preach about the virtues of "sharing,"
"kindness," and "generosity." Though not harmful, these actions are unlikely to
teach strategies to use when adults are not present. Another common response of
untrained adults is to become preoccupied with the feelings of the "victim" and
to neglect the development of the child who seems to be the aggressor. The
professional, on the other hand, is committed to responding to the feelings,
needs, and development of all the children in her charge.
Many nonprofessionals respond to situations like this one by asking questions
about who had it first, who started it, and how a conflict situation arose,
intending to assign blame for the incident, while emphasis is best placed on
teaching the children strategies for resolving the problem.
Some untrained adults in these situations would say to Leslie such things as,
“Your behavior makes me sad” or “Your acting that way makes me feel bad.”
Though not harmful, such statements draw attention to the adult's own internal
states and perhaps add a layer of guilt to the child's feelings. Again it fails
to teach effective ways of coping with the predicament.
Finally, the nonprofessional person in such a situation is apt to employ not
only common sense but also impulse, custom, or erroneous folk wisdom. The
danger also exists that this individual may occasionally use shaming
comparisons with other children in order to intimidate a child so that he or
she will give in to the adult's demand.
Conclusion
This typical incident arising in groups of young children is used to illustrate
differences in how professionals and nonprofessionals teach. The professional
teacher exercises judgment in the service of the long-term best interests of
the children; the untrained person is more likely to respond in terms of the
immediate situation and to settle for what "works" well for the moment rather
than act in terms what is most likely to enhance the children's long-term
development.
I have not discussed the clinical judgments that professional teachers make—the
processes of taking into account the meaning of the behavior of each individual
child involved in a particular incident into the context of all other known
behavior and history of the individuals involved. Nor have I discussed the
implications of the situation for curriculum and management. Only a very small
sample of the potential uses of contemporary knowledge about children's
development and learning has been discussed here. However, it is hoped that
even this brief description of what mature professionalism in teaching in early
care and education settings might be like will add weight to the proposition
that the effective training and education of preprimary teachers can help to
make a significant contribution to children's development and learning.
Acknowledgment
This article is adapted from a paper titled “The Professional Preschool
Teacher,” originally included in the 1984 publication More Talks with Teachers
(pp. 27–44) by Lilian G. Katz. The full text is available from ERIC at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/2e/ac/4a.pdf.
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