Journal of Research in Childhood Education

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Supporting Kindergarten Children’s Social and

Emotional Development: Examining the Synergetic
Role of Environments, Play, and Relationships

Gill Kirk & Jenny Jay

To cite this article: Gill Kirk & Jenny Jay (2018) Supporting Kindergarten Children’s
Social and Emotional Development: Examining the Synergetic Role of Environments,
Play, and Relationships, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 32:4, 472-485, DOI:
10.1080/02568543.2018.1495671

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2018.1495671

© 2018 The Author(s). Published with Published online: 10 Sep 2018.

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JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
2018, VOL. 32, NO. 4, 472–485
https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2018.1495671

Supporting Kindergarten Children’s Social and Emotional

Development: Examining the Synergetic Role of Environments,
Play, and Relationships
a b
Gill Kirk and Jenny Jay
a
Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia; bCurtin University, Perth, Australia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This study examined how teachers support kindergarten children’s social Received 6 December 2017
and emotional development in everyday contexts. It used an ethnographic Accepted 23 May 2018
qualitative mode of enquiry, employing participant observations and semi-
KEYWORDS
structured and structured interviews to examine the ways teachers optimize Environments; guided
opportunities for supporting kindergarten children’s social and emotional participation; play;
development. Data were analyzed through collating common themes and relationships; social-
bundling ideas. The data from this study were taken from a larger study, emotional development
and reports on three of the original eight case studies. These three case
studies were chosen for this article to specifically and succinctly articulate
the findings. The data are discussed in terms of guided participation which
supports the notion that guidance can occur anywhere, and that guidance
can be either desirable or undesirable. The study found that the three
elements of environment, play, and relationships work in synergy to sup-
port children’s social and emotional development. When one element does
not exist, or is not well developed, the other two are affected, limiting the
effectiveness of social and emotional supports for children. Those class-
rooms where all three elements are present are more likely to offer guided
participation that is desirable and supportive of kindergarten children’s
social and emotional development.

There are indicators that future success and positive life outcomes are dependent on the develop-
ment of children’s social and emotional competencies (Halle & Darling-Churchill, 2016). Research
suggests that these foundational skills, which are complex and multidimensional, are inextricably
linked with behavior and school success (Scorza, Araya, Wuermli, & Betancourt, 2015). Longitudinal
studies, such as conducted by Raver and Knitzer (2002), suggest that academic achievement in the
first years of school is built on a foundation of children’s social-emotional skills and strategies. A
growing body of evidence suggests that emotional development and academic learning are more
closely intertwined in the early years than was previously understood (Heller et al., 2012; Raver &
Knitzer, 2002). Heller et al. (2012) draw upon research evidence to claim that early childhood
teachers rate social and emotional skills and motivation to be more important than being able to
read in kindergarten. In addition, they identify the relationship between teachers and young children
as a positive factor in developing children’s understanding of self and a leading feature in supporting
their social-emotional development.
In Western Australia, kindergarten refers to noncompulsory programs for 4-year-olds that are
usually located on primary school sites. Although this program is guided by early years learning
framework (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2009), a
nationwide framework for children ages 0 to 5, the everyday running of the classroom is shaped by

CONTACT Jenny Jay jenny.jay@curtin.edu.au Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/ujrc.
© 2018 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
 JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 473

factors such as school principal’s leadership style, the school community’s educational expectations,
and the teacher’s early childhood philosophy and teaching style. The social and emotional environ-
ment of the classroom is affected by these factors, explicitly and implicitly. This article examines
three individual case studies, which have been drawn from a larger study where there were eight
participants. These cases highlight the way a classroom teacher’s social and emotional support for
young children affects their experience of kindergarten.

