Select Caribbean teachers’ perspectives on the socio-emotional skills children need to successfully transition to primary school

ABSTRACT

Children's transition to primary school is affected by numerous factors. Many teachers, expect that children will have the academic and socioemotional competencies to negotiate and deal with new experiences they may encounter in a new learning environment. With an aim of contextualising our understanding of the transitory period from pre-primary to primary school, the following qualitative study, focusses on the socio-emotional skills teachers believe Caribbean children need to be successful in primary school. Seventeen Grade 1 teachers, from three Caribbean islands; Jamaica n = 8), Grenada (n = 3) and Trinidad and Tobago (n = 6) were interviewed. Using Corbin and Strauss Grounded Theory [Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques to developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.], to analyse the data, three dominant themes emerged; strong resilience, the ability to deal with stress and self-regulation. These findings have implications for teacher training programmes, early childhood policies and initiatives, the increased awareness of Caribbean-centric perspective of child development and more importantly our parenting programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• Socio-emotional skills
• Caribbean children
• early childhood
• transitions

Notes on contributor

Dr. Zoyah Kinkead-Clark, is an early childhood specialist and teacher educator at the University of the West Indies, Mona. A kindergarten teacher for several years, her current research focus seeks to understand the diverse factors affecting young Caribbean children which will support the development of practices and policies aligned to their needs.