Literature Review
Component 2: Developing children’s
social and emotional skills
KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
© Commonwealth of Australia 2012
Acknowledgement
KidsMatter Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative has been
developed in collaboration with beyondblue, the Australian
Psychological Society, Early Childhood Australia and, with
funding from, The Australian Government Department of
Health and Ageing and beyondblue.
Important Notice
KidsMatter Early Childhood Australian Mental Health Initiative
and any other KidsMatter mental health initiatives are not to be
confused with other businesses, programs or services which
may also use the name ‘Kidsmatter’.
Disclaimer
While every care has been taken in preparing this publication,
Beyond Blue Ltd, The Australian Psychological Society Ltd
and Early Childhood Australia Inc and the Commonwealth of
Australia, do not, to the extent permitted by law, accept any
liability for any injury, loss or damage suffered by any person
arising from the use of, or reliance on, the content of this
publication.
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
Contents
Component 2: Developing children’s social and emotional skills
5
Background Information on KidsMatter Early Childhood ....................................................................... 5
Developing children’s social and emotional skills
7
Positive relationships between children and staff ................................................................................... 7
Opportunities for children to develop social and emotional skills ...................................................... 10
Staff development and support ................................................................................................................ 13
Summary and Implications for Practice .................................................................................................. 15
References
17
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
Component 2: Developing children’s
social and emotional skills
Background Information on KidsMatter Early Childhood
KidsMatter Early Childhood is a national mental health promotion, prevention and early
intervention initiative developed to support the mental health and wellbeing of young
children in early childhood education and care services (ECEC). It has been developed in
collaboration with beyondblue, the Australian Psychological Society and Early Childhood
Australia, with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
and beyondblue. It involves families, early childhood professionals, and a range of
community and health professionals working together to make a positive difference to
young children’s mental health and wellbeing during this important developmental period
of birth to five years.
KidsMatter Early Childhood uses a risk and protective factor framework to focus on four
components that ECEC services can use to strengthen the protective factors and minimise
risk factors for children’s mental health and wellbeing.
All four components are outlined below.
1.
CREATING A SENSE OF
COMMUNITY within ECEC services
by focusing on belonging, inclusion,
positive relationships and
collaboration.
2.
DEVELOPING CHILDREN’S SOCIAL
AND EMOTIONAL SKILLS is
fundamental to children’s mental
health. These skills are developed
through adults’ warm, responsive and
trusting relationships with the children
in their care, as well as through
constructive peer relationships.
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
3.
WORKING WITH PARENTS AND CARERS ECEC services and families can
establish collaborative partnerships in the interests of their children. ECEC services
can support families by helping them to connect with other families and by providing
access to parenting support.
4.
HELPING CHILDREN WHO ARE EXPERIENCING MENTAL HEALTH
DIFFICULTIES. ECEC services are well placed to recognise when young children
may be experiencing difficulties, to implement simple strategies to assist children,
and to support families to seek additional help.
Definitions of terms used in this document
Children: Children from birth to five years unless otherwise stated.
Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD): A broad concept that encompasses individual differences,
such as language, dress, traditions, food, societal structures, art and religion.
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services: Preschools, kindergartens and long day care
services.
Early childhood staff: Educators, teachers, day care staff, integration aides, assistants, and other staff that
are based within ECEC services.
Externalising: Disruptive, impulsive, angry or hyperactive behaviours (i.e. where the child ‘acts out’). These
behaviours are generally readily observed and therefore are relatively easy to detect.
Internalising: Inhibited or over-controlled behaviours (i.e. where the child ‘holds in’ their difficulties),
including withdrawal, worry, and emotional responses that primarily affect the individual child rather than
having effects on others.
Mental health: Early childhood mental health involves being able to experience, manage and express
emotions; form close, satisfying relationships; and explore and discover the environment.
Parents and carers: This includes biological mothers and fathers, parents of adopted children, GLBT
parents, foster parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. The primary caregivers of a child/children and are
usually the child’s legal guardians.
Protective factors: Strengths that enable children to maintain positive mental health and wellbeing, even
though risk factors for mental health problems are present.
