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Abstract

This report captures the perception by ECE principals and teachers of social emotional conditions and resilience of early childhood education in students aged 4-6 years in Indonesia. Data regarding the perception and promotion by ECEC teachers of children's social emotional skills and resilience were obtained from focus group interviews with six participants and individual interviews with nine respondents from eight preschools. The data collected focuses on teachers' understanding of the terms "social emotional skills" and "resilience," what kind of practices (programs and activities in learning) they do to strengthen these skills and how they support children facing challenges. Early childhood teachers in Indonesia understand that social emotional skills and resilience are very important from an early age. Students need it in social interactions, self-regulation, and facing various social challenges (such as being in a new place and adapting). Challenges faced by teachers include a lack of in-depth understanding of concepts, a lack of conceptual material when pursuing professional teacher education, so teachers study independently via the internet, books, articles and discussions. Social emotional skills are the focus of developmental activities in learning as it is stated in the curriculum, but only 1 out of 8 preschools had a special program to strengthen resilience. However, activities provided by other early childhood teachers also include learning activities which strengthen resilience in children. This causes the assessment of resilience to be more limited than social emotional skills. These findings indicate that there is a need to strengthen resilience programs that are relevant to social emotional skills in early childhood, both from the government and institutional standpoint, so that children in Indonesia are ready from an early age to face global challenges in the future.

Keywords: social emotional skills, children's resilience, early childhood education in Indonesia, teacher's perspectives, preschool program and activities in Indonesia, MELESAT