Strategies for Promoting Young Children's Social Competence: A Case Study of a Hong Kong Nursery School

Early childhood is an important period for social and emotional learning. This study examined the strategies adopted by a Hong Kong nursery school to promote four- to five-year-old children’s social competence and their... [ view full abstract ]

Early childhood is an important period for social and emotional learning. This study examined the strategies adopted by a Hong Kong nursery school to promote four- to five-year-old children’s social competence and their effectiveness. To gather information about the strategies adopted by the school, a class of the target age group was observed for one full and four half school days. Moreover, individual interviews were conducted with the principal and two class teachers. Related school documents (e.g., the school floor plan, lesson plans) were also reviewed. On other hand, to assess children’s social competence, the prevalence of 30 social behaviors in the target class was evaluated in each class observation session. Results showed that prosocial behaviors were commonly found among the target children, and their social competence improved steadily over the observation period. It was noticed that the school had promoted children’s social competence through its physical environment, the program curriculum, and teacher-children interactions. For example, a common play area was set up for children of different ages to play together. Besides, children were engaged to decorate the school with their artworks. This created opportunities for children to learn to communicate, collaborate and appreciate others. Furthermore, a wide variety of social and emotional learning topics were included in the curriculum, and family-school-community partnership was built to enrich children’s learning experience in these areas. Last but not least, as teachers adopted a child-centered approach to teaching, children learnt from their daily interactions with teachers how to respect others. The above findings suggest that apart from incorporating components of social and emotional learning in the curriculum, teachers should design the school’s physical environment carefully and beware of their daily interactions with children, as they also play crucial roles in promoting children’s social competence. (Keywords: social competence, physical environment, curriculum, teacher-children interactions)