Resilience: A person’s capacity to adapt to adverse situations in ways that enable them to cope positively
and reduce or minimise negative impacts on mental health and wellbeing.
Risk factors: Factors that increase the likelihood that mental health difficulties will develop. The presence of
particular risk factors does not necessarily mean a difficulty will develop. The presence of multiple risk
factors usually increases the likelihood of difficulties developing.
Temperament: Individual characteristics and style of behaviour that a child is born with, now considered to
have a basis in both biology and environment.
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
Developing children’s social and
emotional skills
IT IS WIDELY ACCEPTED THAT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL
SKILLS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD benefits all aspects of children’s learning, development,
mental health and wellbeing.1 This is because throughout life, learning happens within and
through relationships. The literature suggests that effective social and emotional skills in
early childhood can foster a number of protective factors for mental health and wellbeing,
including positive relationships with others2; effective planning and decision making skills3;
resilience4; the ability to focus attention4; and a strong sense of identity.1 Research has
also identified a variety of ways that the development of children’s social and emotional
skills can be enhanced. These include creating environments that sustain positive
relationships and offer children ample opportunities to develop and practise these skills;
and having support and development programs at services for staff.
Component 2 of the KidsMatter
Early Childhood initiative:
Developing children’s social and
emotional skills is divided into
three target areas selected
because of their impact on
children’s mental health and
wellbeing: positive relationships
between children and staff;
opportunities for children to
develop social and emotional
skills; and professional development and support for staff. While there is some overlap in
the target areas, each also makes a unique contribution to children’s wellbeing. Each of
the target areas is discussed in detail below. The numbers appearing in the text are linked
to references listed at the end of the document. If you would like more information about
the ideas presented in this paper, the reference list is a starting point.
Positive relationships between children and staff
To grow up socially and emotionally healthy, children need to experience authentic,
loving and interactive relationships with adults who are responsive, warm and
trusting.1,5-11 It is through positive experiences in primary relationships (such as their
families, and in some cases, early childhood staff) that children develop their sense of self,
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
confidence and worth; emotional skills such as learning how to experience and express a
range of emotions, having empathy for others and cope with challenges; and social skills,
such as how to interact with others.6,12-14 These social and emotional skills then support
virtually every other aspect of a child’s development; such as learning, school readiness
and cognitive and language development.9
Research into brain development in the early years has shown that neural networks
are selectively established according to what a child experiences. 15,16 Positive
relationships with others are essential for the optimal development of brain structures and
functions that support children’s social and emotional skills.11,17 The emotional exchanges
that occur in positive relationships help to establish the neural networks that are required
for the development of children’s intrinsic motivation, sense of self, social and emotional
skills.5-7,15,17-19
Social and emotional skills support virtually every other aspect of a child’s
development, including learning, school readiness and cognitive and language
development.
When a child does not experience positive relationships with their caregivers, the neural
networks that support social and emotional skills develop differently. 15,16 In this case, the
connections to the areas of the brain involved in social and emotional development are not
as well formed as they are when a child does experience positive interactions with their
caregivers. Brain development continues after early childhood, and the ability of the brain
to change functionally and structurally as a result of environmental input (also known as
neuroplasticity) means that there are many opportunities for support and intervention
throughout the lifespan. 21,22 However, the networks developed in the early years form the
foundation for lifelong mental health and wellbeing.4-6,14,18-20
Children develop positive relationships with staff when the balance of care they
receive is sensitive and responsive to their needs.6,11,14,17,20,21 Often described in the
literature as a ‘dance’ between a child and their caregivers, responsive care is defined as
a caregiver’s ability to respond to signals from the child in a timely, sensitive and
appropriate way.22 The emotional exchanges that occur as a result of this caregiving
consist of cycles of give and take; attention and non-attention; emotional engagement and
attunement; and negotiation. Attunement, or ‘being in tune’ with the needs of the child and
emotionally sensitive and available, is crucial in fostering social and emotional
development.11 When staff are in tune, they engage in emotional exchanges that provide
children with opportunities to co-manage interactions and repair ‘mistuned’ interactions.
