Early Childhood Education and Care: Strategies for Promoting Social Competence

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
Early childhood education and care
Name of the student:
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1EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
Response to Question 1
Social interactions are the key to learn and grow in early childhood – It has been
observed that the initial stage of learning starts right from the basic social interactions
(Kostelnik et al., 2014). The surrounding social environment and the way a child interacts
with it defines and shapes the future outcomes and behaviour of him or her. The interactions
that a child showcase can be observed and analysed over a period and can be predicted to
evaluate the positive or negative behaviour. It is to be noted that all the major activities and
aspects of life are built around this social environment itself such as family life, school, work
and so on (Kostelnik et al., 2014). Therefore, it is essential for children to learn and develop
positive social interactions that could have a positive impact on their future life.
Promotion of social competence among children – It is essential for a childhood
professional that he or she understands the actual definition of social competence and then
actually adopt strategies that would promote social competence among children. Since it is
observed, that in order to enhance or improve the skills and behaviours of a child it is
essential to promote social competence among young children. Therefore, in order to take up
appropriate action for promoting social competence among children, it is significant to
analyse the related behaviour that characterise social competence (Flook et al., 2015).
All aspects of development in a child are interrelated with each other – It is
significant to understand that every aspect of development is related with each other and
improvement of any one aspect could ultimately have a positive impact on other aspects of
development as well.
Response to Question 2
One of my favourite quote in the book that is mentioned in the page number 9 is
“Cooperation, generosity, loyalty and honesty are not inborn. They must be passed on to the

2EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
child by older people, whether they are parents, other adults, or older youngsters.” The author
of this quote is Urie Bronfenbrenner, a human ecologist in profession. It is evident that with
social interaction and with a positive social environment the children learn to differentiate
between good and bad. Hence, it is significant to understand that good attributes or traits in
an individual is not an inborn characteristic. In fact, it is acquired with the channel of learning
and guidance that are provided by the adult. Hence, with the help of teachers, parents, and so
on, a child learns and develops attributes such as cooperation, generosity that helps him or
her in acquiring positive behaviour and skills (Ames, 2013). In addition to this, another quote
that is favourite of mine is “Children flourish in a classroom where they sense that the
teachers care deeply about them – as people, about what they are learning, and about the
skills they are developing.” The quote is from Claudia Eliason and Loa Jenkins and is
mentioned in the page number 22 of the book. One of the most significant social interaction
that children and acquire knowledge is from a school setting. Children tend to develop and
grow in a positive way when the classroom and school setting is such where teachers are
empathetic towards their students (Peck, Maude & Brotherson, 2015). It is significant for
teachers to empathise, understand the child’s behaviour, and responsibly take necessary
actions towards a certain behaviour of a child (Van Noorden et al., 2015).
Response to Question 3
One of the significant learning that is mentioned in the book is the various practices
with the help of which a child’s social competence level could be enhanced that affects
positively in developing children’s behaviour. It is significant for adults to adopt
Developmentally Appropriate Practices that would help children towards developing socially
enhanced behaviour and skills (Seifert, 2013). The practice is a professional program that
helps practitioners and child professionals to analyse and choose appropriate strategies to
guide children in developing their social skills and behaviour. The practice teaches adults to