This qualitative study investigates the consequences of advancing three preschoolers into kindergarten in the province of Quebec, where the derogation exemption enables younger children to start school before they reach the age of admission of five years by September 30th. The rationale for this study came from an interest to discover the perspectives of the students, their teachers, and their parents on the topic of derogation. This study examines how these students, one in grade 4 and two in grade 6, feel about being the youngest in the class, and how teachers and parents perceive them as learners and socializers. The research design is based on an exploratory qualitative case study approach. The methods used to collect the data consist of interviews conducted with the three selected students, their homeroom teachers, and two parents; observations of the students in their school settings, and the analysis of documents such as field notes and journal entries. The interviews are analyzed within a socio-cultural interpretive framework in order to examine the way that derogation has affected the social and emotional lives of the three selected children. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development is explored. This concept presents the idea that children develop their learning potential in a setting where they can learn with more capable peers and adults who provide guidance and support. When these younger children are advanced into a kindergarten class, they are placed in a setting with older peers and adult teachers. One of the issues addressed in this study is how the social milieu encourages derogated children to develop their cognitive approach to problem solving and learning. The themes that emerged from this study include the importance of parental support, peer acceptance, and self-esteem. The younger derogated students are more likely to experience success in their academic and social-emotional lives if they have good parental support, a
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.85197 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Pazzia-Guiducci, Olga |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002211411, proquestno: AAINR12926, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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