Educators’ intervention, Communication and Peers' Conflict in Nurseries

The aim of the present study was to assess the role of educator's intervention and communicative functions in preschoolers’ peer conflicts. Ninety-nine (47 females and 52 males) children were observed in seven nurseries during free-play, mealtime and structured activity. Their interactions were video-recorded and transcribed. Event sampling with continuous recording rules were followed to analyze conflict episodes. In addition the educator's communicative functions were assessed. Data analysis found 55 peer conflicts, the majority of them between two males in the older group during free-play. The educators' intervention is associated with a lower frequency of together outcomes and the educators' tutorial utterances and with a higher frequency of the educators' control utterances. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.