Managing feelings and behaviour
EYFS Framework Guide: Personal, Social
and Emotional Development
What is PSED?
Personal development is about how children come to
understand who they are and what they can do.
Social development covers how children come to
understand themselves in relation to others, how they
make friends, understand the rules of society, and behave
towards others.
Emotional development is about how children
understand their own and other’s feelings and develop
their ability to be empathetic - to see things from another
person’s point of view.
Three aspects of PSED in the EYFS
Self-confidence and
self-awareness
Making
relationships
Managing
feelings and
behaviour
Managing feelings and behaviour
Practitioners help children to manage their
feelings and behaviour when they provide
opportunities for them to:
• develop social skills and learn how to manage
their feelings
• understand how to behave appropriately in
groups.
How can we support young children
to manage their feelings and
behaviour?
Attitudes and ethos
The physical environment
Key person working
Opportunities and experiences for children
Building partnerships with parents
Our attitudes and ethos
• Do we encourage children to express their feelings
and learn to manage them, or do we try to suppress
any show of emotion?
• Do we need to be more consistent in the language
we use with children, and in our approach to helping
them recognise and manage their feelings?
• How could we make the routines of the setting more
flexible to accommodate different children’s
emotional and physical needs?
• Do we all know how to put our behaviour
management policy into practice?
• Are we all consistent in the way in which we talk to
the children and in how we manage different types
of behaviour?
Physical environment
• Is the range of opportunities we provide for
children sufficiently interesting to prevent them
from becoming bored?
• Do we know if we have enough books and
resources that focus on feelings and emotions?
• How could we organise the baby room differently
so that it becomes a haven of quiet and calm?
• How consistent are we in making sure all babies are
able to enjoy some time out of doors every day?
• Do we do enough to ensure children can choose
when and where they go to rest or sleep during the
day?
Key person working
• Do we all feel we are consistently good role models
in how we manage our own feelings and behaviour?
• Do we talk enough to the babies and toddlers,
engaging them in conversations about what they are
doing and how they are feeling?
• Do we encourage children to express their feelings or
do we try to avoid this?
• Do we need to be more clear and consistent about
what we expect of children in different situations?
Opportunities and experiences for
children
• Have we achieved a successful balance between
structured routines and making time to tune in to
children’s interests?
• How can we show that the interests and obsessions of
boys are valued as much as those of girls?
• Do we all take time to use ‘conflict situations’ as learning
opportunities?
• Do we spend enough time on helping children to
understand their duties and responsibilities as well as
their rights?
• How could we help children to come up with their own
rules about how things should happen in some areas of
the setting?
Building partnerships with parents
• How could we make more time to engage with
parents at the beginning and end of the day?
• At the start of the day, do we make it easy for
parents to spend time talking us about how their
child is feeling?
• How effective are we in supporting parents in
understanding more about their child’s emotional
development?
• How well do we support parents in addressing any
challenging behaviour that their child might
demonstrate?