Promoting prosocial communication in a private elementary school through an activating teaching method

Abstract

This case study focuses on the teaching activity of a school assembly to understand the tools for teaching prosocial communication in school in the context of teachers' teaching strategies. Data collected through semi-structured individual interviews with four teachers were subjected to content analysis of the teaching artifacts. The segmented data were analyzed with the intention of comparing the congruence of teachers' strategies with the implemented teaching. The narrative analysis of the interviews resulted in the identification of the benefits of the teaching activity for the students in terms of teaching ethics education. It is a space for peer learning and strengthening social relationships, a space for practicing self-assessment and last but not least a space for practicing expressing emotions. Teachers also find the assembly activity beneficial for themselves. It helps them to perceive the school as a whole when they see the connections between events. Teacher support for the acquisition of prosocial communication clearly congruent with teachers' teaching strategies. The strategies are based on the shared values that the pupils learn in the classroom and in the school assembly. The strategies capture part of the hidden curriculum of the school by personal example to intervene in pupils' relationships and transform the content of the horizontal hidden curriculum. Finally, it is discussed the importance of the hidden curriculum experience.