Enhancing Young Children’s Social-emotional Competence through ‘3Es’– an Evidence-based School Curriculum

Overview

Social-emotional competence refers to knowledge and skills that allow children to understand their own and others’ emotions, express emotions appropriately, regulate emotions toward desirable goals, get along with others humbly and deal with conflicts constructively. Established during early childhood, such competence has a significant impact on the learning of school-aged children, with fewer behavioural difficulties, better school readiness and higher academic achievement in the future (Chung et al., 2021; Kwong et al., 2018; Lam et al., 2021; Li et al., 2020).

Grounded on Response to Intervention (RTI) theory, a two-tiered school-based model was developed by the Centre for Child for Family Science, the Education University of Hong Kong, to support children’s social and emotional needs through a comprehensive, school-based approach in the 3Es Curriculum.

Content of the model corresponds coherently with a list of developmental milestones issued by the Education Bureau (EDB) in the Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide. Results of implementation in K2 and K3 were promising. EDB has adopted the 3Es model as ‘School-based Teacher Development Project on Enhancing Kindergarten Teachers’ Competence in Promoting Students’ Social-Emotional Development: 3Es Project’. A downward extension of the 3Es Curriculum to Nursery (N) and K1 children will be developed in 2022-2025.