Theoretical framework
This article utilizes Rogoff’s (2003) notion of guided participation to conceptualize the ways teachers
support kindergarten children’s social-emotional development. Guided participation sits within the
interpersonal focus of analysis, which is an examination of the relationship between individuals and
the people around them, as well as what they are doing. Rogoff (2003) presents three analytic views
of human activity in ongoing, mutually constituted processes: personal, interpersonal, and cultural
institutional focus of analysis. Although not directly applied in this theoretical framework, they are
useful to know in understanding guided participation.
Specifically, the personal focus of analysis centers attention on what is happening with the
individual. When examining this focus, it is necessary to consider the interpersonal and cultural
institutional information as well; however, the individual’s efforts are the main focus. The cultural-
institutional focus of analysis considers the cultural history and community expectations, as well as
national and educational policies. Rogoff (2003) states that though one focus may be at the center of
examination, it cannot exist or be studied in isolation from the others.
Guided participation is a way of looking at interpersonal interactions and arrangements and
enables an examination of the processes that contribute to children’s repertoires of social knowledge
and emotional understandings. The complexity and dynamicity of these processes are realized when
interactions between social partners engaged in cultural activity are examined (Rogoff, 2008).
Guided participation also refers to the direction offered by cultural and social values, as well as
social partners. Rogoff (2003) refers to this as guidance and suggests that it does not have to be
intentional; unintentional forms of guidance can also provide direction. Guidance can be positive
and/or negative, resulting in the acquisition of desired and undesirable knowledge and understand-
ings (Rogoff, 2003, 2008). Children do not necessarily need to be participating in joint activity to
adapt new ways of knowing and interacting. Similarly, a child participating independently in a
cultural activity that has been set by the teacher is still being guided by the teacher’s choice of
activity, the school cultural decisions for that curriculum, and even the resources used publishing
industry.
Guided participation in cultural activity may lead to “participatory appropriation,” which
describes the notion of adaptation, or making the external knowledge and understandings one’s
own. This can be observed through the ways children begin responding in social situations, taking
increased responsibility of their participation in cultural activity. Rogoff (2008) considers this to be
transformation and explains that it can be observed by the changes made to the person’s participa-
tion in an activity.

Literature review
This article focuses on how social and emotional development is introduced and reinforced through
guided participation in three kindergarten classroom contexts. The larger study from which the data
discussed in this article are derived found that the guided participation necessary to support
kindergarten children’s social and emotional development exists when three classroom elements
coexist. Specifically, these elements are effective environments (physical and psychological), relation-
ships (between child and teacher, child and peer, and child and adults), and play (Kirk, 2014). Kirk
(2014) found that when one or more of these elements were ineffective or nonexistent, opportunities
474 G. KIRK AND J. JAY

for effective guided participation in supporting kindergarten children’s social and emotional devel-
opment were hindered.

Defining social-emotional development

The two separate constructs of “social” and “emotional” are so entwined they are often termed
together, as they are in this article. For a deeper understanding, we will define each separately before
attempting to define them as one term. Social development is explained as learning the values,
knowledge, and skills that enable children to relate to others effectively and to contribute in positive
ways to family, school, and the community. Integral to this is the knowledge and understanding of
emotions. Emotional understanding implies the ability to recognize emotions and regulate strong
emotions to maintain effective relationships with others. Emotional understanding enables indivi-
duals to correctly interpret other people’s emotional cues and respond accordingly (Sprung, Münch,
Harris, Ebesutani, & Hofmann, 2015). Sprung et al. (2015) report that children may benefit socially
and cognitively from emotional training, particularly training administered over time.
However, with little consensus on the definition of social and emotional development, the
literature is increasingly referring to this domain in terms of the five interrelated competency
clusters identified by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).
These are “self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible
decision making” (CASEL, 2013, p. 4). Research suggests that programs fostering the development of
these competencies improve well-being and school performance (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki,
Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011).
CASEL (2013) defines self-awareness as individuals’ ability to recognize their emotions and
thoughts and understand how these can influence their behavior; self-management as individuals’
ability to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors; social awareness as the ability to take
another’s perspective, empathize with others, and understand social and ethical behavioral norms;
relationship skills as the ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with diverse indivi-
duals and groups; and responsible decision making as the ability to make constructive and respectful
choices about personal behavior and social interactions. Table 1 summarizes social and emotional
skills and strategies.
Halle and Darling-Churchill (2016) summarize the importance of social and emotional compe-
tence on children’s later-in-life outcomes by explaining that “as children continue to develop social
and emotional skills, they gain the confidence and competence needed to build relationships across
settings, problem solve, and cope with challenges” (p. 9). From a sociocultural perspective, social-
emotional skills and strategies are developed as children participate in sociocultural activity. The
changes children make due to their involvement in sociocultural activities are indicative of partici-
patory behaviors that occur in the personal focus of analysis (Rogoff, 2008). Children internalize a
set of social-emotional skills and strategies that enable them to understand and manage emotions, set

Table 1. Social and emotional skills and strategies.

