Teachers Influence on Social Skills of Children in Elementary School Elisa Somsen (10626891)
Supervised by Milica Nikolic November 2016
4604 words
Outline 1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. The influence of teachers’ classroom management on social skills 4. The teacher-student relationship and its influence on social skills 5. Conclusion and discussion
6. References
Abstract
This literature review demonstrates that teachers influence social skills of elementary school children. The influence of the teacher is divided into the influence of the teacher on social skills through classroom management and the influence of the teacher on social skills through the teacher-child relationship. Providing children classroom management with robust
instructional support, emotional support, organizational quality, responsive teaching and prosocial behavior will benefit children in their social skill development. Classroom strategies such as mitigate status extremes, support children who are isolated and provides opportunities for children to help each other. Teacher-attunement can also empower social skills in children. A higher quality teacher-child relationship does contribute to the social development skills as well. A few factors can contribute to the quality of the teacher-child relationship, like self-efficacy of the teacher and contact between parents and teachers. Main finding of this review is that children who already show high-quality social skills can benefit differently from the influence of the teacher than children who show problem behavior. Teachers influence through classroom management is mainly beneficial for children who are at risk for problem behavior and the teacher-child relationship will mostly help children who are not at risk for problem behavior. Only when a teacher shows emotional support, a child at risk for problem behavior can benefit from the teacher-child relationship. Through the decisions a teacher makes about classroom management and the kind of relationships that teachers have with children, they can influence the social skills of children in elementary school.
Teacher’s Influence on the Social Skills of Children in Elementary School
Social skills can be defined as the skills, verbal and non-verbal, used to communicate and interact with other people through body language, gestures, and personal appearance (Traisorn, Soonthornrojana, & Chano, 2015). Social skills are not simply the absence of behavioral problems, but tell something about showing positive social behavior (Berry & O’Connor, 2010). Social skills can also be defined as prosocial behaviors, such as helping, sharing and caring (Kwon, Kim, & Sheridan, 2014), and assertion, self-control and
cooperation (Meier, DiPerna, & Oster, 2006). Additionally, strong social skills allow children to control their temper so that they can have positive social interactions (Berry, & O’Connor, 2010). Social skills are critical when interacting with other people, for example with peers and family (Warnes, Sheridan, Geske, & Warnes, 2005). Learning and understanding appropriate social skills is critical for a person’s social development (Pavri, & Hegwerk-DiVita, 2006). For children’s development, social functioning is very important; children who lack social skills are often rejected by peers, find it challenging to interact with teachers and families, and have emotional difficulties (Warnes et al., 2005). According to Mash and Barkley (1996), a lack of social skills is often associated with both externalizing and internalizing problem behavior, such as delinquency and depression/anxiety, respectively. Furthermore, a strong grasp on social skills can be beneficial for academic achievement, because social competence is positively related to academic achievement in elementary school (Welsh et al., 2001). Developing social skills as a child, particularly in elementary school, is necessary for a good transition to adult life (Frostad, & Pijl, 2007).
When children enter elementary school, the school becomes an important socializing force that reinforces old and teaches new social skills (Maddox, & Prinz, 2003). Elementary school classrooms are complex social communities, where children make friends, achieve social status and display their social skills (Pearl, Leung, Van Acker, Farmer, & Rodkin,
2007). Social skill development is mainly seen from the beginning of kindergarten until the end of sixth grade, with an acceleration of that growth in the early and later years of
elementary school (Berry, & O’Connor, 2010). Not only is the school context very important for social skill development, but also teachers play a critical role as they have a strong effect on the development of their students’ social skill set (Jennings, & DiPrete, 2010). Not only do they teach subject matter, but also support the children, give feedback, deal with a range of behavioral challenges, help students collaborate and promote positive social interactions in the classroom (Talvio, Berg, & Lonka, 2015). Teachers affect children’s social competencies with peers, which has been shown to be an especially important area of social growth
(Wilson, Pianta, & Stuhlman, 2007). The influence of the teacher is often described as the ‘invisible hand’: the ability to shape social interactions and relationships in the classroom (Gest, & Rodkin, 2011). The use of the term the ‘invisible hand’ clarifies that it is not always clear what the teacher does to enhance social skills. Because of that, it’s important to gain more understanding about the influence a teacher has on social skills in elementary school.
