MEANINGFUL TEACHER CHILD DIALOGUE - RESPONDING TO EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF CHILDREN IN CRISIS SITUATIONS

In recent years, there has been an increased awareness around the world as to mental health risks to children in crisis situations, the COVID-19 pandemic is one example of this. When examining resilience and vulnerability factors amongst children, significant figures such as teachers, parents and friends' reactions will determine the child's ability to cope. Their reactions can provide open spaces for meaningful communication with children while responding to their needs. This may contribute to their resilience and coping skills (Soejima, 2021, Sprang, & Silman, 2013). The purpose of this lecture is to describe a discourse program that teachers used in order to provide emotional support during the pandemic, when conducting dialogue with children. The research method is a discourse analysis of data collected through 30 videos of teachers’ conversations with children. The videos were transcribed and then analyzed, using a coding scheme that was developed by the researchers. It was based on a tool designed by Birenbaum et. al., (2004), and adapted to the needs of the study. The findings showed that as teachers created open spaces and allowed for different perspectives to be heard, the children felt free to speak of their family members, the toys they liked to play with as well as family pets and other interests. The interactions were more symmetrical, meaning that one did not dominate the dialogue, leading to active listening and personal responses. In addition, the findings showed that teachers perceptions and beliefs of their role was that of a pedagogical figure, teaching them and having the children learn. It is important to help teachers develop new role perceptions that consist of providing emotional and social support as well as being a pedagogical figure.