LEARN · PRACTISE · DISCOVER
Social and Emotional Development
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LEARN · PRACTISE · DISCOVER
Join to unlock this lesson and the full course library, or log in if you are already a member.
LEARN · PRACTISE · DISCOVER
Children do not learn in isolation. They learn alongside classmates, within families and communities, and with feelings that strongly affect attention and memory. This lesson covers social development, including the role of family, peers, school, media and culture, and issues like cooperation, discipline, aggression and bullying, and emotional development, including emotional maturity and emotional intelligence.
Social development is the growth of a child’s ability to relate to others, follow social norms, cooperate and form relationships.
| Agent | Role |
|---|---|
| Family | first values, language, habits; primary socialization |
| Peers | equality, sharing, rules of games, belonging; influence grows in middle childhood |
| School | discipline, cooperation, citizenship, wider relationships |
| Mass media | television, internet and social media shape attitudes and role models |
| Culture and community | festivals, traditions, language and expectations |
Healthy competition can motivate children, but too much competition can create anxiety and damage relationships, especially for children who rarely win. Cooperation, working together towards a shared goal, builds social skills, empathy and learning. Group work, peer tutoring and cooperative games encourage it.
Discipline means helping children learn self-control and responsible behaviour, not simply punishing. Positive discipline uses clear rules, praise, logical consequences and explanation. The RTE Act 2009 prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment of children. Rewards should recognise effort and behaviour fairly, and should not make children work only for prizes.
Teachers should take every report seriously, protect the targeted child, talk with the children involved, involve parents, set clear class rules and encourage bystanders to become upstanders who support the victim and inform an adult.
Emotions are feelings such as joy, fear, anger, sadness, surprise, disgust, love and jealousy, which involve physical changes, thoughts and behaviour.
Psychologist Katharine Bridges proposed that a newborn shows only general excitement, which gradually differentiates into distress and delight and then into more specific emotions such as fear, anger, joy and affection. Self-conscious emotions such as pride, shame and guilt appear later, as children develop a sense of self.
Emotional maturity is the ability to express emotions appropriately, control impulses, tolerate frustration and understand others’ feelings. It increases with age and experience, but some adults lack it while some children show it early.
Emotional intelligence (EI), sometimes measured as an emotional quotient (EQ), is the ability to recognise, understand and manage one’s own emotions and those of others. The concept was introduced by Peter Salovey and John Mayer (1990) and popularised by Daniel Goleman in his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence. Goleman’s components include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.
Warm, responsive families help children feel secure. Schools support emotional development through caring teachers, opportunities to express feelings through art, stories and play, and guidance when children face difficulties.
In a Class 3 classroom, two boys argue over a cricket bat during lunch. The teacher calls both aside, asks each to explain calmly, helps them agree on turns, and later uses a story in class to discuss sharing and fairness. She treats conflict as a learning opportunity rather than only a disciplinary problem.