Relationship-Centered Education in Primary School: An Ethnographic Case Study

ABSTRACT

The current educational climate has emphasized academic achievement and test-driven accountability, prompting many schools to narrow their curricular and school-wide initiatives around math and literacy, eclipsing time for and investment in social-emotional learning. The purpose of this article is to describe an ethnographic case study of a primary school’s perceptions and practices around their stated mission of relationship-centered, whole-child education. The case study school serves 450 children with 65 employees in a small community bordering a mid-size city in the western United States. Data were collected over a two-year study through qualitative methods, including field notes, observation, interviews, informal conversations, work sample analysis, and review of existing data. Findings suggest five key themes around which an array of specific practices were found to guide the district-wide initiatives of supporting relationships first, as an essential foundation for positive school outcomes in children: administrative leadership, intentional hiring and training, curricular investments, time and effort dedicated to relationships, and unique wellness activities. The themes emerging from this descriptive study can serve to inform how schools can approach broad, district-wide intentional efforts to create a positive, healthy school climate through relationship-centered education.

KEYWORDS:

• Elementary school
• primary school
• relationship-centered education
• social-emotional learning
• whole-child education

Acknowledgments

The researcher gratefully acknowledges the staff, children, district administration, and families of the case study school community. Their commitment to children’s best interests is apparent and noteworthy, and their willingness to share insights and lessons learned with me and our larger field through publication and sharing of their story is a true testament to their dedication to this work. This research was further made possible by generous support from the University of Colorado.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Colorado Colorado Springs [Creative Research/Creative Works].