Fire messaging: a qualitative exploration of how adults teach children about fire
| Date | 26 September 2024 |
| Pages | 153-165 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-09-2023-0053 |
| Published date | 26 September 2024 |
| Author | Faye Horsley,Emily Birrell,Grace Gouldthorp,Danisha Kohli,Faith McLackland,Ellie Taylor |
Fire messaging: a qualitative exploration
of how adults teach children about fire
Faye Horsley, Emily Birrell, Grace Gouldthorp, Danisha Kohli, Faith McLackland and
Ellie Taylor
Abstract
Purpose –Research indicates that children’s early experience of fire caninfluence what and how they
learn about fire. In turn,early fire-learning can influence how peoplecome to use it later in life, including
whether theyengage in maladaptive use, i.e. firesetting. Little is knownabout the underlying mechanisms
of fire-learning, which was thebasis for this study. The research question was: ‘‘how do adults educate
children about fire in the UK/ Ireland’’?The purpose of this study was to explore the child fire education
processfrom an adult perspective.
Design/methodology/approach –Semi-structured interviews was conducted with 21 fire-educators who
had regular contact with children. Data was analysed using abbreviated groundedtheory. Steps were taken
to ensure reliability and validity, including a Cohen’s Kappa calculation, indicating an agreement level of 0.9
between two raters.
Findings –Four core themes wereidentified: the fire narrative, enabling growth,risk management, and
communication,from which the fire-learning processmodel (F-LPM) was formed.
Research limitations/implications –The main limitation is the nature of the sample, in that it was
diverseand self-selecting.
Practical implications –The findingsare discussed, including how they offersupport for social learning
theory (SLT)perspectives on fire-learning.
Social implications –The social construction of fire (i.e. the way fire is viewed by society as a whole in the
UK/ Ireland) is discussed in depth, and cultural variability is highlighted. Suggestions are made for how the
societal view of fire and, consequently, how adults convey this to youngpeople, could be better balanced.
Originality/value –To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in the UK/ Ireland to
consider how adults educate young people about fire from a concurrent perspective.This is important given
that research indicates early experiences of fire can impact how people later go on to use it (including
maladaptive use in the form of firesetting).
Keywords Firesetting, Arson, Fire-learning, Fire-education, ForensicPsychology,
Qualitative, Grounded Theory
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Although little is known about how young people [1] learn about fire, there is a strong
consensus in the literature that, somehow, they do. Theoretically, a fire-learning process
could, at least in part, be understood through the lens of Social Learning Theory (SLT;
Bandura and Walters, 1977). Indeed, theoretical work on firesetting draws upon SLT by
proposing that childhood fire-related experiences influencehow adults come to think about,
and, use it (see Gannon et al., 2012;Jackson et al.,1987). Horsley (2022) addresses fire
use, as a broader construct, and theorises that “firemessaging” can be understood by way
of three polarities (see Figure 1). More specifically, how “taboo” and “magical/mysterious” a
person considers fire to be, alongsidethe extent to which they view fire as a “functional tool”
might not only determine how adults, themselves, use fire but also how they portray it to
children.
Faye Horsley, Emily Birrell,
Grace Gouldthorp, Danisha
Kohli, Faith McLackland
and Ellie Taylor are all
based at the Department of
Psychology, Northumbria
University, Newcastle upon
Tyne, UK.
Received 15 September 2023
Revised 27 February 2024
1 May 2024
Accepted 1 June 2024
The authors thank all the
participants.
Disclosure statement:
No potential conflict of interest
was reported by the authors.
Data availability statement: An
extract of the data analysis
codebook, an extract from the
reflexive journal and study
materials are available online at
OSF (https://osf.io/xa86f/?
view_only=c900dce17a1c4a1a
975ac86499bd310d). Although
anonymised, interview tra
nscripts contain detailed
information about pa-rticipants’
backgrounds, professional and
family circumstances, whic h
could make identific ation
possible. To protect
anonymity, the first a uthor
does not intend to share the f ull
data set, however selected
extracts from tra-ns cripts can
be provided upon reque st.
Implications for pra ctice: The
first study into how adults
educate children abo ut fire in
the UK/Ireland. Has
highlighted aspect s of existing
good practice.
DOI 10.1108/JCRPP-09-2023-0053 VOL. 10 NO. 3/4 2024, pp. 153-165, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2056-3841 jJOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH, POLICY AND PRACTICE jPAGE 153
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