An exploration of educators’ perceptions of social-emotional competencies in children beginning formal education.

Abstract

The social and emotional competence of many South African children is inadequate to begin formal education. Entry into formal education is a vital developmental milestone. Developing children’s social-emotional skills provides a child with a better chance at succeeding in school. This study explored the often-neglected perspective of educators and what they think of children’s social-emotional competence. A qualitative study design was employed for this research study. Eleven grade 1 educators were interviewed individually. These educators came from three primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal. Convenience sampling was used to sample the schools and purposive sampling was employed to sample educators. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data in this study. The participants in this study argued that children’s social-emotional competence has declined over time, with behavioural regulation being of particular concern. Differences between children depended on their home environments and the schools they attended. Educators argued that social-emotional development was affected by low socioeconomic status, poor parenting skills, language issues and financial difficulties. School-based differences depended on each school’s socioeconomic background and pupil demographic factors. Further research on the decline in social-emotional competencies amongst children needs to be done to prevent further detriment to children’s academic achievement. Research on protective and risk factors for each school context would be useful.