Teaching: An Act Of Kindness? University Of British Columbia Research Suggests Students Believe So

Genuine kindness is an emotional strength that is innate and natural in every person's heart even if it's not nurtured. Speaking of kindness, teachers have long been stereotyped by students as kind individuals and a recent study seemed to have proven such perception.

In the recent study conducted by The University of British Columbia (UBC) and was published in the Journal of Childhood Studies, findings showed that 42 percent of students from kindergarten to third grade believe that teaching is an "act of kindness." UBC's Okanagan campus assistant professor John Tyler Binfet explained most if not all young students are "attentive" to the kindness displayed by their teachers.

"Early elementary students are, by and large, attentive to kindness modelled by teachers and are able to identify characteristics of teachers' kind acts," Binfet said in the press release sent to Parent Herald via an email. He also stressed that understanding the perception and conceptualization of kindness by the students have some effects in fostering "pro-social behavior in and among students."

Based on the UBC study, 650 elementary students, which was consisted of kindergarten to Grade 3 pupils in the Central Okanagan Valley School District (23), participated in the survey and were asked to draw two pictures in the study without being given the definition of kindness. As a result, almost half of the number of participating students believe that teaching is an act of kindness.

The results of the study were determined after students drew a self-image performing an act of kindness and a portrait of their teacher also performing an act of kindness. It showed 27 percent of the students drew an image of their teacher helping individual student, 16 percent presented their teachers instructing a class and 21 percent exhibited their teachers who were physically helping students as an act of kindness.

"The finding in this study provides more information about young children's conceptual understanding of school kindness in several possible ways," Binfet said. "By asking students to draw an act of kindness, we are given the glimpse into how young children understand and interpret kind school-based behavior."

Meanwhile, even though further studies are needed, UBC's kindness study could be a useful tool in training teachers and establishing a healthy and good student-teacher relationships in school. Binfet even pointed out that teachers should find comfort in UBC's research as it showed that more students have positive views on their classroom and teachers, which help them engage in lessons and learning better.