ABSTRACT
The importance of the peer group in the growing up process is explored in this extract from Children’s Friendships. Children are beings in a social world, and friendship groups often characterized by rules, rituals and initiation ceremonies, provide a context for learning about self and developmental concerns. Developmental tasks, culturally mediated, are likely to form the substance of many same-sex groups in the later primary school years. Becoming a sexual being is of increasing importance as puberty approaches, and with it attitudes towards the other sex, adult relationships and self are formed. At younger ages the developmental concern is more with learning culturally accepted standards of behaviour in such areas as toileting, and the beginnings of cooperative behaviour in games. Flexible teaching approaches, where friendships rather than ability groups are used, have potential for harnessing the importance of the peer group for school learning.
