Sharing Student Projects

This research aimed to collect the viewpoints of Teaching Assistants (TAs) on shy children and how they become socially and emotionally school ready by the end of Reception. Growing research has shown that shyness in early childhood is a risk factor for a host of social, emotional, and school adjustment difficulties (Hipson et al., 2019). However, not all shy young children experience poor social and emotional adjustment to school to the same extent (Zhu et al., 2021). This research used the standards set by the Early Years Foundation Stage for personal social and emotional development to pose research questions centred around what strategies shy children use to build relationships, manage themselves, and self-regulate in the Reception environment. Understanding the strategies shy children use to be socially and emotionally school-ready by the end of Reception will help to raise awareness of shyness amongst practitioners and policymakers so that environments are adapted to meet their needs in Reception. Teaching Assistants (TAs) were chosen as participants because they have a rich insight into children’s everyday lives in school, yet their voice is historically underrepresented in research (Webster et al., 2011). Eight participants took part and were split into two focus groups. Each focus group lasted an hour and loosely followed three or four questions that were matched to each research question. A pre-focus group activity was emailed to the participants one week before the focus group and allowed the participants time to think about the topic and come up with potential examples. Findings showed that to build relationships, shy children were using verbal, nonverbal, and empathic communication to create a sense of belonging. They also used internally driven strategies to seek support or were reliant on support initiated by adults so 71 that they felt emotionally secure enough to grow in confidence to manage themselves in the Reception environment. However, some children were unable to self-regulate effectively using short-term coping strategies such as hostility, withdrawal, and refusal to protect their self-worth. This research has helped show how shy children are using strategies that centre around meeting three core needs. These core needs are (1) a sense of belonging, (2) emotional security, and (3) self-worth. As the literature has predominantly focused on children with different temperaments and their personal social and emotional development (PSED), this research has shown that shy children are forging different pathways to becoming socially and emotionally school-ready, and teacher expectations need to cater for this. Remote video observation of shy children in their Reception environment is important for further research as it would help build on this research’s findings and centre shy children’s experiences in Reception.

These findings impact how practitioners and policymakers can better calibrate how shy children may be able to overcome their temperamental bias to become socially and emotionally school ready in Reception. Training provided for EYFS practitioners that centres around the ways that shy individuals create a sense of belonging would facilitate the space for shy children to have the freedom to use their communicative strategies to successfully build relationships. Because shy children’s feelings of security are likely to increase when they were in small groups, a policy change that allows for smaller class sizes, which are currently set at 30 children per teacher, could arguably help shy children become more confident to manage themselves in the classroom. The research also impacts LEA and staffing budgets for schools because it highlights the need for smaller key worker-to-child ratios in Reception. The familiarity of one adult, 72 who understands their individual needs, may help them to build new, longer-lasting selfregulatory strategies to deal with situations that may be unfamiliar or difficult for them. This could help address the short-term coping strategies shy children are using in unfamiliar situations.