title: Preschool Educators' Perceptions of Their Emotional Socialiser Role of Preschool Children's Emotional Competence
Creators: name: Somerwil, Tammy A
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Preschool
subject: children
subject: Emotional competence
subject: early childhood educator
subject: socialiser

description: Preschool-aged children spend a large proportion of their waking hours in early childhood education and care services. The preschool years span a peak phase for children’s development of many key milestones of emotional competence. Between the ages of 2 and 5, these elements of emotional competence are playing a critical role in the successful development of social competence, and more specifically the beginnings of peer relationships. Emotional competence is critical therefore for children’s well-being, navigation of social contexts, school readiness, and long-term academic success. It is understood that socialisation of a child’s complex emotional system occurs in each interaction a child shares with others: their parents, siblings, teachers, caregivers, and peers. During the preschool years, early childhood educators share a large proportion of the critical emotional socialiser role. However, while parents’ strategies for socialisation of their children’s emotional competence have been well researched, very little research has focussed on the pedagogy used by educators to promote young children’s emotional competence. This research aims to understand the role of the early childhood educator as a socialiser of preschool children’s emotional competence through the perspective of multiple educators. The research is directed through five research questions that investigate the perceptions of educators in their role as emotional socialisers of young children’s emotional competence. This research was developed through a pragmatic philosophical worldview. Additionally, Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model (Bronfenbrenner &amp; Morris, 2006) was used as the theoretical guide underpinning this exploration due to its suitability to the subject of emotional competence co-constructed within social contexts. Using both these lenses, an explanatory sequential mixed methods study was deemed the most suitable research method. Data were collected in two phases: first, through online surveys and then focus groups. Research participants were educators of preschool children from Queensland, Australia. In this research teachers and teaching assistants are described as educators. Preschool programs in day care services and kindergarten were included. The quantitative phase of this research analysed data from 76 participants who completed an online survey which included questions about their demographics, readiness to promote children’s emotional competence, and teaching and assessment strategies for emotional competence. The survey also included an open-response section to facilitate private responses and an invitation to engage in the focus groups that formed the second phase of this research. Only frequency and descriptive analysis were undertaken with all quantitative data. As the focus of this study was an exploration of the phenomenon, an inductive process was used to build a descriptive picture of it. In survey responses assessing perceived readiness to promote emotional competence (scale adapted from Bouillet et al. [2014]) there was a strong level of response consistency apparent across all participants. These demonstrated the unified supportive attitudes for promoting young children’s emotional competence, such as the recognised responsibility for sharing the socialiser role and perceived competence to enact activities to promote emotional competence. There was, however, some divergence in participants’ perception of the preparation through their undergraduate education for the role of promoting emotional competence. Additionally, in survey responses to a teaching and assessment strategies scale developed by this author, participants revealed a range of preferences in teaching and assessment strategies appropriate for developing emotional socialisation in the classroom. The qualitative data were interpreted through thematic analysis using a six-step process adapted from Braun and Clarke (2012). Interpretive analysis was also supported through a secondary latent or interpretive level of analysis using elements from Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model. Major themes from data across five focus groups included emotional competence curriculum aims and goals, Prep environment, thoughts about the emotional socialiser role, shifts in children’s levels of emotional competence, shifts in observed parenting behaviours, sharing the emotional socialiser role with parents, supporting parents emotionally, pedagogical strategies for promoting emotional competence, educators’ emotional self-regulation strategies, supportive teams, assessment, and self-efficacy in the emotional socialiser role. This thesis provides insight into both the perceptions of a group of experienced educators about their emotional socialiser role and also the construction of these perceptions as structured by elements of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model. Most significantly, this study shows how variations in perceptual constructions of concepts occur among different service teams influenced by their siloed environments and associated socioeconomic contexts. Findings from the research will potentially inform educator training programs for promoting the socialisation of preschool children’s emotional competence.