Document Type

Article

Department

Human Development Programme; General Surgery

Abstract

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is an integral part of holistic child development. The early years of life are the best window of opportunity when children acquire self-regulation which stays with them throughout their lives. A qualitative exploratory design with focus group discussions (FGDs) was used for preschool teachers’ perspectives on SEL from urban and rural areas of Pakistan. Five (5) FGDs were organized, each with 8 to 10 teachers. Insights were highlighted by teachers from urban and rural contexts. Urban schoolteachers demonstrated a better understanding of SEL as compared to rural schoolteachers. The main themes identified during the analysis were teachers' perspectives on; the importance of social-emotional skills for school readiness, adjustment problems faced by newly enrolled children due to lack of social-emotional skills, existing school practices for the promotion of SEL, and how teachers can contribute to building SEL among preschool children. Teachers underscored the importance of parents, curriculum, and teacher training for the promotion of social-emotional learning among preschool children. Urban-rural disparities were profound where urban teachers were found to be more aware of the social-emotional needs of preschool children and classroom management required for optimal learning experience.

Publication (Name of Journal)

Journal of Early Childhood Care and Education

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30971/jecce.v7i1.886

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Download

Share

COinS