Social Responsible
Self-awareness awareness decision making Self-management Relationship management
Identifying and recognizing Perspective Problem Impulse control, manage Communication, social
emotions taking identification and strong emotions, and stress engagement, and building
Accurate self-perception Empathy situation analysis management relationships
Recognizing strengths, Appreciating Evaluation and Goal setting and Working cooperatively
needs, and values diversity reflection organizational skills Negotiation, refusal, and
Self-efficacy Respect for Personal, moral, Perseverance when faced conflict management
Spirituality others and ethical with challenges Help seeking and help
Autonomy Ethics responsibility Follow instructions providing
Agency Maintaining attention
Sources. CASEL (2013); DEEWR (2009).
 JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 475

and achieve goals, appreciate the perspectives of others, feel and show empathy for others, establish
and maintain relationships, make responsible decisions, and handle interpersonal situations con-
structively. This repertoire of social cognitive skills also fosters positive communication behaviors
that promote relationship management (Scorza et al., 2015). The development of these skills and
strategies represents the internalization of culturally produced sign systems that bring about beha-
vioral transformation and build the bridge between early and later forms of individual development
(Vygotsky, 1978).

Classroom environment
In this research, the kindergarten environment is defined as the structural (physical) and process
(psychological) features of early childhood programs (Ishimine & Tayler, 2014). High-quality
environments are those that promote young children’s positive short- and long-term academic,
social, and emotional outcomes and have been shown to consistently lead to greater benefits for
children’s social-emotional development (Sammons, 2010). In particular, this research suggests that
process (psychological) quality is essential in higher quality programs. Teacher–child interactions in
classrooms (process quality) have been researched extensively by Heller et al. (2012), who found that,
with targeted professional learning, teachers’ behavior in reference to creating a more positive social
and emotional environment can be a pathway to enhancing young children’s social-emotional
competence. The classroom environments described in this article demonstrate how the psycholo-
gical environment of the classroom can have a direct impact on children’s kindergarten experience
and the ongoing development of their social and emotional skills.

Play
Although there are many identified types and benefits of play (Morrison, 2015), for the purposes of
this study play is referred to as a balanced blend of child-guided and teacher-guided experiences.
There are many variations in classroom environments, ranging from a laissez-faire approach to a
strictly didactic controlled style. As Epstein (2007) notes, teachers generally do not get involved in
the play episodes in laissez-faire classrooms; as a result, there are increased opportunities for children
to learn societally undesired skills and practices. Rogoff (2003) warns that without appropriate
guidance, children can learn to use violence to resolve interpersonal problems. Continued responses
such as this can channel children’s internalizing of these particular values and practices. Without
appropriate guidance, children are more likely to act using everyday social and emotional concepts
without consciousness or volition (Vygotsky, 1987). Consequently, they gain little mastery over their
conscious ability to employ social-emotional skills that offer coping strategies and emotional under-
standings. This has implications for all children as the emergence of emotional health, social skills,
and cognitive-linguistic capabilities in the early years are predictive of successful school outcomes.
Through engaging in play, children learn the social norms and expectations of their culture,
which heightens their “sensitivity to external pressures to act in socially desirable ways” (Singer,
Michnick Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2006, p. 79). Vygotsky (1978) explains that in play children
constantly use their imagination. Imaginary situations in play contain rules of behavior that require
children to take the perspective of others and learn the social norms and expectations of their
culture. With continued participation in make-believe play, kindergarten children engage in more
complex negotiations when creating scenes, continually drawing on the cultural roles, conventions,
and models of cooperation of their society. The more complex the play, the more rule bound it
becomes, resulting in greater demands on children’s application and further regulation of their
activity. In didactic classrooms, children are given few opportunities to engage in play of their own
choosing, practice rules of behavior, and apply those rules to new situations. In situations such as the
didactic classroom, children are compliant—either through fear of consequences or because they are
476 G. KIRK AND J. JAY

hoping to be rewarded. When children are constantly regulated by adults, they may appear to be self-
regulated, but they are, in fact, teacher regulated (Bodrova & Leong, 2008).
Play offers the most ideal environment in which to support children’s social and emotional develop-
ment. Vygotsky (1978) confirmed that it is the leading factor in development, as it contains all
developmental tendencies in a condensed form. Children’s play, learning, and development cannot be
separated; rather, they occur simultaneously and synergistically. In play, children learn to make their own
decisions, control their emotions and impulses, see from others’ perspectives, negotiate differences with
others, and make friends. Through play, children learn self-assertion, negotiation, and compromise.
They learn how to skillfully present their case to come as close as possible to getting what they want
without upsetting their play partners (Gray, 2013). Furthermore, play facilitates children’s development
of coping strategies and contributes to their emotional understandings. The emotional health, social
skills, and cognitive linguistic capabilities that emerge in the early years are predictive of successful school
outcomes (Rhoades, Warren, Domitrovich, & Greenberg, 2011). In this article, the children’s play
experiences in each kindergarten classroom influenced their opportunity to regularly socialize with
their classmates and develop social skills.

