Children's strategies in addressing bullying situations in day care and preschool

Abstract

Bullying is a common phenomenon in early childhood education. It is also difficult to erase from the classroom activities and it may have long-lasting effects on children. In this article, bullying is studied from the perspective of the victims. Three- to seven-year-old children answered the question ‘another child comes to tease you, what do you do?'. Children's strategies were classified as accommodative, participative, dominant, withdrawn or uncertain [Reunamo, J. T. (2007). Adaptation and agency in early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 15(3), 365–377]. The classified interview data were inserted to the observation data of children's activities. The participatory strategies for tackling bullying increased with age. The different strategies described in the interview were connected with children's observed action. These tendencies resulting in different kinds of learning are discussed. Both the victims and the bully should get practice with a rich variety of strategies for participation to find more positive strategies for interaction.