Primary School Teachers’ Perception, Characterization, and Understanding of Sensitive Children: A Qualitative Study

• In Event: Environmental Sensitivity in School Children: Understanding Cognitive Empathy, Memory and Behavior of Highly Sensitive Children

Abstract

Introduction. Sensitive children are particularly susceptible to rearing environments (Belsky, 2005; Boyce & Ellis, 2005). Research suggests that sensitive children may not only be more negatively affected by adverse environmental conditions but also benefit disproportionately from positive environments (for-better-and-worse; differential susceptibility to environmental influences, Belsky & Pluess, 2009). Furthermore, a separate line of research suggests that teachers' perceptions and expectations are an important context factor in children's academic trajectories (Beilock et al., 2010; Rosenthal, 1971). Thus, it might be that teachers' perceptions may have a particular great effect on sensitive children. Surprisingly, little is known, though, about how teachers perceive sensitive children in the classroom. To address this gap, we aim to examine teachers’ perceptions and characterization of sensitive children in the classroom context. Furthermore, we aim to explore teachers' understanding (i.e., theoretical accounts to explain the specific characteristics) of sensitive children.
Hypotheses. We expected primary school teachers to use different descriptions for highly sensitive children than for low sensitive children. Furthermore, we expected teachers to be unaware of the differential susceptibility theory and use more basic explanations of highly sensitive children’s characteristics.
Sample. The sample consisted of N=20 teachers in primary schools in Switzerland (3rd-6th Grade teachers, 75% female, Mage=39.5 years, SD = 11.2) and N=325 children (51.7% female, Mage=10.6 years, SD = 1.2) from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
Methods. Children completed the Highly-Sensitive-Child-Scale (HSC, Pluess et al., 2018). For each class separately, 20-30% of the children with the highest or lowest HSC total score were selected. In semi-structured interviews, teachers were first asked to describe typical characteristics of the two groups of children (free recall, blinded teachers). Next, teachers were asked how these highly sensitive children behave in academic, social, and stressful contexts and why teachers think that these children would behave this way. After the interview, teachers completed the Highly-Sensitive-Person-Scale (Pluess et al. 2020) and rated the awareness of their own sensitivity. Interviews were transcribed, and the responses to the first part were categorized along temperamental dimensions (Rothbart, 2011; deductive approach); as well as some others (e.g., prosocial behavior; inductive approach); whereas responses to the second part were categorized along nine dimensions (e.g., socialization, personality). Cronbach alphas of interrater reliabilities were all >.60.
Results. Qualitative content analysis showed that teachers’ characterization differed depending on the group of children they were describing. Teachers described highly sensitive children as showing more negative affect and more orienting sensitivity/openness, as well as less critical thinking and more inattentiveness/passivity (see Figure1). Furthermore, teachers used mainly explanations on the level of children’s basic needs and their personality (and only rarely differential susceptibility) to explain the characteristics of highly sensitive children (see Figure 2). Further analyses will examine the role of teachers’ own environmental sensitivity in their descriptions of highly sensitive children.
Implications. These findings mark a first step toward a better understanding of how highly sensitive children are perceived by their teachers in the classroom, which may be crucial for harnessing implications of the proposition of differential susceptibility in the school context.

Authors

• Regula Neuenschwander, University Bern
  Presenting Author

• Niamh Oeri, Universität Bern