kidsmatter early childhood component 2 literature review · kidsmatter early childhood component 2...

08 Fall

Literature Review

Component 2: Developing children’s

social and emotional skills

KidsMatter Early Childhood Component 2 Literature Review 2

www.kidsmatter.edu.au

© Commonwealth of Australia 2012 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’.



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



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 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.



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.



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,



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

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,

Social and emotional skills support virtually every other aspect of a child’s

development, including learning, school readiness and cognitive and language

development.



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

important in fostering the development of

children’s social and emotional skills.6,8

When relationships between children and staff

are consistently warm, affectionate and

responsive and staff reliably establish

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.

Often described as a ‘dance’

between a child and their

caregivers, responsive care is

defined as a caregiver’s ability to

respond to a child in a timely,

sensitive and appropriate way.



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

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.

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.



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

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

Children learn social and emotional

skills through direct experiences

with people, objects, events, and

ideas.



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

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

The process of play allows children to explore, feel comfortable with and

regulate their emotions.



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

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, self-

awareness, 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

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.



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

supportive, collaborative relationship with

another (more experienced) staff member in

order to foster their personal and

professional development. This relationship

develops over time and enables learning

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

Reflective practice is defined as a

continual learning process where

staff engage with questions

pertaining to the philosophy, ethics

and practice involved in teaching

young children.



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 life-

long 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



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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