Developing Young Children's Understanding of Work as a Social Institution

Abstract

In the UK very young children's experience of ‘work’ (as in adult paid activity) in school is usually restricted to activities which focus on the more concrete manifestations of a task: the police officer arrests, the baker bakes and the nurse takes temperatures. Learning about work as a socially situated activity is usually felt to be too difficult for children aged as young as five years. However, recent studies in childhood and literacy are showing that young children are able to exert agency and understanding in many complex situations. This papers details part of a case study focusing on five-year-olds in which through a series of activities related to sociodramatic play experiences they gained experience of work and bureaucracy, work and community, and work and economic transaction. Instead of finding these too difficult it was clear that the complexity fully engaged the children and that they began to understand that work was not simply a physical activity but was a social phenomenon which involved regulation, community relationships, and economic understanding.