Relationships
Teacher–child relationships are formed through interactions that are characteristic of sustained
shared thinking, where their minds meet on matters that are of interest to them (Sylva, Melhuish,
Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggard, 2004). Although often viewed in relation to their educative
value, sustained shared thinking also contributes to positive relationships. Research suggests that
emotional connections are formed when sustained shared thinking occurred between a teacher and
child on a regular basis (Purdon, 2016).
Teachers who are responsive to children’s emotional cues are more likely to form supportive relation-
ships that act as a buffer to stress (Nagel, 2012). Children from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit
substantially from positive teacher-child relationships. Raver (2004) found that sensitive and responsive
caregiving consistently predicted children’s self-regulatory competence despite economic disadvantage.
Negative teacher–child relationships act as a stressor for children and may impair their adjustment to
school (Silver, Measelle, Armstrong, & Essex, 2005). Outcomes from negative teacher–child relationships
include the perpetuation of children’s negative social and emotional behavior. This occurs when teachers
continually ignore difficult behavior or they react harshly to it. Children who are considered to be “tough
to teach” often receive less instruction and less positive feedback from teachers (Raver & Knitzer, 2002).
The classrooms reported on in this research each demonstrated the importance of the social and
emotional connection between the classroom teacher and the children. Each setting reflected the
teacher’s style and capacity to establish warm and caring relationships with the children.

Methodology
Qualitative methodology was chosen to investigate how teachers from different Western Australian
metropolitan schools develop classroom cultures that support kindergarten children’s social-emo-
tional development.
A case study methodology was employed to investigate the research questions due to its suitability
for examining cultures. In this study, the classroom was viewed as a culture in its own right and case
studies facilitated the collection of a body of rich and robust data to describe the cultural patterns
and perspectives of participants in their natural settings and hence the complexity of a single case
(Wiersma & Jurs, 2009). The case study format provided a framework from which the unit of study
could progress into a more deliberate examination of the school community’s culture, the classroom
social interactions (including tacit and explicit exchanges), and the relationship that occurred
between them (Rogoff, 2003).
 JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 477

Participants
In the larger study, eight teachers (all female) and 130 kindergarten children from eight different
schools were examined. Only three of those teachers are reported in this article, as they provide
representation of low, middle, and high socioeconomic areas and they demonstrated a range of
different teaching styles. Table 2 provides a summary of the participants and their contexts.
Only Catholic primary schools were targeted for this study because the Catholic school system is
values based and many parents send their children to these schools for these values, which has
implications for social and emotional development. Ethics was approved by the University and the
Catholic Education Office (Western Australia).

Research instruments
The data were gathered over a 9-month period using participant observations, and informal and
semistructured interviews. Each month, the researcher spent 1 to 2 hours in each classroom
collecting up to 18 hours of data from each classroom over the data collection period.

Participant observations
Participant observations provided insight into how the participants interacted in their natural,
everyday context (Wiersma & Jurs, 2009). This technique facilitated an understanding of the guided
participation that occurred in the classroom, as well as the implicit and explicit exchanges and distal
arrangements used by teachers to promote kindergarten children’s social and emotional develop-
ment. Participant observations took place once a month, from May to December, for 1 to 2 hours. As
consent was not given for visual or audio recordings in these settings, observations were scribed as
they occurred, and additional information was added postobservation to ensure a rich description of
the guided participation. Observations collected were cross-referenced by the respective
schoolteachers.

Interviews
Informal and formal interviews conducted by the researcher enabled a deeper understanding into how
teachers developed learning environments to support kindergarten children’s social and emotional
development. They also enabled a cross-referencing of the data gained from other sources, strengthening
the validity of the findings as well as highlighting areas of synchronicity and contradiction. Informal
interviews took place at the same time as the participant observations and were in direct response to what
was observed (e.g., clarifying why an action or interaction took place). A more formal, yet semistructured
interview took place at the end of the data collection period. This interview was guided by questions that
were formulated from the research questions and the data from the participant observations; it was,
however, also flexible in that the responses were not directed by the interviewer.

Analysis
The data were analyzed using the principle of pattern recognition of thematic analysis. Thematic
analysis requires the recognition of trends or emerging themes that inform the research question

Table 2. Summary of participants.

