Maryanne Theobald has found the
playground is practice for future conflicts. 

The phrase "I'm telling" is a tactical tool children use when trying to win playground disputes, says a Queensland University of Technology early education specialist.

PhD researcher Maryanne Theobald said disagreements in children's play can show the highly strategic manoeuvres that take place.

"Disputes are important times for children to organise their social worlds," she said.

Ms Theobald based her study on the talk and interaction of prep school students to find out how they managed each other's behaviour during playtime.

"When a child says 'I'm going to tell on you,' this announcement gives the other child an opportunity to change their actions," she said.

"A teacher is a powerful person in their environment. They try to use the teacher as a third party to agree with them and with their position.

"There are four phases. In the first phase, a dispute takes place. The second phase is the pre-telling announcement, 'I'm going to tell on you'. The third phase is actually telling a teacher, who will often offer advice. The final phase is the post-telling, when the advice may or may not be carried out."

Ms Theobald, who was awarded an honourable mention for her research paper by the American Sociological Association, said her study would benefit teachers.

"Disputes between children are often a cause of stress for educators," she said.

"This research will help teachers understand what's going on in children's everyday interactions."

Ms Theobald said one interaction she observed involved a group of girls and a group of boys in a dispute over the use of building items in a game of building a house

"The girls were 'telling' on the boys and using the teacher as a resource for getting what they wanted," she said.

"However, it was 'co-constructed'.

"The boys were in fact breaking class rules by jumping on a fence. However, by telling, both the boys and girls were successful in playground politics.

"When the girls went to 'tell the teacher', the boys had control of the play space and the items in it. The girls, meanwhile, had the satisfaction of 'telling' the teacher that the boys had broken the school rules."

Ms Theobald said that children's talk was important in organising every day social interactions with each other.

"While children's talk can be viewed as not as sophisticated as adults, this study shows it is just as strategic," she said.