ABSTRACT
The central concept of this book is that the self is social, that is, we become the kind of persons we are from the developmental process of interacting with other people. From being in the company of others we discover ourselves as we cooperate and compete, negotiate and empathise in our daily interpersonal relationships. Also, the social contexts in which we interact are important as they contain overt and covert messages which we interpret and internalise. In this process of becoming a person, home and school are the first two most influential socialising contexts in the lives of young children, and in the previous six chapters these agencies have been examined with particular reference to the structural, organisational and interpersonal experiences provided by primary schools. We have developed our analysis of the primary school as a socialising organisation for two reasons: firstly, because social education and personal development is regarded as an inherent part of the daily lives of children in schools and, secondly, because we are firmly of the belief that unless the social climate of the classroom or school is conducive then social education will be sterile, as the process and the product will not be in harmony. We cannot expect children to believe in exhortations to be fair, considerate and helpful if teachers do not display these and other qualities in their relationships with the children and each other.
