Teacher’s Heart in Conquering Separation Anxiety of Kindergarten Students: A

Phenomenology

By: Charles Agner V. Buquiran

Elen E. Ferrolino

Abstract
This study explored teachers’ awareness toward students who may have mental-health
needs, specifically with separation anxiety. This study aimed to determine and examined the
lived experiences of teacher’s heart in conquering separation anxiety of kindergarten students.
This study is a Phenomenological study utilizing the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
(IPA) approach from the Modified Van Kaam Approach popularized by Moustakas. Two
emerging core themes were generated such as (Theme 1) Child-Centered Strategies, (Theme 2)
Affective Strategies. Results from the study found that teachers’ awareness levels were
inconsistent when teaching students who may have anxiety issues, and they were more consistent
in identifying students with external behavioural issues rather than students with internal mental-
health issues. In, addition, teachers used similar strategies in addressing students with
behavioural and attitudinal issues and students with anxiety issues. It is recommended that
teachers needed more training in teaching students with anxiety issues.

Keywords: Separation Anxiety, Kindergarten students, Strategies

INTRODUCTION

Facing an issue over children with separation anxiety is evident in schools. Society
believes this to be a normal scenario. Separation anxiety is a normal phase of child’s
development (Good, 2013). Anxious feelings are normal and expected in children returning to
school. Thus, separation anxiety is a sign of more serious condition that seems intense or
prolonged which go beyond normal need attention from practitioners because these give stress or
problems to parents, teachers and the children themselves. Causes and effects of separation
anxiety have been explored by professionals. Therefore, consistency in attending to their needs
should be considered to prevent learners from having temper tantrums when school starts
(Daview, 2014) especially kindergarten pupils. Their strategies in everyday separation are
explored in this study.

According to the 2010 National Statistics Office (NSO), mental health illnesses are the
third most common forms of morbidity for Filipinos. Other mental health disorders in the list are
depression and separation anxiety disorder. Studies have been conducted to explain the
possible cause of separation anxiety in children. Most of the studies pointed out that
separation anxiety is linked to parental relationship or some parenting styles. For instance,
parental overprotection is traceable to child separation anxiety. Due to parent’s overprotection,
the children are prevented to explore the world around thus reducing their opportunities to face
novel situations. This also leads to low self- confidence (Mofrad et al., 2009). Parental
Intrusiveness also is known to be associated with separation anxiety. These studies vividly relate
separation anxiety to parents’ strategies or styles of child rearing. This is the reason why
most of the clinical interventions of separation anxiety involves improvement of child-
parent relationship or modifying maladaptive parenting practices. Inclusion of families is
significant in the treatment of separation anxiety (Pacholec, et al., 2013). On the other hand,
some effects of the said anxiety are revealed by Mcloone J. et al. (2006) who found out that
separation anxiety has a significant impact on relationships among families and it has also
reduced child’s interaction with peers or the community in general. Separation anxiety also has
increased the risks of the development of other psychological and behavioral dysfunction
(Biederman et al., 2007). It is even affecting and interfering development and learning among
preschoolers (Mian, 2014). Given the known effects of separation anxiety, it cannot just be
ignored.
 Researchers commonly believed that teachers more accurately identify students with external
behavior problems, such as hyperactivity or defiant behavior, than students with internal
behavioral problems, such as anxiety and withdrawal, because students who act out are more
likely to draw the attention of teachers (Beidel et al., 1999; Tomb & Hunter, 2004; Layne et al.,
2006; Mychailyszn et al., 2010), also reported that while teachers are aware of separation anxiety
symptoms in students who are experiencing symptoms of physiological anxiety, social anxiety,
and high overall anxiety, teachers are less likely to identify students with generalized anxiety
disorder, such as perfectionism and striving to please others. In addition, teachers and others may
misread students’ anxious behaviors, such as refusal to complete challenging tasks, as student’s
being deliberately annoying, lazy, attention seeking, defiant, or manipulative (Hanie &Stanard,
2009). While some teachers may have some knowledge of the symptoms of separation anxiety,
they may continue to depend on onsite mental-health workers, such as school psychologists or
guidance counsellors, to provide additional professional support (e.g.,developmental workshops
and literature). The most important step is to increase the ability of the teachers and other school
personnel to recognize anxiety in students (Hanie & Stanard, 2009).
The Department of Education (DepEd) having been a strong advocate of early childhood
education has implemented various programs for preschoolers for decades now. The Department
further strengthens this through the inclusion of kindergarten in the K to 12 basic education
curriculum in the country. DepEd believes Kindergarten is a transition stage between informal
literacy and formal literacy. This is the period of greatest growth and development, when the
brain develops most rapidly, almost at its fullest. It is a period when walking, talking, self-
esteem, vision of the world and moral foundations are established. Children at this stage should
be immersed with activities, games, and plays to naturally acquire the skills/competencies
appropriate for their holistic development as emergent literates and be ready for formal school.
According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC),
kindergarten is a critical year where children’s experiences nurture positive approaches to
learning and prepare children for the more rigorous academic expectations of the primary grades
(NAEYC, 2009). Therefore, kindergarten teachers should guide the learners using an engaging
and creative curriculum that is developmentally appropriate.

