Kids having to rank their LEAST favourite classmates?

I see no issue here.
The kids can't sit where they like.
Cant choose who they are grouped with.
Might possibly have someone who follows them around and aggravates the fuck out of them and wont take no for an answer.
Its only for teachers use o they can group or separate and keep everyone happy.
I doubt they displayed the results....

This is awful and I feel so sorry for the children in that class. I think you should definitely speak to the teacher

Ooh… it’s probably good to sometimes split friendship groups

I remember a student teacher doing this when I was in Junior School around 50 plus years ago. I then saw a sort of spider diagram with my class mates names on. I don’t remember being upset by it but a little intrigued. After all this time it’s interesting to find out what it was all about

Not necessarily. It could be because the child is shy and doesn't know how to make friends, or perhaps has learning difficulties or, as in the case of a girl at my primary school, was neglected by her parents so always had dirty hair and clothes.

Exactly! I'm sure they were all telling each other who they put as their faves and least faves. It must be pretty heartbreaking hearing your name mentioned in the second category no matter what the reasons.

I think there's certainly the potential for kids to say something mean to each other like "I said i didn't like to play with you." A decent teacher should introduce it in a way that minimizes that risk. Hopefully your child's teacher is decent! But I think in the long run the benefit outweighs the potential harm. For instance, a very shy introverted boy put down he least wanted to play with his supposed best friend. Teachers had put them together for years thinking the more extroverted best friend was a type of security blanket for the introverted boy. But the introverted boy did not like this friend at all and felt totally smothered and trapped in the friendship. I would have never known otherwiseno teacher ever suspected this!and I was able to separate them and frequently pair the introverted boy with another child who included him on his "like to play" list.

I remember doing this before school residentials, at both primary and secondary. We were asked to name people we would most like and least like to share a room with.

I don't remember it leading to any issues on the playground. Kids who really dislike another kid will either be making it known already, or will know that would be mean, regardless of the form.

Fucking hell 🙄

But you can just ask those questions - who do you want to sit next to/ play with etc - without introducing a ranking element. I would be furious if this happened in my child's school and would be straight to the head and board of governors. This is shocking and not all inclusive.

Find a better way!

You’ve told the OP why you did it.

It’s also interesting that you’ve automatically twisted her saying she’s going to email and ask into a complaint. Asking questions of a teacher is not automatically a complaint.

It sounds very clumsy. I can't imagine it will be the source of needing therapy.

but you are only speaking from the perspective of a teacher, who will have limited, if any, insight about whether the children knew where they ranked and if so how they were affected by it.

the OP isn’t asking about what makes the teacher’s job easiest. she’s interested in the children’s welfare.

This is something I saw used a lot when I first started working in education, but I’ve not known anyone use it for years now because of the potential negative impact. That is especially a risk with young children who are more prone to speaking without considering feelings or who is around.

There are better ways of working out who children least enjoy spending time with than asking them to write it down. Especially in an open classroom where they may actually feel unable to be honest

This is something I saw used a lot when I first started working in education, but I’ve not known anyone use it for years now because of the potential negative impact. That is especially a risk with young children who are more prone to speaking without considering feelings or who is around.

There are better ways of working out who children least enjoy spending time with than asking them to write it down. Especially in an open classroom where they may actually feel unable to be honest

My dd once had a close but extremely controlling, dominant and overbearing friend at school, who wouldn't leave her alone and would sit with her during class, then play with her in the playground (driving others off), insist on sitting together at lunch, and basically treated dd like her own personal possession. The staff treated them like two peas in a pod and encouraged it. My dd found it stifling and it began to distress her a lot, but was too scared to say anything in case it upset her friend. I didn't know about it until long afterwards.

So in a way, I can see how this might help a few children to voice their feelings.

Whose clever idea was this! It’s awful, my son has SEN and he’s be on everyone’s least like to play with list! It’s hurtful and unnecessary! I’d make a complaint and I’m never one for complaining.

That's interesting. My son was dominated by a "friend" until he broke away in Year 8. It caused problems for the other family. Looking back it was really unhealthy.

Out of curiosity how would you introduce this in a way that minimizes the risk of children talking about who they chose as their ‘least favourite’?

I’ve definitely spoken to my students about certain dynamics in the classroom (although the girls I taught were much older), but I honestly can’t think of a way of doing it that wouldn’t have caused drama.

The OP didn't say she would complain.
You're being pretty rude.

I'm not normally one for "contact the school" but I'd definitely be asking for a conversation about this with the teacher.

If it is as the child reported, its disgusting.

We all know children will have other kids they prefer the company of, gel with more, like to play with, but to be encouraged to write down the kids they don't want/like to play with is cruel and harmful to subjective minds. Kids at that age will talk about who they put on each list...how hurtful 😓

Surely just asking kids to write down 3 names they like to play with most and the teacher could then work out if any names are not on any lists/surprises where assumptions about friendships may have previously been made and then make a conscious effort to try change things without the need for encouraging them to explicitly write who they don't want.

Yes it feels outdated.

This. A much better question is something like 'who do you work best with'. DD at nearly 11 knows very well if she sits next to her closest friends she doesn't get much work done, and same if she sits next to a child who is constantly asking her questions, taking her stuff or trying to distract her. She will tell me who she wants to sit next to, and it's usually one of the quieter studious children. This question tells the teacher information about both the other children and the person answering - it would tell a teacher that DD wants to do well and has the self awareness to understand she is easily distracted.

I'd like to see the peer reviewed research that evidences the claims made for classroom sociograms, especially when conducted and interpreted by classroom teachers.

I'm aware there is quite the sales pitch to schools to use online tools for these sociograms with claims about improving behaviour. The companies are notably shy about providing links to evidence backing up the claims or even that they provide any information that a decent primary class teacher does not have from spending all day every day with their class.