Beyond the classroom: Understanding primary school students' social-emotional skills through parental eyes

Abstract

This study aims to examine parents' views on the social-emotional skills of primary school students. Sixty-one parents, whose children study at the primary school, participated in the study. A phenomenological research design, one of the qualitative research designs, was employed in this study. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview form and analyzed through content analysis. The results revealed that most parents are familiar with the concept of social-emotional learning [SEL]. Additionally, the results draw attention to parents emphasizing the interrelatedness of these skills when discussing SEL. While the majority of parents stated that their children have SEL skills in some dimensions, they also mentioned that they generally meet their children's needs regarding SEL through communicating with them. Moreover, most parents emphasized their satisfaction with the practices carried out by classroom teachers to meet these needs.

Keywords

• social-emotional learning
• social-emotional development
• parents’ perspectives
• primary school
• primary students