Promoting children's social-emotional skills in classrooms: Exploring the role of collaborative learning and teacher scaffolding

Child behavior problems during COVID-19: Associations with parent distress and child social-emotional skills

Social-emotional learning is a lifelong process in which individuals develop their social-emotional skills and abilities. It encompasses various characteristics such as being aware of and managing emotions, setting and achieving goals, respecting different perspectives, establishing and maintaining positive relationships with the environment, making decisions, and being constructive in relationships. The social-emotional competencies of teachers significantly influence children's social-emotional skills. To teach and develop children's social-emotional skills, it is crucial for the teacher—the one who teaches—to possess a certain level of social-emotional competence. The preschool teacher, who introduces children to the concept of school for the first time, plays a critical role in preparing children for school and ensuring their adaptation. Their positive self-perception and social-emotional competence are vital in this regard. However, it is expected that teachers will acquire these skills during pre-service training. Considering this information, this study examines the relationship between the social-emotional competencies and self-perception of pre-service preschool teachers. Accordingly, it investigates whether there is a significant relationship between pre-service preschool teachers' social-emotional competencies and self-perception and to what extent social-emotional competence predicts self-perception. The data for the study were collected using the Social-Emotional Competence Questionnaire and the Self-Theory Scale. The research findings indicate that pre-service teachers' self-perception significantly predicts their social-emotional competence.

Policymakers have advocated academic skills building at kindergarten as a way of improving student achievement. However, early childhood educators have concerns with this policy as gains in achievement may come at the expense of children's social-emotional skills. Using a nationally representative data set of kindergartners, we find that advanced academic content, defined as academic skills typically taught at a higher grade, was associated not only with improved math and English/language arts achievement but also with improved social-emotional outcomes. Greater exposure to advanced content was associated with better interpersonal skills, better approaches to learning, better attentional focus, and lower externalizing behaviors. The results suggest that advanced academic content can be taught without compromising children's social-emotional skills.

This study aims to improve children's social-emotional skills through the application of the role playing method at Harapan Ibu Halawatul Iman Kindergarten. The social-emotional skills focused on in this study include the aspects of “obeying the rules” and “queuing for turn”. The Classroom Action Study (PTK) method was used in this study with two cycles, each consisting of three meetings. The study subjects were 15 playgroup children aged 3-4 years. Data were collected through observation and field notes, and analyzed utilizing qualitative and quantitative descriptive approaches. The results of the study indicated that the application of role playing was successful in improving children's social-emotional skills, especially in the aspects of obeying rules and queuing for turns. Most children indicated good development, with 40% of children in the Developing As Expected (BSH) category and 40% in the Beginning to Develop (MB) category in terms of obeying the rules. Meanwhile, in the aspect of queuing their turn, 53% of children were in the BSH category and 47% in the MB category. These results indicate that the role playing method is effective in increasing children's social skills, including patience, empathy, and cooperation, which support their emotional development.

We investigate how Mexican-heritage mothers' socialization beliefs and strategies contribute to their preschool children's school readiness. While Latinx children typically start kindergarten with strong social competencies, they also start with less strong early literacy and math skills, in comparison with their non-Latinx peers. We propose that-paralleling Lareau's (2003) theory of "concerted cultivation," whereby White, middle-class parents purportedly display great intentionality in nurturing the academic and extracurricular skills of their children-Mexican-heritage mothers purposefully cultivate their children's social-emotional skills. Using structured interviews and home observations over a 14-month period, we follow 23 Mexican-heritage mothers and their 24 preschool children. Drawing on ecocultural theory, Mexican-heritage mothers engage their preschool children in a concerted fashion to develop their social-emotional competence. Specifically, they: (a) articulate the role of children's social-emotional skills vis-à-vis academic skills related to school readiness; (b) delineate the character of their children's social-emotional skills; and (c) promote social-emotional skills through intention-filled parenting practices relevant to their cultural contexts. Understanding parents' "concerted cultivation" in differing cultural contexts may facilitate teachers' use of practices that better align with families' home practices and more effectively support the learning of Latinx children across academic domains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Social and emotional learning in early childhood education and care: a public health perspective

