Exploring School Fears in Primary School Children: The Problem of Method

The paper focuses on the problem of method in researching school fears in primary school pupils. The author carried out a study to find out whether it is appropriate to use Phillips' Children's School Questionnaire in exploring children's school fears. The sample included 72 fourth-year pupils from Moscow. According to the results obtained in the study the leading fear in children was that of knowledge assessment. At the same time there was a certain contradiction between the test results and data obtained through observations and conversations with children, parents and teachers. The author describes the following difficulties in using the Children's School Questionnaire in primary school to explore children's school fears: a gap between a factor name and its content due to inaccurate translation of the former into Russian; difficulties arising with the use of questionnaires in primary schools due to insufficient reflection development at that age; possible lack of sufficient trust that pupils feel towards a school psychologist. The author states that Children's School Questionnaire can be used in fourth-year children only as a ground for further work with them, their parents and teachers. Thus the author raises the question of creating a complex diagnostic technique for studying school fears in children.