Research on teaching, education, and social skills is growing. As teachers play a big role in the daily life of children, this study will investigate the extent by which teachers have an influence on the development of social skills in elementary school students. Teachers have two roles with regard to the development of social skills in children (Farmer, Lines, & Hamm, 2011). First, teachers build a framework for students in order to learn social skills, which can be done through classroom management (Gest, Welsh, Parke, Widaman, & O’Neil, 2014). Secondly, a teacher’s role replaces the home relationships while school is in session (Wilson, Pianta, & Stuhlman, 2007). When children start elementary school, the relationship with the teacher becomes important and can stimulate social skill development. In this study, these two roles are discussed in order to answer the question ‘does a teacher have an influence on the social skill development of children in elementary school?’.
The influence of teachers’ classroom management on social skills
What does a well-managed classroom look like and in what way does it contribute to the social skills of children? Teachers can apply their knowledge of the social system to routine classroom and instructional activities – called classroom management – to help promote and sustain social adaption (Pearl et al., 2007). For example, teachers are uniquely situated to manage the peer-to-peer interactions in the classroom (Farmer, Lines, & Hamm, 2011) through seating arrangements, which help manage social relationships in the classroom (Van den Berg, & Cillessen, 2015). Effective classroom management is a complex task because teachers need to recognize the students’ needs on an academic, behavioral and social level (Gest et al., 2014). It is important to know in what ways teachers can motivate students to show positive social skills in the classroom environment (Wentzel, 2003). Teachers can influence the classroom in a direct way through managing the social network in the
classroom, and in an indirect way, through general teaching practices (Gest, & Rodkin, 2011). This section will first explore the findings on the practice of both direct and indirect
classroom management and social network managing in elementary school.
Gest, Madill, Zadzora, Miller & Rodkin (2014) analyzed the management of social interactions and dynamics in the elementary school classroom by the teacher. Teachers may differ in recognizing classroom friendships, informal peer groups and bullies; as well as in considering specific management strategies important. In order to analyze these issues, Gest et al. (2014) conducted a multi-method longitudinal study of the behavior of teachers and students in elementary school classrooms. Participants were teachers and students from 54 different public elementary school classrooms. Assessments – student surveys, classroom observations and teacher surveys – were done three times during the school year. At the end of the school year, teachers rated their social dynamics management strategies in a teacher interview, which led to a number of key findings. The teachers’ recognition of popularity
patterns, friendship dynamics and patterns of aggression and bullying in the classroom did not relate to a sense of the relationships between peers in the classroom (also known as peer community), which could lead one to interpret that recognizing social dynamics in the classroom is not as important as thought. The research did also show important results regarding specific strategies in classroom management. Linear changes in sense of peer community were more affirmative when teachers reported making an effort to mitigate status extremes in children – making sure that there is less of a discrepancy between the popular child and the less popular child – and where they were using strategies to support isolated students. Also, when teachers showed high levels of responsive teaching and high levels of promoting prosocial behavior there was also a better sense of peer community. This is relevant, because a better sense of peer community contributes to the development of social skills of children. In order to practice social skills, it is key that children feel that it is possible to have relationships in the classroom in which they can use their social skills.
Gest et al. (2014) found that teachers were more likely to solve problems regarding aggressive and mean behavior than problems regarding social status and friendship issues. This could support the second issue; why does a teacher choose certain management
strategies? It seems that when children show aggressive behavior in the classroom, a teacher is more likely to use classroom management strategies. The study did show that teachers who report more use of strategies that manage classroom social dynamics, have students who display more positive patterns of social adjustment. Remarkably, when teachers do use classroom management strategies, the teacher contributes to the social development of the children, even though teachers tend to only use classroom strategies when children show aggressive behavior.
