EFFECTIVENESS OF PLAY INTERVENTION ON PRE-SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SOCIAL EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AS VIEWED FROM TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE IN PRIVATE SECTOR SCHOOLS OF AJK

Abstract

This paper sets out to illustrate the teachers’ perspective on pre-school students’ attitudes and practice due to the impact of play involvement on their social emotional development. Play is a fundamental and natural activity for children, and it plays a crucial role in their overall development as well as social emotional in the early years. Unlike in western countries where social emotional learning is an important aspect of life in preschools, such learning /development has been little attention in AJK, Pakistan. While link between play and social emotional development have been extensively documented, rigorous research evidence remains limit, especially in specific cultural and education context. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of play intervention in promoting social emotional development among pre-school children aged 3-6 in the perspective of their teachers. For this study, mixed method design was used to examine and understand the perspective of teachers regarding of play intervention to promote social emotional development among children. The sample size including 265 teachers who were sent a survey questionnaire through hard form and was constructed by adapted.

The findings emphasize the importance of structured play intervention in early childhood education and provide practical implication, for education policy and implementation. Along with highlighted the needs for adequate resources and teachers’ training.