Three- to four-year-old children’s socioemotional competencies assessed by kindergarten teachers in general and physical education settings, and by parents at home

Abstract

Early childhood education programs represent a valuable early learning opportunity for promoting the socioemotional skills. The aims of the study were to validate the socioemotional skills observation scale, to compare 3-4 year-old children’s socioemotional competencies in general kindergarten settings and in a PE session, separately by gender, and to compare 3-4 year-old children’s socioemotional competencies in general kindergarten settings and at home. The participants were 59 children (23 girls, 36 boys) from six communal kindergartens in Finland, their parents, and early educators. The data were analyzed using the confirmatory factor analysis and t-tests. The results showed that the construct of the socioemotional skills model was maintained as a three factor model comprising self- and social awareness, self-management, and relationship competencies. No differences in teacher-rated socioemotional competencies between general kindergarten settings and the PE session appeared. Girls scored higher in self- and social awareness. There were no gender differences in self-management and relationship skills in kindergarten settings, the PE session and home environment. Parent-rated self- and social awareness was significantly higher than teacher-rated in general kindergarten settings, whereas teacher-rated self-management and relationship skills in general kindergarten settings were higher than parent-rated. These results may benefit the basic and continuing training of both early educators and physical education teachers.