Objective of the study

The purpose of this study was to examined and investigated teachers' on how to deal
students with separation anxiety disorder based on their experiences in teaching kindergarten
pupils.
Further, this study delved specifically on the following:
 Whether teachers are aware of the behaviours and attitudes associated with separation
anxiety of the students in kindergarten students and how teachers deal with it;
 The teachers do with this behaviour of pupils they have;
 How it will happen if this separation anxiety disorder is being untreated? In addition to
the type of strategies the teachers’ use; and
 This study intended to find out whether teachers' are ready to deal with this kind of
disorder, and the implementation to teachers’ in conquering separation anxiety in
kindergarten students, and that was positively correlated to the teachers' teaching
experience, training experience, and stress level
Methodology
Research Design
This study is a Phenomenological study utilizing the Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis (IPA) approach. The main essence of this design is to explicate and examine the lived
experiences of the research informants which permits the research to get into the innermost
deliberation of the participants’ lived experiences regarding the phenomenon (Smith, 2011).
Sampling Technique
This study will utilize a purposive sampling technique. The Purposive sampling
technique is a nonprobability techniques wherein the researcher relies on his own judgment when
choosing the participants of the study near or accessible in his part (Patton, 1990). Given the
critical condition brought by the pandemic, the researcher would like to utilize these techniques
for the purpose of practicability and possible early completion of the study (Cirrincione et al.,
2020). The researcher interviewed 8 informants reaches data saturation following the inclusion
criteria in choosing the participants which is stated below in table 1.

Inclusion Criteria Table 1. Inclusion

Criteria of Participants
Participants must be adults (18 years old
and above)
Participants can be a male or female
Participants should know how to speak
and understand English
Participants should be in a public
kindergarten school

Data Collection
The researcher used a semi-structured interview questionnaire as an instrument following
the interview protocol. The study was to collect information from different kindergarten level in
public-school teachers in selected schools in Negros Province and Cebu Province. This interview
conducting a paper pencil survey with questions and focused on the teachers' strategies and
attitudes toward students who exhibit pupils with separation anxiety disorder. Informed consent
will be given prior to the start of the interview. All data being gathered will be analysed and
interpreted using the approach or strategy utilized in this study.
Research Rigor
In order to obtain and sustain the rigor of this research endeavour, the researcher sets two
(2) distinct quality criteria discussed by Whittemore et al. (2001), such as (a) Credibility and
Authenticity; and (b) Criticality and Integrity.
Ethical Consideration
This study utilized the Bryman and Bell (2007) Ten principles on ethical considerations.
The following are the important ethical steps observed when conducting the study: (1) it was
evident that the research participants in any ways were not compromised and harmed; (2) the
priority of making the participants’ respect for the dignity was exemplified; (3) permission from
the participants was obtained with no force and intimidation; (4) there was no encroachment of
privacy among the participants; (5) the information elicited from the participants were treated
and valued with the highest degree of confidentiality; (6) anonymity among the research
participants and organizations involved in the research study was observed; (7) it was evident
that there was no deception or any form exaggeration in fulfilling the aims and objectives of the
current study; (8) the declaration of any partisan from different funding and monetary
involvement was boldly stipulated in this manuscript, if applicable; (9) honesty, integrity, and
transparency were values used in this research endeavour in communicating, connecting and
reaching out the participants in obtaining pertinent data lastly, (10) there was no bias or
impartiality in presenting the details of this study.

Data Analysis
This study utilized the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) anchored from
the Modified Van Kaam Approach popularized by Moustakas. The 8 key steps are shown in the
image below:

Table 2. The Horizontalization

Horizons
Teacher A “I welcome my students with calm voice. I tell the child to feel free to ask if
there is a need.”
Teacher B “I tell my students that teachers and classmates are friends, teachers are
like second parent or your mommies or daddies, and classmates are
playmates.”
Teacher C “I let my students keep busy when the child separate and comes in their
classroom. I find distractions by giving those toys, let the child do simple
 tasks with me and other activities.”
Teacher D “I will provide rewards when child comes to school not crying, this works
sometimes but not on regular basis.”
Teacher E “As I observed, children will cry and have tantrums but leaving them alone
for a while eventually make them calm.”
Teacher F “I make my self-animated, exaggerated in all things to ease their feeling of
fear.”
Teacher G “I will ask the parents and child’s profile to understand better about the
child.”
Teacher H “I will talk to the child assuring him/her that he/she is fine inside the school
without his parents or little by little your parents may watch over the door
in such time your parents may far enough to you.”

Table 3. REDUCTION OF EXPERIENCES TO THE INVARIANT CONSTITUENTS

TEXTURAL LANGUAGE
Background check of the students Giving reinforcement to children with positive
approach
Giving outlet of outburst Selective ignoring
Calling a parent Shadowing the caregiver
Eliciting specific promises Staying with the nurse
Sense of humor Reassurance
Engaging in favorite activity Fear of alone

Table 4. THEMATIC CLUSTERING TO CREATE CORE THEMES

Core Themes of the Experience Textural Language

Child-centered strategies
Affective strategies
Keeping the children busy
Giving reinforcement to children with positive approach
Selective ignoring
Giving outlet of outburst
Humor
Background check of the students
Reassurance
Firmness

Results and Discussion

After the analysis, there are two emerging themes generated, namely:
Theme 1: Child-centered strategies
Theme 2: Affective strategies
Each theme is comprehensively discussed with literature incorporating the expressions and
quotes from the participants.

