The role of ritual in preschool settings

Ritual is a fact of school life and is enacted by teachers in their everyday classroom activities. This paper explores the various forms of ritual as they are played out in preschool settings. A key finding is that rituals have both variant and invariant qualities. The invariant order of ritual provides the stable framework that has become part of the school system, whereas rituals with high levels of variance are responsible for a more personalized and flexible approach to teaching. Classroom rituals have the potential to act as a tool through which teachers structure a particular form of practice that carries a rational pedagogical purpose for teachers.