Discipline and rules in four Hong Kong kindergarten classrooms: a qualitative case study

ABSTRACT

Classroom discipline is a topic of international interest and teachers are bombarded with advice regarding how to and why they should manage children’s behaviour in their classrooms. This paper draws on data related to classroom discipline gathered from a detailed classroom observation schedule, teacher interviews, and field notes with four purposively selected kindergarten teachers working in Hong Kong with children aged 5–6 years. The findings of this qualitative case study show that the teachers were concerned about disciplining children to ensure good behaviour. They expected all children to follow the rules and used characteristic discipline strategies such as stating expectations and ‘praising the opposite’ to maintain good behaviour. The paper discusses these findings in light of the Westernisation of kindergarten teaching practices in Hong Kong.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood pedagogy
• kindergarten
• discipline
• Confucianism
• Hong Kong

Acknowledgements

This study formed part of a Doctor of Philosophy programme undertaken by the first author (Joyce Ho) at the Queensland University of Technology. The project was supervised by Susan Jane Grieshaber and Kerryann Walsh. Joyce Ho acknowledges the four teachers who participated in the study and the in-kind support provided by The Education University of Hong Kong.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.