Malaysia wants to improve children's social-emotional abilities, including their capacity to experience, control, and express their emotions as well as build close and safe interpersonal relationships with people around them. Social-emotional skills mastery will influence children’s learning style and readiness for formal education. Therefore, it is important to implement learning activities that can promote and nurture children’s social-emotional skills in the classroom. This study is conducted to identify the perspective of preschool teachers on social-emotional learning activities. A survey research design with a quantitative approach was conducted. An adapted questionnaire was distributed to 30 preschool teachers around the Klang Valley. The tool measured three constructs: the level of teacher comprehension, the level of social and emotional learning implementation, and the level to which preschoolers need social-emotional learning modules. To determine the mean values and standard deviations for the scores obtained for each construct, the data were examined descriptively. According to the study's findings, there is a high level of knowledge among teachers, a relatively high level of implementation, and a high level of demand for learning modules. Results indicate preschool teachers implemented social-emotional learning activities moderately in the classroom and they need support materials to do it better. Therefore, this study is significant to provide preliminary information on the need to develop learning modules for fostering children's social-emotional skills. In order to gather more precise data for the requirements analysis, this study can be improved in the future by including more respondents.

Research Findings: This study examined processes of change associated with the positive preschool and kindergarten outcomes of children who received the Head Start REDI (REsearch-based, Developmentally Informed) intervention compared to usual practice Head Start. Using data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial (N = 356 children, 42% African American or Latino, all from low-income families), this study tests the logic model that improving preschool social-emotional skills (e.g., emotion understanding, social problem solving, and positive social behavior) as well as language/emergent literacy skills will promote cross-domain academic and behavioral adjustment after children transition into kindergarten. Validating this logic model, the present study finds that intervention effects on 3 important kindergarten outcomes (e.g., reading achievement, learning engagement, and positive social behavior) were mediated by preschool gains in the proximal social-emotional and language/emergent literacy skills targeted by the REDI intervention. It is important to note that preschool gains in social-emotional skills made unique contributions to kindergarten outcomes in reading achievement and learning engagement, even after we accounted for concurrent preschool gains in vocabulary and emergent literacy skills. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight the importance of fostering at-risk children's social-emotional skills during preschool as a means of promoting school readiness.

The article addresses the current status of self-awareness skills - one of the five component skills in social-emotional skills. The article presents a report on the research results on the status of self-awareness skills of 347 preschool children aged 5 - 6 years old in preschools in Nghe An province and Ha Tinh province. The study used analysis, synthesis, interviewing, observation, and data processing methods using SPSS 25 software to evaluate the level of self-awareness skills of preschool children 5-6 years old. Survey results show that self-awareness skills in preschool children between 5-6 years old are mainly at an average level. The components of children's self-awareness skills are uneven. Research results help preschool teachers, parents, and researchers on children's social-emotional skills have a more accurate understanding of the level of self-awareness skills of 5-6-year-old preschoolers now