Years of School Socioeconomic
Teacher (T) Qualification experience (S) area Children
T1 Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education 10 S1 High 31
[ECE])
T2 Diploma of Teaching and Bachelor of Education 15 S2 Middle 28
T3 Diploma of Teaching & Graduate Certificate (ECE) 26 S3 Low 28
478 G. KIRK AND J. JAY

while reviewing the narrative data. These themes then become the categories for analysis. Once the
themes were established and organized, they were discussed first within their individual cases and
then in a cross-case analysis (Creswell, 2005). Common patterns were identified, examined, and later
discussed with the participating teachers and coresearchers, in accordance with each particular case.
These patterns are used to frame the findings.

Findings and discussion

This study has contributed to the theoretical development by examining the context in which
desirable social-emotional understandings and knowledge takes place. An increased likelihood of
guiding children’s desirable social-emotional understandings and abilities was found when they
participated in a context where there was a fluid and synergistic connection between child-initiated
play, positive relationships, and effective environments (see Figure 1). The following discusses the
child-initiated play, positive relationships, and effective environments in each of the case studies and
examines the guided participation that took place.

The classroom environment

It was established through the literature review that classroom environments consider structural
(physical) and process (psychological) features of early childhood programs (Ishimine & Tayler,
2014). In this study, the two are examined as intertwined and inseparable. The physical environment
maximizes/minimizes opportunities for social and emotional support to occur through the interac-
tions and, equally, the interactions encourage/discourage access to the physical features of the
program (learning centers, resources, etc.). Engagement in both is termed “guided participation,”
whether it occurs independently or interdependently.
The perimeter of the S2 Kindergarten classroom was lined with an abundance of educational
resources. The centers in which these resources were available were carefully set up, allowing
children to engage in an activity of their choice. The process features of this classroom enabled
children to freely engage with these materials. At the time of observations, the guided participation
that took place in these centers was mainly between peers and the resources. During these times,
their teacher, T2, was engaged in either individual or small-group teacher-guided activities. In these
activities, the children were guided to respond to T2’s questions or to follow her instructions. While

Child-initiated
play

Relationships Environments

Figure 1. The intersection of child-initiated play, relationships, and environments resulting in an increased likelihood of guided
participation of desirable social and emotional skills and understandings.
 JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 479

the children were engaged in these activities, T2 would scan the room to ensure the other children
were engaged safely and productively in self-selected activities.
Positive social and emotional skills were explicitly taught in this classroom through the Promoting
Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum (Greenberg, 2006). The PATHS curriculum is a
program developed to guide children in developing skills such as the initial appraisal of the event and its
emotional meaning, regulation of emotions, motivation to initiate problem solving and gather more
information and decipher the more cognitive interpretation of the event and one’s behavioural response
(Greenberg, 2006). In S2, the PATHS instruction took place during whole-group sessions.
In S3, T3 arranged the classroom to have one half dedicated to teacher-guided literacy-oriented
activities, where she positioned herself, and the other half dedicated to play centers. The play center
half contained a big table where the assistant worked with children engaged in messier work, such as
painting. Like the arrangement in S2, the children in T3’s classroom selected their own activity and
playmates until T3 called them over to participate in a teacher-guided activity. Similarly, these
activities involved the children responding to set tasks developed by T3.
T1 arranged her classroom a little differently. Her physical classroom design directed the process
aspects of environment toward child-guided play. Physically, the room was set up concentrically: along
the perimeter were spaces for teacher-guided activity, in the next layer (leading toward the center) were
the child-guided activities that encouraged pretend play, and in the innermost center was a large space
where children built Lego constructions. At the time of observations, T1 usually sat at her desk and the
children would come to her to discuss what they had made. On occasion, she would join the children,
constructing with Lego bricks and talking with them about what they were doing.
Data from the observations indicated that during the morning, T2 and T3 centered their attention
on teacher-guided activities. Although they rarely circulated the room at this time, they frequently
scanned the room from where they were positioned. The tenets of guided participation would
suggest that guidance was still occurring in the children’s child-guided activities and, indeed, from
these teachers’ positions in the classroom, the guidance that occurred appeared desirable.
While T1 interacted with children when they engaged in building Lego constructions, the
interactions that took place occurred between her and the child she was talking with and not
between children. This may have been due to the independent nature of the task in which they
were involved. It was in the next concentric layer of the classroom that proximal guided
participation occurred between children. Once again, the guidance in these interactions also
appeared desirable.
According to Heller and colleagues (2012) and Rogoff (2003, 2008), the quality or desirability of
the processes in reference to supporting children’s social and emotional development would be
dependent on how often the teachers circulated the classroom and either observed or engaged in
children’s interactions. In other words, teachers who have developed a relationship with children as
they engage in child-guided activity are more likely to provide opportunities for desirable guided
participation. Although this point will be elaborated upon later, the concept that is emerging here is
that a connection can be found between “environment” and “relationships.”

