EdUHK Conference on “Soft Skills” in Early Childhood Education: Social, Emotional and Moral Development of Young Children
EdUHK Conference on “Soft Skills” in Early Childhood Education: Social, Emotional and Moral Development of Young Children
A conference dedicated to “Social, Emotional, and Moral Development of Young Children” was held today (11 May) at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). It attracted more than 300 early childhood educators and featured over 20 seminars, workshops and poster presentations by representatives from local kindergartens. The conference provided a platform for exchanging ideas and experience, and unveiled strategies for supporting young children’s social, emotional and moral development through curricula, learning and teaching, activities and administrative arrangements.
Whilst parents often focus on developing a child’s academic skills at an early age, non-cognitive “soft skills” that impact on children’s growth and learning are often ignored. This is despite the fact that soft skills, like social and emotional learning, can lay the foundation for whole child development and equip children with positive attitudes to face challenges in life.
EdUHK’s Department of Early Childhood Education invited overseas and local scholars to discuss the roles of family, schools and communities in this regard. Professor Yuko Hashimoto of Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan, introduced the Japanese preschool system and play-based curriculum that emphasises nurturing children’s emotions, motivations and attitudes. She recommended local kindergartens and early learning centres learn from Japanese classroom experience and explained ‘in Japan, children will not learn specific knowledge and skills in preschools. Instead through daily activities and discussions of moral issues and responsibilities, they are taught to follow rules and perform self-discipline, and encouraged to play and learn collaboratively in groups. Through group activities they learn to get along and cooperate with one another, developing social and emotional skills.’
Professor Allan Walker, Dean of the Faculty of Education and Human Development at EdUHK said, ‘in this time of rapid social, cultural and technological change, we believe it’s imperative that we look beyond the harder skills required to transition to a productive life and delve just as deeply into issues around resilience, moral and psychological awareness, happiness and social responsibility.’
Professor Kevin Chung Kien-hoa, Head of the Department of Early Childhood Education at EdUHK, hoped the conference would “serve to broadly promote social, emotional, and moral education for young children. Be it for the teaching and researching in early childhood education, or for nurturing and parenting of the child, attention should be paid to children’s development of personal qualities, and cultivation of their proactive and positive values”. He further noted that the Department would continue to foster whole child development and home-school collaboration, enhancing and expanding the effectiveness of early childhood education and opening up an enriched future for the next generation.
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