PART 2 Implementing the Intervention in the Case Countries. Chapter 11: The Social Relational Training in Two Italian Early Childhood Settings: Enhancing Social Networks and Quality of Interactions.

In Italy, the different Preschool National Curricula (1969, 1991, 2002) took into consideration the value of socialization in early childhood and underlined the associations among social, emotional and cognitive development. Notwithstanding these educational aims, the strategies and activities fit to developing sociability and affectivity are infrequently mentioned in the educational programmes of preschool settings (Roche, Salfi & Barbara, 1991). Recently, the importance of a relational approach in the educational field since early ages has been highlighted, as it can be noticed by the increased number of publications on this topic (Anichini & Charugi, 2003; Carpenter, 2002; Craig-Unkefer, 1999; Dall’Aglio, Marmocchi & Zannini, 2004; Francescato, Putton, Cudini, 1986; Genta, 2005; Ianes, 2007; McClelland & Morrison, 2003; Tani & Bagatti, 2003; Tiezzi & Guarnieri, 2003). Arising from these points, practitioners should be in charge of class learning as well as of class socialization (Frabboni, 2001, 2002, 2006; Manini & Borghi, 1991). According to these considerations, a training for practitioners on communication and relational issues is particularly indicated (Pacini, 2002). Aims of the Intervention Two preschool settings were involved: Italy 1 and Italy 2. For each school we found specific features that led us to focus on the aims of the planned intervention in order to: a) Enhance a group climate in the classroom. b) Develop children’s emotional awareness, encouraging the expression and the recognition of emotions. c) Foster communication abilities, as speaking and active listening. d) Enhance children’s social skills, promoting peer support. A specific training for a “Relational Approach”, consisting of three groups of activities (trust, communication, problem solving), was proposed to the practitioners to reach the above mentioned goals. The results showed a positive effect (quantitative and qualitative) of the social relational training on both children’s social networks and quality of peer interactions. This effect emerged from practitioners’ and children’s observations in both schools. These results allow us to identify some relevant theoretical and methodological considerations. Firstly, our research had given new considerations about children’s social relationships, since an intervention with a longitudinal design on preschool children was rarely applied. Secondly, the multi-method approach (qualitative and quantitative methodologies) provided a wide range of knowledge and deeper understanding of the quality of social relations in preschool children, as already suggested by some authors (Abraham, 2007; Berg, 1989; Knight & Kuleck, 1999; Lund, 2005). Thirdly, a point of strength of the proposed training was the involvement of both practitioners and children. It was possible to see evidence of changes taking into consideration the whole classroom context. Finally, the researchers and the practitioners emphasized the relevance of starting the relational training at the beginning of preschool age in order to improve the effects of training.