Relationships
Relationships are formed through sustained shared thinking (Purdon, 2016). For this to occur,
teachers and children need to engage in matters that are of interest to them (Sylva et al., 2004), and
this context happens between people and is where guided participation takes shape (Rogoff, 2003).
T3 primarily got to know many of the children while they participated in the one-on-one interac-
tions with her during the literacy-oriented activities. She tended not to interact with them while they
were engaged in child-guided activity; rather, she would observe those activities from her position on
the other side of the room.
T2 was similar to T3, in that she instructed children on specific concepts, including PATH
strategies. Her relationships with the children were formed during the one to one, or one to a few,
480 G. KIRK AND J. JAY

teacher-guided activities. Alternately, she would relate with them while they were in whole-group
mat sessions.
In contrast, T1 found another way to form relationships with children apart from the teacher- or
child-guided activities mentioned previously. T1 found a mutual place to meet with children at
mealtimes. The data revealed that T1 encouraged conversations during this time, as well as during
incidental moments throughout the day that engaged T1 and the children. T1 scaffolded children’s
ability to hold conversations by intentionally modeling conversation techniques while they were
engaged in conversation with her. T1 rarely used closed or convergent questions; rather, she
extended the children’s conversation by asking well-timed divergent questions that remained
responsive to the children’s interests (Epstein, 2007).
The contexts in which the relationships were formed appeared to have implications for children’s
social and emotional development. T3 and T2, for example, got to know their children in teacher-
guided activities. Examining this context in light of Sylva et al.’s (2004) explanation of sustained
shared thinking provided earlier, it can be argued that, for the most part, the teacher-guided
activities were of predominant interest to the teacher. Moreover, these environments tended not
to allow the teachers opportunities to observe children’s independent application of social and
emotional skills in their engagement with peers and equally presented fewer opportunities for the
teacher to provide guided participation.
It is also argued that teacher-guided activities, as they are described here, are not prime for
developing a “relationship” that can support kindergarten children’s social and emotional develop-
ment because of the power differential that is formed with the teacher maintaining control over
direction of the activity. In these circumstances, the children’s actions and responses are more
teacher regulated and the children get fewer opportunities to practice self-regulation. Although it is
not suggested that teachers do not offer teacher-guided activities, it is suggested that these not be the
only source of knowledge regarding the children’s social and emotional skills, knowledge, and
understandings and not the only context in which they form relationships with children. The
following excerpt from S2 elaborates this point. It follows T2 entering a child-guided activity and
sitting down with the group of girls who had been happily talking with each other for at least
20 minutes:
Excerpt 1: A group of four girls sat at the play dough table making play dough dinosaur environments and had
chatted [with] each other, sharing their newest addition to the environment. The evolving environments were
met with increased excitement, with the girls beginning to almost compete with each other. T2 joined the girls
at the table. She sat silently down and began kneading a piece of nearby play dough. The girls stopped talking as
vividly [with] each other. T2 smiled at them, but then looked around the room at the children playing at other
centers. The girls remained quietly working until, after five minutes, T2 . . . left to talk with some children at
another activity. The banter did not resume; instead, one of the girls suggested another activity, to which they
all agreed and left.

It is evident from this excerpt that the girls appeared puzzled about why T2 was at their table,
and their previously rich conversation petered to a few comments here and there. This dimin-
ished a source of robust data from which T2 could have learned more about the girls’ social
repertoires. In addition, even though T2 was physically near the girls, she did not engage in the
shared conversations that have been found to extend knowledge, understanding, and skills (Siraj-
Blatchford & Sylva, 2004). Hence, the potential for guided participation in an authentic situation
was limited.
This is particularly relevant for the PATHS curriculum. As T2 tended not to engage with children
while they participated in child-guided activities, incidental moments that would have benefited
from the modeling of PATH strategies were not observed. During the data collection period, the
children were not observed to independently apply the PATH strategies that they were explicitly
taught during whole-group mat time in authentic situations. Hence, the participatory appropriation,
or children’s transformation in interactions where they took more responsibility of using PATH
strategies independently, was not observed.
 JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 481