Objective: This study examines the impact on the social-emotional skills of Japanese pre-school children from downsizing of school activities in conjunction with voluntary school closures due to the first wave of COVID-19, in 2020.Methods: Participants included 32 children aged 4–5 years old from three pre-schools in Tokyo, Japan, where strict lockdown was not implemented and voluntary school closure was recommended. Child social-emotional skills was assessed by classroom teachers using Devereux Student Strengths Assessment mini (DESSA-mini) three times: November 2019, January 2020 (before the COVID-19), and March 2020 (during the first COVID-19 wave). All pre-schools implemented voluntary school closures from March 2nd, and two schools (school A and B) canceled school recitals, while one school (school C) allowed for it to be held on March 4th, with precautions in place to prevent the spread of infection. Repeated measures ANOVA were performed to examine the difference between the T scores of the DESSA-mini three pre-schools before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: In school C, children showed stable T scores of the DESSA-mini, whereas children in school A and B showed lower T scores of the DESSA-mini during COVID-19 than before it started. The interaction effects between time and pre-schools were found (F = 7.05, p < 0.001).Conclusion: Our findings suggest that school recitals in pre-schools were important to maintaining children's social-emotional skills during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results of studies examining relations between child media use and school readiness have been inconsistent. Importantly, studies often focus on a single outcome domain (e.g., academic, social, or behavioral), making the comparison of relative importance difficult; fail to account for confounding variables; and fail to investigate social-contextual moderators. This study investigated relations among child media use exposure, social-contextual factors, and multiple domains of school readiness in preschool-aged children. Multivariate regression analyses were used to examine relations between child media use and 3 domains of school readiness (early learning, social-emotional skills, and self-regulation), controlling for demographic and social-contextual factors, and to investigate differential susceptibility by examining family income and 4 social-contextual factors (sleep, exposure to adverse childhood events, frequency of shared reading, and parent stress) as moderators in a large US population-based sample (N = 9323) of 3 to 5 year olds. After controlling for confounding variables, higher screentime was negatively related to children's social-emotional skills and self-regulation, but less so for early learning. Effect sizes were small. The relation between screentime and self-regulation was significantly moderated by family income, such that the relation was stronger for children from low-income backgrounds. No other evidence of significant moderation was found. Results add to evidence that the relation between screen media use and outcomes in young children is likely complex. Future work should prioritize examining impacts of screen media use on social and behavioral functioning to further inform the evaluation of relative benefits and costs of child screen media use.

Mission FEEL! A novel emotion understanding intervention for preschoolers: A proof-of-concept study

High-quality early education: Age of entry and time in care differences in student outcomes for English-only and dual language learners

Social-emotional skills are one aspect of development that must be the main focus in development, because from an early age children are required to be able to live socially. The aim of this research is to determine the effectiveness of music learning for developing social emotional skills. This research method uses descriptive qualitative research with a case study type at the UPI Tasikmalaya Laboratory Kindergarten educational institution. Data collection techniques were carried out using primary and secondary data, primary data was obtained from research results and secondary data was obtained from books and journal articles which were referred to as additional data in data analysis. Data processing and analysis is based on the results of interviews with 2 informants including the class teacher and accompanying teacher, observation and documentation. The research results explain that there is a positive impact on applied music learning, such as: expressing feelings, being patient, working together, being responsible, and managing emotions, so that music learning is very effective in developing children's social emotional skills.

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the current study is to reveal the perception of group counselors regarding children's social emotional skills with a focus on art therapy. In this study, a partially mixed simultaneous equal‐status design from mixed design models was used. The study group of the research consisted of 10–11‐year‐old students (n: 28, female: 14, male: 14) studying in a public middle school in the 2022–2023 academic year. In the collection of data; Personal Information Form, Social‐Emotional Skills Perception Scale, session diaries, process evaluation form and the researcher's observations were used. The art therapy‐oriented group counseling program is a program consisting of a total of 11 sessions, each session lasting 45 min. In the analysis of quantitative data, Mann Whitney U and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test were performed using SPSS 25.0 program, and in the qualitative analysis part, descriptive analysis was carried out through Nvivo 12 program. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the Social‐Emotional Skills Perception Scale scores of the control and experimental groups did not show a significant difference between the groups and there was no significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the experimental group. A significant difference was found in the follow‐up test results applied to the experimental group 3 months later. In the qualitative findings of the study, it was found that the participants' awareness of their communication skills, problem solving skills and stress coping skills increased and improved in their evaluations of the sessions and the process. When the quantitative and qualitative findings of the study are evaluated together, it can be stated that there is a relationship between participation in art therapy‐focused group counseling and the development of social‐emotional skill perception.