Scapegoating: a process by which an adult or child is made to feel personally responsible for the distress or deep dissatisfaction felt by others, and this judgement is not an accurate refl ection of the true situation.
Students on placement at Pike Lane have reported back to their tutor their distress on discovering how the children are treated in this pre-school. Three and four-year-olds are subject to a very structured session in which they have no choice about activities. The children are expected to sit still for a long time. Children who fi dget or who try to move across to the ‘wrong’ activity are told off at length and threatened with losing their short time out in the garden. The students report that children who have toileting accidents are told they are ‘dirty’. The end of session group time is run mainly as a way to highlight which children have failed to behave well during that day. The ground rules for the setting are all phrased as ‘Don’t…’ or ‘You must not…’. Adults regularly contravene the rules, such as by shouting. One student has written up an incident in which a child tentatively said to an adult, shouting across the room at him, ‘But we’re not supposed to shout. You said it’s rude.’ The practitioner strode across the room and, pointing a fi nger towards the child’s face, yelled, ‘That means you, not me!’ The students tried to raise their concerns with the pre-school manager and were told firmly that all the parents wanted this kind of approach to education and discipline, and so the pre-school was meeting the demands of partnership.
● What should concern you about this situation?
● What issues would you want to raise if you were directly involved? You will find a commentary on page47.