During infancy, the reciprocity of interactions between adults and children nurtures
new skills and affirms experiences for young babies.9 Children who experience daily
positive interactions with their caregivers are more likely to understand the thoughts,
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
behaviours and motivations of others and shape their own behaviour accordingly. 23 In
contrast, poor or inconsistent relationships in early childhood can lead to different
developmental outcomes for young children.9 These relationships have been linked to
poorer self-regulation and empathy for others; and emotional and behavioural difficulties. 15
Reciprocity of interactions allows children to develop social understanding and self efficacy
as a social partner.1,24-27
Staff in ECEC services are ideally placed to provide children with the opportunity to
form positive relationships outside of their family. One of the most significant
contributions that staff can make to mental health and wellbeing in early childhood is
developing positive relationships with the children in their care. 28,29 Research indicates that
a positive relationship with at least one caring, competent adult outside of the child’s
immediate family is related to greater mental health and resilience in children. 28,29 Positive
relationships with early childhood staff are particularly important for children who have not
experienced close relationships with their parents or carers.30 Under these circumstances
the formation of a positive relationship with at least one adult (even if it is not a parent or a
carer) is enough to improve developmental outcomes for these children. 30
Finally, warmth, affection and consistency have also been identified as key qualities
of child-staff relationships that foster children’s social and emotional development
and mental health and wellbeing. For example, following a 30 year longitudinal study,
Maselko, Kubansky, Lipsitt and Buka31 reported better emotional functioning in adults who
received more warm and affectionate care as a baby than those who did not. Other work
suggests that children’s social and emotional development is fostered through care that is
consistently and therefore, predictably, warm and responsive. 1,30,32 For example,
Gonzalez-Mena & Widmeyer Eyer21 identified that children need consistency in
relationships in order to understand and accurately predict the behaviour of others and to
adjust their behaviour accordingly.
Combining limit setting and structure with
sensitive and responsive caregiving is also
Often described as a ‘dance’
important in fostering the development of
6,8
between a child and their
children’s social and emotional skills.
caregivers, responsive care is
When relationships between children and staff
defined as a caregiver’s ability to
are consistently warm, affectionate and
respond to a child in a timely,
responsive and staff reliably establish
sensitive and appropriate way.
boundaries around children’s behaviour,
children are more likely to internalise morals
and values and master self-regulation. All of
these social and emotional skills are the foundations of life-long mental health and
wellbeing.
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Opportunities for children to develop social and emotional
skills
PROVIDING CHILDREN WITH AMPLE OPPORTUNITIES to learn, develop and
practise new skills is an important part of developing their social and emotional
skills.33 Children learn and develop by making sense of what is happening to and around
them, both with adults and their peers. Play also has a central role in children’s lives and is
a key facilitator for children’s learning and development, reflecting the cultural and social
contexts in which children live.34 Whilst children’s relationships foster their developing
social and emotional skills, these skills can also be explicitly taught and learnt across the
lifespan.35 Research indicates that young children’s social and emotional development can
be fostered by staff offering developmentally appropriate experiences and engaging in
intentional teaching.1,30,32,36-38 Intentional teaching involves staff being deliberate,
purposeful and thoughtful in planning opportunities, environments and experiences to
stimulate children’s curiosity and foster social and emotional understanding. 1,6,39-43
By offering a variety of experiences and engaging in intentional teaching,
early childhood staff can provide the opportunities that children need for
healthy social and emotional development.
