Behavioral Adjustment of Pre-primary School Children in Tanzania: The Role of the Teacher-Child Relationship

Abstract

Pre-primary education in Tanzania prepares young children from 5 to 6 years of age for formal schooling (primary education). Children at this stage are in transition from home to school contexts. For many children the transition stage may cause challenges to them because school context is new to them. For example, unlike home, at school children meet new, many, and unrelated peers and adults. In addition, peers at school have different behavioral backgrounds. Furthermore, unlike the home, school has clear rules and regulations. In the transition from home to school some children may display inappropriate behaviors, which may affect their relationships with the teachers and peers. Taking into account the importance of children’s behavioral adjustment in the school career, we studied children’s behavioral adjustment in the Tanzanian context through four empirical studies. We first explored the teachers’ perception of children’s behavioral adjustment in Tanzania because this field was new in this cultural context. Thereafter, we examined factors which promote children’s behavioral adjustment among the pre-primary school children in the Tanzanian context. The main focus of these empirical studies was on the factors at the individual level and at the class level that can promote and stimulate children’s behavioral adjustment. During our exploration we found that a high percentage of the teachers (70%) reported that many children (30% to 60%) display externalizing behavior in the class. Large class size was reported to be among the factors which contributed to a high teachers’ perception of children’s behavioral adjustment. In the process of supporting these children, teachers reported to use supportive and restrictive behavioral management strategies to promote positive behavioral adjustment in children. Teacher-child closeness, high teacher sensitivity, and high positive classroom climate were positively associated with prosocial behavior in the children, while teacher-child conflict, low teacher sensitivity, and less positive climate were associated with aggressive and anxious behaviors. A longitudinal study with a one year time interval showed that teacher-child conflict and aggressive behavior in children decreased in the second year, whereas, teacher-child closeness increased in the second year. Prosocial and anxious behaviors did not change. Multilevel and longitudinal analysis showed that in the first year teacher-child closeness and conflict predicted aggressive behavior in children in the second year. Prosocial, anxious, and aggressive behaviors in first year predicted teacher-child conflict in second year. A bidirectional relationship was found between conflict in the teacher-child relationship and aggressive behavior of the child. Both children nominated as displaying prosocial behavior and aggressive behavior evaluated moral transgressions as more wrong than non-moral transgressions. Children who were nominated by their class peers as displaying prosocial behavior showed a similar pattern in the evaluation of the violation of moral rules as it has been reported in the Western cultures. Both children nominated as displaying prosocial behavior and aggressive behavior happened to justify moral transgressions on the basis of intrinsic and non-moral factors. The evaluation of moral transgressions and teacher-child relationship were related to social behavior of the children as assessed by the peers in the classroom.