Teachers and parents as a source of stereotype formation

Abstract

Teachers and parents play an important role in developing and maintaining stereotype beliefs in children and youth, and therefore this paper discusses their role and importance for the development and manifestations of stereotypes in children. Authors' intention is to introduce the readers to the developmental prerequisites of stereotype formation in children and youth, to point out to the ways in which adults exert influence on children's understanding of stereotypes and to discover how stereotypes mediate in the interaction between teachers and parents. Studies imply that the development of stereotype beliefs in children is conditioned by developmental changes on the cognitive level and that the first indications of stereotypes occur in the third, that is, fourth year of life. The first sources of stereotype formation are parents, who, as a model for socialization, promote the social and cultural norms and express certain behavioral patterns which are then "imprinted" in the repertoire of child's behavior. Teachers present an important source of stereotypes, whether we are talking about their roles in carrying over the pattern of the dominant culture or we are dealing with the stereotypical perception of the pupils of different categories (such as, for example, ethnic background, gender). This paper also points out to the categories of pupils that are more sensitive to stereotypes in educational context.

Bitnu ulogu u razvijanju i održavanju stereotipnih uverenja kod dece i mladih imaju roditelji i nastavnici, te se u radu razmatra njihova uloga i značaj za razvoj i manifestacije stereotipa kod dece. Namera autora je da čitaoce uvedu u razvojne preduslove formiranja stereotipa kod dece i mladih, da ukažu na načine na koje odrasli vrše uticaj na dečije stereotipno poimanje i da otkriju kako stereotipi posreduju u interakciji između nastavnika i učenika. Istraživanja pokazuju da je razvoj stereotipnih uverenja kod dece uslovljen razvojnim promenama na kognitivnom planu i da se prve naznake stereotipa javljaju u trećoj, odnosno četvrtoj godini života. Prvi izvori formiranja stereotipa su roditelji koji, kao socijalizacijski model, promovišu društvene i kulturološke norme i ispoljavaju određene obrasce ponašanja koji se "upisuju" u repertoar dečijeg ponašanja. Kao značajan izvor stereotipa javljaju se i nastavnici, bilo da je reč o njihovoj ulozi kao prenosioca obrazaca vladajuće kulture, bilo da se radi o stereotipnom opažanju učenika različitih kategorija (na primer, etničko poreklo, polna pripadnost). U radu se ukazuje i na to koje su kategorije učenika osetljivije na stereotipe u vaspitno-obrazovnom kontekstu.