The importance of staff offering developmentally appropriate experiences to
optimise children’s social and emotional development is clearly emphasised within
the literature.7,34,43-45 Children have been shown to learn better when staff use everyday
experiences as ‘teachable moments’ and respect and respond to the child’s active role in
creating their own skill development opportunities.39,40,46-48 Young babies learn social and
emotional skills best in face-to-face interactions with adults who talk to them, hold them
and nurture them.40 Preschoolers learn social and emotional skills through experiences
that foster self-regulation and positive peer interactions, such as imaginative play;
discussions, debates and other opinion orientated conversation; story-telling and games;
and creative ‘hands-on’ experiences. 6,49,50
Through responsive teaching that is dynamic and interpersonal, staff can provide
the opportunities children need to for social and emotional development. Children
are supported to go the next developmental level when staff scaffold their learning onto
existing skills provide an environment that creates shared understandings and new
knowledge for the child through collaborative experiences. 26,40,51 The Australian Early
Years Learning Framework1 recommends staff use strategies such as open questioning,
speculating, wondering, explaining, shared thinking and problem solving support each
individual child’s learning. In this way, teacher knowledge and decision making are key in
developing children’s social and emotional skills.
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
Children need access to a variety of opportunities in order to foster development of
their social and emotional skills. One of those is the opportunity to form positive
relationships with their parents, carers and siblings; their peers; and their early childhood
staff. As discussed in the previous section, young children need positive interactions with
others in order to stimulate the brain structures and functions associated with social and
emotional development.11,17 Positive interactions with others also allow children to develop
behavioural, social and emotional skills, such as resilience; communication skills; the
ability to experience, regulate and express a full range of positive and negative emotions;
and the ability to actively explore their environment and learn about their world. 52,53 In
short, the positive interactions that arise from relationships with others support all aspects
of children’s social and emotional development.
Developing children’s social and emotional skills is achieved through practise,
allowing skills to become established as second nature and be generalised to other
situations and contexts.46 Skill development is facilitated when children spend most of
their time in dynamic learning interactions with their caregivers and peers.6 These
interactions provide children with experiences that support optimal brain
development.20,27,40,42,54,55 For example, Thompson26 found that children need
opportunities to develop and refine their skills for understanding and handling emotions in
themselves and others. This doesn’t mean that children must be constantly stimulated
through interactions with adults and peers. It is also important for children to have
opportunity, time and space for their own constructions, their own understandings and
their own peace of mind to facilitate rest, regulation and learning. 56
In addition to practise, children benefit from systematic help, feedback and
opportunities to integrate their developing skills into their everyday behaviour until
the skills become natural and routine. This can be facilitated where a whole service
approach to developing children’s social and emotional skills is undertaken, that is
reflected in policies and procedures, curricula and staff practice and provides a safe,
physically, socially and emotionally stimulating learning environment so children feel free
to participate and contribute.37
Children’s social and emotional skills develop
through experience and in the context of
supportive relationships. When families and
ECEC services work together and share
information about children’s development,
this facilitates learning, maintenance and
generalising of skills.6
Children learn social and emotional
skills through direct experiences
with people, objects, events, and
ideas.
Play is also another important factor for the development of young children’s social
and emotional skills.1,48,57-59 Play has widely been identified as an fundamental part of
social and emotion learning.49 It is through play that children build resilience, develop the
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
ability to regulate their own emotions and behaviour, learn to manage stress and to form
relationships with others.42,49,57,60 Thompson26 describes how play provides children with
opportunities for sharing face-to-face emotional exchanges and engaging in goal directed
activities and cooperative tasks. Ginsburg57 indentified the importance of play in
developing children’s confidence through practice and mastery of new skills. Through play,
children build new knowledge, meaning and understandings from current experiences onto
existing knowledge in long term memory.34,54,57 The process of play also allows children to
explore, feel comfortable with and regulate their emotions through having an opportunity to
work through challenging feelings, such as fear or sadness, or express strong feelings,
such as anger, in acceptable ways.34 Furthermore, play, especially cooperative
experiences, also fosters prosocial behaviours such as sharing, helping and cooperating
by facilitating appropriate peer interactions between children. 61 In summary, play supports
every aspect of children’s social and emotional development.
Children’s learning and mental health and wellbeing is optimised through
opportunities to engage in extended free, child-driven, creative play and to move
through activities at their own pace. 54,57 Staff sensitivity in facilitating children’s play by
being available to join in, support and encourage and provide guidance but not being too
directive or controlling, provides children with invaluable opportunities to make choices and
solve their own problems. These opportunities provide children with satisfaction and
mastery experiences which are important for their developing sense of self, social and
emotional skills.21,54,57
The process of play allows children to explore, feel comfortable with and
regulate their emotions.
