According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, this encompasses a stimulating environment, high-quality pedagogy and teacher–child interactions, highly qualified educators, and positive working conditions. High-quality ECEC includes both structural and process elements. Many children access Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in the formative years before formal schooling, offering a pathway to reach children at their point of need. While family is recognised as the first and foremost influence on children’s wellbeing, other individuals, such as early childhood educators, can play an important role in supporting healthy development. Socioecological perspectives of child development offer a framework to consider the multiple relationships and environments in which child development occurs. The social and emotional skills that provide a foundation for ongoing learning and wellbeing are largely shaped by a child’s early relationships and care experiences.
Increasing understanding of the epidemiology of mental health problems indicates a robust link between social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties in childhood and later mental health problems, in addition to other maladaptive outcomes including obesity, diabetes and heart disease, lower rates of tertiary education, and reduced vocational opportunities. Australian research suggests between 13% and 19% of children aged 1.5 to 3 years display clinically significant difficulties with social, emotional or behavioural functioning, increasing to almost 20% by six years of age however, only 16% of these access support from specialist mental health services. This is also a period when social and emotional difficulties can first emerge. Executive functioning is increasingly included as a distinct but related dimension, referring to the cognitive processes which enable children to organise their thinking and behaviour, facilitating self-regulation and learning.
Drawing on a review of social–emotional domains most often captured in theoretical models, Halle and Darling-Churchill offer social competence, emotional competence, self-regulation, and behaviour problems as central to understanding and assessing child development. As such, scholars often suggest domains of development and discrete skills that sit within each. Frameworks of social–emotional functioning in early childhood grapple with the rapid growth that takes place during this period and the overlap between various skills and behaviours. This development occurs within the context of family, community and culture. Social and emotional competence in young children has been described as an emerging ability to establish secure relationships with both adults and peers, experience, regulate and express emotions, explore the environment, and learn. Participants sought practical strategies that could be embedded into daily practice to build upon current knowledge.Įarly childhood presents a unique window for social and emotional skill development. Time constraints, group size, educator confidence and capability, high staff turnover, and limited guidance regarding high-quality social and emotional pedagogy were identified as key barriers. There was, however, inconsistency in the variety and type of approaches identified. Specifically, strategies could be grouped into four broad categories: a nurturing and responsive educator–child relationship supporting SEL through everyday interactions and practice utilising the physical environment to encourage SEL and working in partnership with caregivers. Participants described utilising various approaches to support children’s social and emotional skills, embedded within interactions and relationships with children and families. Findings suggest children’s social–emotional development is at the forefront of educator planning, practice, and reflection. Thirty Early Childhood Education and Care professionals participated in semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. This study explored Australian early childhood educators’ perspectives on children’s social and emotional development, the approaches educators use to encourage children’s social and emotional skills, the enablers and barriers to SEL within the preschool environment, and the additional support needed. While a growing body of research has examined the impact of curriculum-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs on child outcomes, the approaches educators use to strengthen children’s social and emotional functioning through their everyday practices are less defined. Early childhood educators play an important role in supporting children’s social and emotional development.
0 kommentar(er)