Gest et al. (2014) make the first steps in supporting the influence of a teacher on social skills. But social skills assessment is very complex. Social behaviors do not occur in solitude,
which means that various factors should be considered when looking at social skills (Warnes et al., 2005). Gest et al. (2014) mainly used surveys to answer their questions. This can be problematic as more positive sensitive teachers may tend to rate children and their own efforts differently than less emotionally supportive teachers (Wilson, Pianta, & Stuhlman, 2007). Also, classroom effects can be different for children with particular skills. Certain aspects of social dynamics in the classroom setting may be more important for children who show risky behavior than for children who show normative behavior. Wilson, Pianta and Stuhlman (2007) looked at the role of classroom climate and the development of social skills in
elementary school, by examining four different classroom styles and children’s functional risk status on social development. They did a secondary data analysis from the data of National Institute for Child Health and Human Development of Early Child Care and Youth
Development (NICHD SECCYD). They used a multi-informant longitudinal design on a sample of 820 elementary school classrooms, from which 946 children participated. The risk status of the children was determined by earlier assessment, conducted in kindergarten. For the rating of the classroom quality, the researchers looked at emotional climate (teacher sensitivity, positive emotional climate, negative emotional climate and teacher over-control) and instructional climate (behavior management, literacy instruction and evaluative
feedback). In order to classify the classrooms, they were catalogued based on their degree of instructional and/or emotional climate inside the classroom. This instructional and/or
emotional climate is related to the teachers’ classroom management, based on the support that they give to the students. The researchers found that high emotional and instructional support predicts improvement in children’s social adjustment and functioning. These results apply to all children, not just those at risk for aggressive behavior. Both teacher reports and classroom observations confirmed these results.
Research of Broekhuizen, Mokrova, Burchinal and Garrett-Peters (2016) endorse the research of Wilson, Pianta and Stuhlmann (2007) and show the importance of organizational quality in the classroom. When a teacher shows high levels of organizational quality, he or she excels in behavioral management, instructional learning formats and productivity in the classroom. Broekhuizen et al. (2016) looked at the importance of organizational quality for the social skills of children, besides emotional and instructional support. Little over thousand children in first grade were observed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System
(CLASS) to measure emotional support, classroom organization and instructional support. Social development of the children was measured with questionnaires, filled in by the teachers. Results indicated that children who have teachers who show high levels of
emotional support and organizational quality in the classroom, demonstrate better social skills in comparison to children that experience less emotional support and organizational quality.
Looking at the previous mentioned research, using classroom management strategies that show high levels of emotional support, high levels of instructional support and
organizational quality may help children learn and display more positive social skills. These are the more direct ways of classroom management. Wentzel (2003) pleads in her literature review that this is not enough and assesses the more indirect methods of classroom
management, such as a teacher providing opportunities for children to care for others. Wentzel (2003) also hypothesizes that teachers who demonstrate democratic and unbiased communication styles will be described as caring teachers by their students. When a teacher is described as caring, it means that the teacher enforces rules consistently and communicates expectations for the self-reliance and self-control of children, which contributes to positive social behavior according to empirical findings.
