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Ρωτώντας τα ίδια τα παιδιά για τις φιλίες τους στο νηπιαγωγείο: (Bachelor thesis)

Γιαμακίδου, Ελένη/ Giamakidou, Eleni

The development of friendly relationships during preschool age has been highlighted by the modern literature as the most basic socializing processes in the life of infants, which is linked to their smooth social-emotional development and adaptation to the school environment of kindergarten. Particularly in the modern multicultural classroom, it is important to investigate children's relationships in order to detect potential issues and seek pedagogical methods that contribute to strengthening the relationships between them. Utilizing the Sociometric Method in three classes attended by children from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, this study explores children's friendship preferences under the pretext of play, and sheds light on the issues that exist. Fifty-eight children participated and of these, 14 had different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The results show that a) linguistic minority children are the recipients of a higher degree of rejection from their peers, b) they are not often selected by linguistic majority children, but instead are selected from among themselves, and c) shared activities and interests are the main criterion for acceptance of foreign language children while aggressive behaviour is the main criterion for rejection. Finally, based on the findings, practices that utilize Culturally Sensitive Teaching and Social Pedagogy to enhance children's positive relationships and promote acceptance and positive images are discussed.