Theme 1: Child-centered strategies

The attitude of the teachers toward students who may have mental-health needs,
specifically with anxiety issues. This study also examined whether the teachers' training
backgrounds, acquired degrees, and years of teaching influenced their strategies in dealing
students with anxiety issues.
Having busy kids promote positive relationships. When kids are out doing activities that
they love, they are bound to meet kids that also enjoy the same activities. Positive relationships
are important in any child’s life.

Teacher C said that:

“I let my students keep busy when the child separate and comes in their classroom. I find
distractions by giving those toys, let the child do simple tasks with me and other activities.”
Having the child something to do will distract him/her from thinking that she/he is away
from his/her parents. This is one way of steering the brain away from thinking of their fears.
 In linking giving reinforcement to children when displaying good behavoir is one way a
teacher has done to manage her student with separation anxiety.
Teacher D stated that:
“I will provide rewards when child comes to school not crying, this works sometimes but not on
regular basis.”
The teacher is right in saying that this is not effective for regular basis, this will depend
on the kind of rewards given if it’s good enough for the child it will be effective if not then, it is
of no use. Effectiveness of this strategy is short. On a large scale, this is not effective because on
the first place it is not addressing the issue itself which is the separation anxiety.

Teachers use this strategy to let the child experience, face and regulate the emotions they
have. Effects may be negative or positive which teacher E added the idea that:
“As I observed, children will cry and have tantrums but leaving them alone for a while eventually
make them calm.”
They ignore the manifestations of the child for a while. Praising appropriate behaviour
and ignoring the undesirable ones can help in behaviour management throughout in her study.
This is maybe because they have released their emotions or able to regulate their emotions and
maybe because they have not received attention.

Another strategy used by the teacher is humor which keep students attention. Being with
the young children teachers acts extra ordinary. This is viewed by teacher F and mention that:
“I make my self-animated, exaggerated in all things to ease their feeling of fear.”
This can be effective in dealing with children with separation anxiety to ease their feeling
of fear. If children are happy and smiling or laughing, tension is less and this could be helpful for
anxious children.

Finally, to fully understand the child it is just right to check the family background,
previous experiences of the child. Teacher G said that:
“I will ask the parents and child’s profile to understand better about the child.”
Taking into action, teacher G is doing this to gain insights about the child, to understand
him/her better so she can device measures that are appropriate for the child.

Theme 2: Affective strategies

Barlow (2002) further explained that anxiety is a future-oriented mood that can be
characterized as a negative affective state accompanied by self-focused, physiological, or
somatic symptoms; sense of helplessness; and self-preoccupation with uncontrollability of future
threat or potentially negative events. Every individual is unique and capable to adapt in different
ways. Teachers emphasized that we are all families here inside this classroom. Teacher H
mentioned that:
“I will talk to the child assuring him/her that he/she is fine inside the school without his parents
or little by little your parents may watch over the door in such time your parents may far enough to you.”
Teacher H initially talked to the child for assurance of his/her safety in school. Teachers
do this most of the time at the beginning and then make it sure that the child will have a positive
expressions inside the classroom to gain her/her trust and conquer his/her fears.
Teacher B added that:
“I tell my students that teachers and classmates are friends, teachers are like second parent or
your mommies or daddies, and classmates are playmates.”
Like teacher B, find it very charming and pleasing to young child as act second parent in
school and classmates encourage to be playmates at all without competition.
Another positive statement given by teacher A said that:
“I welcome my students with calm voice. I tell the child to feel free to ask if there is a need.”

Review of Related Literature

Barlow (2002) "concluded that anxiety can best be characterized as a unique coherent
cognitive-affective structure within the defensive motivational system Clark and Beck (2010)
stated that "anxiety is a complex cognitive, affective, physiological and behavioral response
system”. Barlow (2002) further explained that anxiety is a future-oriented mood that can be
characterized as a negative affective state accompanied by self-focused, physiological, or
somatic symptoms; sense of helplessness; and self-preoccupation with uncontrollability of future
threat or potentially negative events. This study also examined whether the teachers' training
backgrounds, acquired degrees, and years of teaching influenced their strategies in dealing
students with anxiety issues.

Conclusion
Results from the study found that teachers’ awareness levels were inconsistent when
teaching students who may have anxiety issues, and they were more consistent in identifying
students with external behavioural issues rather than students with internal mental-health issues.
In, addition, teachers used similar strategies in addressing students with behavioural and
attitudinal issues and students with anxiety issues.

Recommendations
It is recommended that teachers needed more training in teaching students with anxiety
issues. Other professionals like counsellors and child psychologist be consulted when crafting
and implementing intervention for children with separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is
just sometimes prevalent among kindergarten children, this should still be given priority because
this might lead to negativism and egocentrism among children.

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