In the study of Farmer, Lines and Hamm (2011) the researchers looked at the benefits of indirect classroom management as well. Teachers can positively influence the social
climate in the classroom by fostering social opportunities in the classroom that help children to build social skills. In order to do that, teacher attunement is very important and providing social opportunities is not enough. Teacher attunement is the extent to which teachers agree with students’ perspectives on relationships with peers (Hoffman, Hamm, & Farmer, 2015). Hamm, Farmer, Dadisman, Gravelle and Murray (2011) focused specifically on the
attunement to students’ peer-group affiliations. They looked at teacher-attunement because the expectation was that teachers who are more aware of student peer groups have a more positive management of classroom social dynamics and may be able to be more sensitive and responsive in their support. These expectations oppose prior research by Gest et al. (2014), which said that teachers’ recognition of popularity patterns and friendship dynamics in peer groups and patterns of aggression and bullying in the classroom were not related to a sense of peer community of the students. This states to be true, but Hamm et al. (2011) expect that recognition of friendship patterns can help with showing more support, and thus contribute to the ‘caring teacher’ that Wentzel (2003) also describes. In the research of Hamm et al. (2011) the researchers chose 14 sixth-grade teachers out of 26 to get a training in order to teach them the skills that are necessary for teacher-attunement. The teachers completed eight modules, that covered topics such as social dynamics and classroom management, but also early
adolescent development. The other 12 teachers didn’t receive any training or accompaniment. The results showed that teachers who have had the training, and thus showed more teacher-attunement in the classroom, receive more student reports of a positive social environment, which will most likely benefit the development of social skills of students. This confirms their expectations.
To conclude, empirical evidence suggests that there is a link between classroom management and social skill development. Providing children classroom management with robust instructional support, emotional support, organizational quality, responsive teaching
and prosocial behavior will benefit children in their social skill development. Examples of successful classroom management strategies include those that mitigate status extremes, support children who are isolated and provide opportunities for children to help each other. Lastly, teacher-attunement can benefit the social environment inside the classroom and because of that, can benefit the social skill development of children. Classroom management benefits both children who are at risk for problem behavior as children who show normative behavior and it can further children’s development of social skills.
The teacher-student relationship and its influence on social skills
When children enter elementary school, the teacher influences their daily life in important ways, even so far as filling a parental role for children (Wilson, Pianta, & Stuhlmann 2007). Because of this role, it is not surprising that research shows that the
teacher-child relationship is very important for the development of children (Hamre, & Pianta, 2001). For example, social competence of children in elementary school can be predicted by child-teacher relationship quality (Howes, 2000). The relationship with the teacher is also an important predictor of children’s social relationships with peers, because children will use the relationship as an example of other relationships (Howes, 2000). When teachers are asked about how they can influence the social skills of their children, they say this can be
accomplished through their teacher-student relationships (Wentzel, 2003). Many studies that target the teacher-child relationship focus on the attachment theory of Bowlby, that claims that children use relationships with others to construct views about the social world around them and to construct an idea about themselves in this social world (Baker, 2006). The relationship between teacher and student shapes commitment of the students in relationships with peers; in other words, the way students are dedicated to a relationship. This section will explore the teacher-child relationship, factors that can contribute to the quality of the
relationships and how the teacher-child relationship contributes to the development of social skills in elementary school children.
Berry and O’Connor (2010) examined social skills in elementary school and answered two questions; do children with a higher quality teacher-child relationships show more social skills over time and do higher-quality teacher–child relationships differentially facilitate the social skill development of children with early behavior problems? They used data of a sample of children, mothers and teachers who participated in the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD). The researchers conducted surveys to learn about the social skills of the children and about the teacher-child relationship. They administered these surveys every year between kindergarten and sixth grade. A multilevel model for change was used to look at the child growth in social skills and the teacher-child relationship quality. Children with higher-quality teacher–child relationships demonstrated greater social skills from kindergarten through sixth grade than their peers with lower-quality relationships. Unexpectedly, the researchers also discovered that the effect of the teacher-child relationship was quite weak in the early years, but became more important as the children grew older.
These findings answer the first question in the study of Berry and O’Connor (2010), while revealing the amplification of the teacher-child relationship over time. This unexpected rise of importance can be clarified. During upper elementary school grades, children’s
personalities, behaviors and competencies begin to grow (Schonert-Reichl et al., 2015). Changes in neural and mental organization are leading to changes in moral reasoning and self-reflection, according to Schonert-Reichl et al. (2015) and children become less egocentric, develop a sense that allows them to discover feelings and perspective of others and have a higher sense of social understanding. Looking at these findings, it could make sense that the effect of the teacher-child relationships becomes more important because the social skills of
children are already more developed. Having already more developed social skill will help students focus more on relationships.