Children also develop their social and emotional skills through social interaction in
their physical environment. Structuring the physical environment to support children’s
social and emotional learning requires consideration of group size, experiences and
materials.34,43,62 Research has demonstrated the impact of physical environment factors
and a calm and positive classroom climate in developing children’s social and emotional
skills.54,62,63 Environments that support children’s learning are flexible spaces that are
responsive to the needs, interests and abilities of each child. The importance of
predictability and consistency in children’s relationships with adults for their security, trust
and social and emotional development has already been addressed in this paper.
Familiarity and consistency in the child’s physical environment and routines also helps
children to build expectations of what will happen based on what has happened before.
Being able to predict future encounters helps children feel safe and secure. Thus service
routines can minimise children’s stress and have demonstrated effectiveness in supporting
peer interaction and reducing problem behaviours.54,64,65
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Staff development and support
STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT ARE ESSENTIAL for teaching children
social and emotional skills. Despite the many rewards that may result from working with
young children, it is not uncommon for early childhood professionals to experience
occupational stress.66 The demands on early childhood staff are numerous and common
sources of stress come from challenging workloads, relationships with colleagues, high
staff turnover, lack of resources, physical demands, low income levels, and lack of
professional recognition. 66-68
With sufficient knowledge, skills, confidence and emotional resources, early childhood staff
can foster children’s developing social and emotional skills and support children’s mental
health and wellbeing.20,30 Staff may not have acquired the specialised knowledge and
skills required and can be overwhelmed by the social and emotional difficulties of many of
the children in their care.4,18,19,63,69-71 There also remains a gap between best practice
knowledge and current staff practices. Closing this gap requires attention to processes of
organisational and individual change and workplace factors such staff development and
support.18
With sufficient knowledge, skills, confidence and emotional resources, early
childhood staff can foster children’s developing social and emotional skills and
support children’s mental health and wellbeing.
Research indicates there are skills that help early childhood staff to foster and
support children’s social and emotional skills. These include extensive child
development knowledge, professional skills in observation and relationship building, selfawareness, and emotional resources including a commitment to fostering the wellbeing of
children.7,30,50,63,72,73 Knowledge of social and emotional development, including how
children learn and the conditions that optimise learning, is paramount to staff’s ability to
provide appropriate caregiving and scaffold children’s development of social and
emotional skills.4,12,19,39,70,74-76 Skills in observation, documentation, and interpretation
increase staff’s understanding of child behaviour and help them to be attuned to children’s
needs and emotionally available to them.21,42,47,72,77-79 Relationship building skills like
providing sensitive and responsive care, being ‘in tune’ with children, and having
knowledge and awareness of both self and others,30 are also important. Finally, because
staff’s thought processes, attributions and beliefs affect how they interact with children,
self-awareness of their own attitudes and behaviour is essential for fostering healthy social
and emotional development in the children for whom they care. 63
In the context of education and care in early childhood, professional development
involves building expertise in these skills and integrating that knowledge into
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
practice.18,47,80 The efficacy of formal training programs has been widely demonstrated
and the sensitivity and responsiveness of care has been shown to increase following
training.81 Participation in formal training programs has also been associated with an
increase in staff’s capacity to foster and support children’s developing social and
emotional skills.82 An evaluation of a program that was designed to support and develop
staff practice demonstrated improved relationships between children and staff, and more
prosocial behaviour and less behaviour difficulties in a sample of 218 children aged one
and over.83
Staff development and support, however, does not just involve participation in
formal training courses. Another useful mode of staff development is reflective
practice.69,80,84 The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) identifies reflective practice
as one of the principles that supports and enhances teaching and learning. Reflective
practice is defined as a continual learning process where staff engage with questions
pertaining to their own philosophy, ethics and practice involved in teaching young
children.1 During reflective practice, staff start to systematically gather information, reflect
on their actions and change their practice to offer more effective programs that support
and enrich children’s learning, development and mental health and wellbeing.1 Reflective
practice involves discussing and thinking about their work with the aim of increasing staff’s
understanding of the internal world of the children in their care. This then leads to an
increase in staff’s ability to make decisions about the best way to support and enrich
children’s learning, development and mental health and wellbeing. 1 85 Reflective practice
involves critically examining each aspect of an experience and the reasons as to why it
unfolded as it did.85 This can be done individually or in a group, with a trusted senior
colleague or an external consultant who sits outside the service and can assist with
reflection at a different level.