As T3 sourced her knowledge of the children from her interactions with them in teacher-guided
literacy activities, she was unaware of the social-emotional isolation experienced by one of the
children. Holly was a child with English as a second language (ESL) who found it difficult to
communicate with others. Throughout the data collection period, it became apparent that Holly’s
difficulty in speaking English arose from her inability to access positive, collaborative peer interac-
tions in the classroom. This observation was further informed by research in second-language
learning suggesting that those interactions that are centered on solving linguistic problems in
collaboration with peers best facilitate second-language learning, mainly because in these situations
language is used as both a communicative and a cognitive tool (Escamilla & Grassi, 2000). The
following excerpt gives an example of Holly’s peer interactions:
Excerpt 2: Renee, Anne, Elisa, and Holly sat playing in the sandpit. Elisa and Anne were seated on some crates
while Renee and Holly sat playing with the sand, each in isolation. Elisa, who was sitting on the first of the
crates, ordered: “Sit in the car!” Holly sat on the last crate behind her and Anne. Elisa turned around and yelled,
“Not you, Holly!” Holly got up and walked away talking (to herself) quickly in her native language.

In the interview at the end of the data collection period, T3 admitted that she was unaware of the
types of interactions Holly encountered with her peers. She was aware, however, that Holly was not
speaking in English as fluently as she would have hoped at that stage. T3 said that about halfway
throughout the year, she suggested to Holly’s mother that they only speak English at home, with the
intention of providing Holly with more exposure to it. Holly’s mother preferred to maintain their
first language at home, believing Holly would adopt English in her own time. Holly’s mother’s
decision to maintain her first language at home is supported by the literature. Dropping the first
language to accelerate second-language acquisition is perceived as potentially costly to the individual
(Wong Fillmore, 1991). If Holly were to stop speaking her native language at home, it is likely she
would become isolated from everything she had previously known—making her situation worse.
Literature reports that the loss of one’s native language to adopt the more culturally dominant one
can potentially alienate children from their families, diminishing an important emotional support
base (Wong Fillmore, 1991).
In contrast, T1 sourced her knowledge of children’s social and emotional skills from a different
context. She intentionally chose mealtimes to encourage conversations as she viewed these as social
times of the day, likening them to having dinner with their families at home. This situation provided
more scope for shared sustained thinking to take place, and presented less of a power differential.
Indeed, the guidance that she provided while children participated in their mealtimes proved
effective for the three ESL children who had started the year not speaking any English, helping
them become quite fluent by the middle of the school year.
This discussion has highlighted the importance of the optimal context for forming relationships
and engaging in guided participation that will support children’s social and emotional development.
It is suggested here that the optimal context in which to truly know children’s abilities is the context
of play. In play, children work within a zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1978) and
continually extend their abilities. Although the relational zone theory presented by Goldstein (1999)
suggests that the ZPD cannot exist without a warm relationship, this concept is extended here to say
that if teachers do not develop these relationships in play, they will not be able to enter children’s
unabridged play and get to really know children’s abilities. Therefore, it becomes apparent that both
environments and relationships are important for rich play to take place.

Play
During the observation period, which took place in all three classrooms in the morning, children
engaged in play of their choice. The only difference was that in T3’s and T2’s classrooms, some were
encouraged to leave their play to engage in teacher-guided activities. In T1’s room, the children
continued their play uninterrupted until after recess, when they engaged in some more teacher-
482 G. KIRK AND J. JAY

guided activities. These activities were brief, and the children quickly resumed their child-guided
activities.
Singer et al. (2006) reported that during play children are more sensitive to pressures to act in
more socially desirable ways. Rogoff (2003) suggests that children can equally be guided in undesir-
able ways of social understanding and knowing. An example of the latter was evident in T2’s room.
On this occasion, the children were spread around the room engaging with the available resources.
Two boys, Caleb and Callan, sat at the mathematics center, and the following describes their activity
and interactions:

Excerpt 3: T2 put some music on—it had a catchy beat and attracted most of the class. Caleb and Callan,
however, went over to the maths/puzzle center. Every now and again, Callan’s head bopped in time with the
music. Craig bounded up to the two boys and asked loudly, “What are you making?” Neither Callan nor Caleb
responded. Two other boys came over and sat next to Caleb, causing the once dyad to look like a circle of six
boys. All the boys started playing with the blocks. Callan turned around so his back was to the group. He began
playing with a maze puzzle that was lying behind him. Craig looked at Caleb and asked him what he was
making. Caleb ignored him. When Craig received no response, he repeated his query. Caleb still did not
respond, and instead shoved the last block into his construction, got up and walked around the group to sit in
front of Callan, reforming their exclusive group of two.