Furthermore, findings of Berry and O’Connor (2010) indicated that the teacher-child relationship was more important for children with lower levels of problem behavior than for children with higher levels. When a child already shows positive social behavior, a high-quality teacher-child relationship will be more beneficial for the development of social skills. The already social child becomes even more social. Buyse, Verschueren, Doumen, Van Damme and Maes (2008) argue that this is because of the nature of the relationship with a child that has fewer social skills. Children that show problem behavior are at risk for a conflicted relationship with their teacher. Buyse et al. (2008) looked in what way a relationship can be supportive for the social development for children that show problem behavior. A large sample of 121 elementary schools were recruited. With the use of
questionnaires, the researchers asked teacher about their relationship with their students and the behavior of children was rated by teachers. The results of the questionnaires showed that when teachers are emotionally supportive, children who show problem behavior are no longer at risk for developing poor relationships with their teacher. These finding suggest that only when a teacher is emotionally supportive, they can stimulate the development of social skills in children who show problem behavior. In sum, a high-quality relationship between a teacher and a child in elementary school will benefit the development of social skills in children who show normal behavior. When a child shows problem behavior, an emotionally supportive teacher can help the development of social skills in those children through the teacher-child relationship.
To extend previous research, O’Connor (2010) addressed two issues in her research; does the relationship quality with teachers change over time in elementary school and which teacher factors are associated with relationships quality. Data of the NICHD SECCYD was
used to look at the quality of the teacher-child relationship over time and they looked at three teacher system variables: contact between teacher and parents, salary of the teacher and self-efficacy of the teacher. Results show that the quality of the teacher-student relationships declines throughout elementary school. The researchers especially found a decrease in closeness in the relationship, what makes that the quality declines slightly. Teachers who reported higher salaries showed a less rapid decline in relationship quality. Also higher levels of self-efficacy were positively associated with relationship quality, same as high quality interactions between parents and teacher. And a high-quality relationship between student and teacher will benefit the development of social skills in elementary school children (Buyse et al., 2008).
There are a few more factors associated with the teacher-student relationship quality. According to Gallagher, Kainz, Vernon-Feagans and White (2013) teachers report more conflict in relationships with boys than with girls. An explanation can be that more female teachers report these conflicts – and they tend to have better relationships with girls – or that boys tend to show less-regulated behavior, which makes it difficult for teachers to maintain a high quality relationship with boys. Besides gender, ethnicity can also be associated with the relationship quality as the match between students and teachers may be beneficial for the relationship. This statement does not have enough empirical evidence and needs to be examined in more depth. It can still be helpful to take this statement into account. When teachers become aware of the factors that may interfere with the quality of the relationship, they may be able to increase the quality of the relationship and thus the social skills of children in elementary school.
Luckner and Pianta (2011) looked at the specific behaviors and tactics a teacher can use. The interactions existed of emotional support and instructional support were linked to cooperative behavior and prosocial behavior of the children. The quality of the
teacher-student interactions was assessed using the Classroom Observation System (COS). Children with higher quality organization interactions – interactions with a classroom management goal – had more positive observed interactions with their peers and emotional support interactions were related to higher teacher ratings of prosocial behavior of the children. Not only does emotional support contribute to social skill development, also interactions with a classroom management goal and thus organization goal will benefit social skill development.
In summary, a higher quality teacher-child relationship does contribute to the social development skill, especially for children who show normative behavior. When a child is at risk for problem behavior, the teacher’s emotional support for the child becomes even more important. A child at risk for problem behavior can only benefit from the teacher-child relationship when a teacher shows emotional support. Looking at specific interactions between teacher and child, emotional support becomes very important, next to interaction with instructional content. Different factors that have been proven to contribute to the
relationship between student and teacher are self-efficacy of the teacher, salary of the teacher and contact between parents and teachers. Gender and ethnicity can influence the teacher-student relationship but more research is needed.
