Social-Emotional Development - Highlights in the Romanian Curriculum for Early Education

Abstract

Social-emotional development represents a main developmental domain proposed by the current curriculum for early education in Romania. The main aspects related to this domain are the proper initiation and maintenance of social interactions, the ability to identify and express emotions, to react adequately to the emotions expressed by others, and the self-concept development. Thus, in kindergarten, children learn what solidarity and responsibility for their own actions and for their own behavior mean and that they can control their behavior towards others. All these are essential for the individual wellbeing and learning outcomes, as well as for his future social integration. The Romanian curriculum for early education describes behavioral indicators related to the social-emotional development of children, which can be followed by educators within daily didactic activities. The current study describes the main highlights related to this developmental field found in the main document of the regulatory framework for the Romanian preschool education system. Taking the pandemic context into consideration, we can affirm that educators are required to reconsider the implications of the proper development of social-emotional skills more than before.