Social Emotional Well-being

The transition to Kindergarten often requires children to adapt to a new and different environment. This new environment is typically more structured and filled with more prolonged social engagement than their home environment. Children use their social and emotional abilities in order to navigate this new and unfamiliar environment. Although social and emotional skills are sometimes not included in definitions of Kindergarten readiness, focus groups surveys indicate that teachers often advocate that developed social skills are more important than academic skills as children enter school. Social skills function as tools to help children learn more quickly and promote peer acceptance, contributing to a more positive outlook on school.

Social and Emotional Developmentedit

Between the ages of 3-6 children undergo dramatic development in their social and cognitive abilities. The development of these skills provides them with the tools to navigate the social context of a kindergarten classroom. These developments become obvious during children's social interactions that transform from playing alongside of their peers, to more complex and coordinated play amongst peers.  This transformation in social abilities comes about not only from an increase in language abilities, and increasing self-regulation abilities, but also from the quickly developing ability to consider other people's perspectives.  Perspective taking allows children to take into account others’ points of view, and to appreciate that others’ points of view may be different from their own. This ability develops rapidly between ages 3–6 and continues to develop throughout adolescence. Not only is it important for children entering kindergarten to be able to take into account their peers’ points of view, it is also important for them to be able to consider their teacher's perspective

The ability to consider others’ perspectives also gives way to the development of social empathy. Children begin to appreciate that other people can experience emotions that are different from their own, and that their actions towards others can affect their emotions. This developing understanding, paired with their increasing self-regulation abilities, enables children to interact and develop meaningful relationships, as well as the ability to successfully manage conflicts.

In addition to promoting positive peer relationships, successfully managing the social environment of the kindergarten classroom also contributes to more positive academic outcomes. Through more positive social interactions, children are better able to access the resources that they need to thrive in the classroom setting. For example, if the child is able to appropriately and effectively interact with the teacher, the child is more likely to receive assistance and attention when necessary. Additionally, if the child is able to engage and participate with her peers, it is more likely that she will be included and form more meaningful relationships, thereby associating school with positive experiences.

Parent's Roleedit

Children's development does not occur in a vacuum. They are constantly being influenced by the environments that they are surrounded by. At the same time, children's behaviours and reactions have an effect on their environments as well. During the preschool years, children spend the majority of their time surrounded by their immediate family. Therefore, the family environment will significantly influence how a child develops during this age period. Therefore, parents play an important role concerning their child's readiness for the kindergarten classroom. In fact, children have better academic skills when their relationship with family is characterized as warm, accepting, involved and when parents value education (Hill, 2001). Furthermore, parent-child interactions that are structured and responsive are positively related to school readiness.

A key aspect in this type of parent-child interaction is being sensitive to the child's skill level in order to provide the appropriate amount of support when guiding the child's learning. This type of guidance is known as scaffolding, in which the level of support given to the child decreases as the child's skill level increases on a given task. Just as scaffolding around a building is removed as the building gets nearer to completion, the amount of help that is provided to the child decreases as the child begins to master a certain task. The decreasing amount of support allows the child to have more autonomy which gives them the opportunity to practice their newly developing skills. Scaffolding can be implemented in any type of learning, but is especially helpful in the preschool age-range to teach about conflict resolution in social settings, emotion regulation, and problem solving.

Teacher's Roleedit

When children enter Kindergarten, they experience a shift from the family acting as a primary influence on the child's development, to an increased influence from their classroom environment. An important factor that contributes to how well a child adapts to the Kindergarten environment is his/her relationship with the teacher. When children form a close relationship with their teacher, they appear better adjusted within the kindergarten context compared to when a conflictual relationship is developed. Children feel more comfortable approaching their teacher, as well as expressing their thoughts and feelings when a warm and open relationship is developed. This allows the child to effectively use the teacher as a means for support. This support can come in the form of social, emotional, or academic assistance which ultimately contributes to promoting the child's opportunities for success in the Kindergarten classroom.

The teacher-child relationship has also been shown to be affected through intervention strategies. For example, the Chicago School Readiness Project trained teachers in classroom behaviour management strategies in order to promote greater emotional support in the classroom. Children in classrooms whose teachers’ received the intervention showed better self-regulation, fewer behaviour problems, and better academic skills compared to children in classrooms whose teachers had not received the training.