Conclusion and discussion
This literature review demonstrates how teachers influence social skills of elementary school children. Two questions were answered in order to give an overview of the different ways a teacher has an influence on social skills. First, in this review it is discussed in what way a teacher can influence the development of social skills through classroom management. Empirical evidence shows that there is a connection between classroom management and social skill development. Classroom management that consists of high instructional support, responsive teaching, organizational quality, and prosocial behavior will benefit to the
empower social skills in children, such as those that mitigate status extremes support children who are isolated and provides opportunities for children to help each other and teacher-attunement. With the second question, the teacher-student relationship is discussed. A teacher-student relationship that has a high quality contributes to the development of social skills, especially when the child shows normative behavior. When a child shows more problematic behavior than peers, the child will only benefit from this teacher-student relationship when a teacher shows emotional support. Interaction with instructional content and emotional support are both critical components of these relationships. Finally, there are a few factors that can influence the teacher-student relationships in both positive and negative ways, including self-efficacy of the teacher, salary of the teacher, teacher-parent contact, gender, and ethnicity. Overall, these results support the hypothesis of this review: a teacher does influence the social skills of elementary school children.
The findings of this study are complementary to previous research. Research of Gest et al. (2014) showed the importance and the influence of a teachers’ classroom management on social skills, and Wilson, Pianta, & Stuhlman (2007) addressed the teacher-child relationship and how it benefits social skill development in elementary school children. The current study did find a large inconsistency in the influence of the teacher on elementary school children, that has not been found yet. Where a teacher’s influence through classroom management is mainly beneficial for children who are at risk for problem behavior, the teacher-child relationship will mostly help children who are not at risk for problem behavior. Therefore, children who already show high-quality social skills can benefit differently from the influence of the teacher than children who show problem behavior. It is important that teachers take this into account when looking at ways to improve social skills of children in their classroom.
There are some noteworthy limitations of this study. First, social skills can be defined in many ways. Often, researchers make a distinction between social skills, social competence
and social development and not all the research that is used in this study defines social skills in the same way. As social skill development is such a broad concept, it is very difficult to find one cohesive definition of social skills that is used broadly. Also, the current study focuses on classroom management and the teacher-student relationship, but these aspects are not determinative for a teachers’ influence on social skills. Because of these two aspects, the main conclusion of this study should be considered with caution. In future research, more aspects of social skills should be examined and a more defined concept of social skills should be used.
Second, there is a limitation regarding the measurements of the research that is used in this study. Many researchers advocate for a multimodal approach in social skill assessment (using various methods in the assessment process), but this approach is rarely used. The studies discussed in this review mainly focused on assessment techniques that provide intra-individual variables, such as the intra-individual social behavior the children show. Unfortunately, according to Warnes, Sheridan, Geske and Warnes (2005), by doing this, researchers do not use the various social behaviors within a given context. In other words, researchers do not look at the types of behaviors that are relevant within the child’s social environment. In future research, both intra-individual behaviors as social behavior that is more meaningful in context should be assessed when measuring social skills. Additionally, most studies used data of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD). In future research, there has to be a focus on more diverse samples, which allows for better and more concise results because that approach utilizes more data over longer periods of time. As this study focuses on the whole elementary school period, it is beneficial to use longitudinal designs.
Despite the limitations, teachers can benefit from the results of this study. The
period. The influence of the teacher on social skills is clear. Teachers have the opportunity to contribute to multiple domains of functioning (physical, social, behavioral) in relation to the social environment in which the child is embedded. The teacher has a unique role in the development of the child. Through the decisions a teacher makes about classroom
management and the kind of relationships that teachers have with children, they can influence the social skills of children in elementary school.
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