Teachers' Perceptions of Kindness in School

• In Event: Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Perceptions of Social Emotional Learning

Abstract

Teachers are increasingly expected to foster the social and emotional well-being of students, including the development of students’ prosocial behavior. The aim of this research was to examine kindergarten to 12th grade teachers’ (N = 257) perceptions of school kindness. Teachers were asked to define kindness, provide examples of kindness they had done and received, identify key agents of kindness, and rate the quality of kind acts done within their schools. Findings indicated that most teachers believed they had a moderate to strong influence on shaping students’ kindness and that teachers’ perceptions of school kindness varied as a function of the grade they taught. Subtle differences emerged between the themes found in teachers’ definitions and their own examples of kindness.

Authors

• John-Tyler Binfet, The University of British Columbia

• Holli-Anne Passmore, University of British Columbia