Negotiating wellbeing and belonging in an early childhood centre: What children’s conflicts can teach us

Abstract

"Wellbeing" and "belonging" are explored in this article through sociolinguistic interactional analysis of naturally arising conflict situations, captured ethnographically on video, and through analysis of teachers' discussions during focus groups. Post-conflict analysis of child-led actions revealed children used numerous peace-making strategies to repair their peer relationships, showing relationships matter greatly for their wellbeing. Utilising the notion of a "trajectory of belonging" we analysed and linked the meaning of chronologically sequenced conflict events, illustrating that achieving a sense of belonging is not an outcome of a single event; rather it is a process of negotiation within a community and its existing hierarchy.