The example in this excerpt was typical of the data collected on these two boys’ interactions. Looking
at the data collectively, two key features emerged, both of which potentially had negative implica-
tions for the boys’ social, emotional, and cognitive development. The boys’ relationship was
characterized by exclusivity. Both boys were observed on a number of occasions to be actively
avoiding the company of other children. Second, neither boy was observed engaging in sustained
shared thinking (or conversation) with anybody in the classroom, including each other.
Even though the boys participated in activities together, their involvement was more character-
istic of parallel play. Hence, the participation that was observed could not be defined as “shared” and
the constrained communication they used tended not to posit problems or attempts to solve them.
Furthermore, the boys’ exclusivity prevented any other child or adult from filling these roles.
Therefore, their relationship was not typical of the guided participation in which children strive to
learn from those around them; rather, it was more depictive of a secular state, which appeared to do
little in adding to the developmental goals sought by the school. From a distance, there did not
appear to be an issue with the boys’ engagement in play; the exclusivity of their relationship was only
made apparent through a series of close observations.
This excerpt demonstrates how environment, play, and relationships are interwoven. T2 provided
an environment in which children could choose what to play and with whom. The relationships that
occurred between them and with the teacher provided a context in which guided participation of
social and emotional skills could take place. This particular example also highlighted the impact of
guidance that can occur among peers and how important it is for the teacher to be aware of the type
of guidance that is taking place. It is within relationships that processes or psychological environ-
ments are formed.

Limitations
Measures were taken to ensure a robust study; however, some limitations need to be noted. First, due
to time constraints, only eight to nine observations were made in each classroom; therefore, the data
collected is just a snapshot. Second, the researcher’s presence may have influenced the participants’
interactions and participation. Third, the children’s social and emotional development was not
measured. Hence, only children’s observed behaviors and teacher perceptions could inform the data.
 JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 483

Conclusion and recommendations

The findings from this study have examined how the synergy between environment, play, and
relationships can contribute to the greater likelihood of guided participation (Rogoff, 2003), resulting
in desirable social and emotional learning taking place. This is attributed to the teacher being
granted more access to authentic interactions and therefore gaining a more realistic measure of
children’s current levels of social and emotional understandings. Additionally, these authentic
situations enable teachers to apply interventions in meaningful and relevant ways.
Where one or more of the elements are not connected with the others, desirable guided
participation in the learning of social and emotional skills is compromised. For example, because
T2 did not form a relationship with children as they engaged in child-guided play activities, she had
limited opportunities to attach PATH strategies to authentic situations. Hence, the children were not
supported in learning how to use this resource when it was most needed. Moreover, as the children
were not used to her presence in child-guided activities, they did not interact as fluidly with each
other as they did when she was not present. As a result, T2 was not observed engaging with children
in their usual play scenarios and could not assess the skills they had and were developing.
Similarly, as T3 did not form a relationship with children while they were engaged in child-guided
play, and the environment was partitioned into teacher-guided and child-guided activities, she was
unaware of the undesirable guidance that Holly received. From a social perspective, Holly became
more isolated from the dominant culture and therefore less likely to adopt the English language. In
the long term, it is likely that with prolonged language difficulties, Holly would develop negative
expectations for interactions. McCabe and Meller (2004) suggest that the combination of language
difficulties and social rejection has been found to lead to negative expectations for initiating and
maintaining relationships, even after the children’s language skills have reached the skill levels of
their peers.
In contrast, because T1 formed relationships with children in an environment that held limited
power differential, the three children who started the year not speaking English learned to commu-
nicate their thoughts and feelings effectively. Possibly because of this relationship, the children were
not observed to alter their interactions with each other when T1 was nearby, allowing her to assess
children’s actual social and emotional skills.
To summarize, this study has implications for teacher practice. Specifically, attention needs to be
paid to developing synergy between environment, relationships, and play. This is supported when
teachers regularly circulate the room. Teachers need to circulate the room for two purposes. First,
teachers need to be able to hear children’s conversations and learn how children independently
employ social and emotional strategies in social situations. Second, children need to become familiar
with the teacher’s presence. When the children are familiar, their interactions remain authentic and
teachers are better able to evaluate the effectiveness of children’s social and emotional development.
In addition, teachers are recommended to participate across teacher- and child-guided activities.
Learning occurs across every moment of the day, not just in teacher-guided activities. When teachers
enter child-guided activities, they can identify authentic moments in which they can model appro-
priate social and emotional responses, or provide scaffolds for those children who need extra
support. The authenticity of child-guided activity provides a rich tapestry of meaningful teaching
moments in which large amounts of social learning will occur. The teacher’s presence will increase
the likelihood that the social learning will be desirable and will benefit the children.

ORCID
Gill Kirk http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6386-9016
Jenny Jay http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1226-0363
484 G. KIRK AND J. JAY

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