The Role of Primary School in Shaping Children's Identity

Running head: EDUCATION
EDUCATION
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1EDUCATION
During early childhood, children begin to develop their concept of ‘self’ including the
attributes, attitudes and values. Children develop self-identity by who they believe to be and start
forming a relationship with it through peer relationship and play that helps in their social,
emotional and cognitive development (Sanford, 2017). These aspects consciously and
unconsciously shape the person they become in future. Through this process, primary school
plays a significant role as children play a major amount of the time of their day in primary
school. In a similar discussion, the essay aims to analyze the ways primary school attempt to
contribute to the construction of a student’s identity.
Children in the primary school begin only begin to understand self with limited
knowledge which gradually increases when they play or interact with their peers. They begin to
define them by themselves in “this or that” labels. For instance, children label themselves in the
categories of age, gender, sexuality or social class. They begin to label themselves as child or
adult, boy or girl, upper class or middle class and related (Armstrong et al., 2014). Various
activities and various education lessons that children learn become part of their physical,
emotional and cognitive development through the process of socialization. Socialization can be
defined as the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating customs, norms and ideologies
that provide individuals with necessary skills and habits required participating within the
individual’s own society. Socialization can be divided into two categories, primary socialization
and secondary socialization. The primary focus of this paper is the primary socialization.
Primary socialization is significant in human life as it sets the groundwork for all future
socialization. It involves the formation of a child’s attitude, values and actions according to the
child’s particular culture. School is an educational institution that tends to perform a very crucial
role with the purpose of socialization and cultural transmission. It is the most important

2EDUCATION
institution after home and family. Educational system introduces new knowledge to the children
by imparting insights about culture, races, religions, beliefs and other disciplines (Dimitrova,
Johnson & van de Vijver, 2018).
One of the important contributions of primary school towards children’s socialization is
the discourse of age. Children learn to identify themselves as children as they are influenced by
education. They learn their role as children and begin to understand adults by the roles of adults.
In a primary group, a peer group can be identified as a group with similar attributes that make the
children understand the concepts of society. A primary school has a specific set of rules and
norms that gradually develop children’s perception of age. According to the theory of social
behaviorism created by George Herbert Mead, the self is created by social experiences. Self-
image and self-consciousness is the two important portion of the self. As individuals interact
with other individuals, they build up this self. According to Mead, 'self' is solely created by
societal influences. When children are grouped and placed in a class as per their age, they
gradually develop the concept of their age and their role along with their peers who belong to the
same age group (Simpson, 2014). As they pass each year and climb the higher ladder they
realized they are ageing and growing up and change their behavior accordingly with higher
responsibilities and studies that the school teaches them (Molenaar & Chiu, 2014).
The old saying ‘school is the second home’ is certainly true which is the reason school
plays a vital role in shaping children’s perception of human life. The way discourse takes place,
it forms the perception of children’s mind. Gender discourse in school is one of the ways
children shape their perception of the two prominent genders of society. A child does not know
the difference between the ways a girl run or a boy run however when they grow up, they learn a
difference between the way a girl run and a boy run. It is the outcome of gender roles perceived