Individual reflective practice can be
enriched through the involvement of a
Reflective practice is defined as a
supportive, collaborative relationship with
continual learning process where
another (more experienced) staff member
staff engage with questions
in order to foster their personal and
pertaining to the philosophy, ethics
professional development. This relationship
and practice involved in teaching
develops over time and enables learning
young children.
and improvement, emotional support and
professionalism through shared beliefs and
goals and a commitment to growth and change.25,86-89
Research suggests that engagement in reflective practice fosters staff’s
development of key caretaking skills. An improved capacity to be calm, available and
supportive with children after engagement in reflective practice over time has been
reported.88 Reflective practice can also increase staff’s understanding of their own
reactions to emotionally significant events with children. This includes understanding how
interactions are influenced by past relationships and leads to increased attunement to
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
children’s reactions. Reflective practice has also been associated with heightened
caregiver awareness, insightfulness and sensitivity.25,90,91 Gilkerson89 demonstrated that
reflective training was more effective than traditional training in developing insightfulness.
Just as children develop their social and emotional skills through repeated practice, staff
also benefit from having time, space and multiple opportunities for reflective practice to
build their capacity for understanding their intra and interpersonal worlds, reflecting on
action and building practice wisdom.25,92,93
Engaging in reflective practice is also an excellent way for early childhood staff to
receive support.25,86-89 When staff are supported by others in a one-on-one relationship,
or within a group, this can help to contain and manage feelings of uncertainty,
helplessness or confusion - just as staff hold and contain children’s feelings and
behaviours so that they are more manageable. It is also a forum in which staff can develop
and practice new skills, exchange information and ideas, set goals, and trouble-shoot
problems or concerns without fear of judgment or failure.94-97 As such, effective reflective
practice supports staff’s wellbeing and enhances their capacity to provide sensitive and
responsive care, which in turn supports children’s mental health and wellbeing. 98
Summary and Implications for Practice
ECEC services play an important role in promoting mental health and wellbeing in young
children. Component 2 of the KidsMatter Early Childhood initiative, Developing Children’s
Social and Emotional skills, provides a framework that can be used in an early childhood
setting to achieve this goal. The three target areas of Component 2 focus on the
importance of positive relationships with early childhood service for children’s social and
emotional development; providing ample opportunities for children to learn, develop and
practice social and emotional skills; and professional development and support for staff.
A substantial body of evidence suggests that the development of social and emotional
skills in early childhood is a significant protective factor for mental health and wellbeing. 1
The social and emotional skills developed during this period form the foundation for all lifelong learning and development.1 Fostering positive relationships between children and
early childhood service staff provides children with the authentic, loving and interactive
relationships with adults that they need to grow up socially and emotionally healthy. 2,6-12
Children who experience positive relationships with others also have ample opportunities
to learn and practice newly developed social and emotional skills. Finally, early childhood
service staff can further enhance children’s social and emotional development by
participating in professional development activities such as reflective practice and
supervision. By constantly building on their knowledge of child development and working
in an environment that focuses on supportive relationships, staff will have access to the
necessary skills, confidence and emotional resources required to foster children’s
developing social and emotional skills and support children’s mental health and
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
wellbeing.20,30 In conclusion, developing children’s social and emotional skills is essential
for good mental health and wellbeing in young children.
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KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review
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This resource is part of the KidsMatter Early
Childhood Initiative. The KidsMatter team welcomes
your feedback at www.kidsmatter.edu.au