Effect of Morning Routines on Children’s Sense of Belonging in Early Childhood Education: A Developmental Pedagogy Study

This study aimed to examine the impact of morning routines on children’s sense of belonging in early childhood education. It was designed as a case study that involved the implementation and assessment of a developmental pedagogy-based morning routines intervention based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Yuval-Davis’s theory of belonging. The data were collected through the Sense of Belonging Scale for Children and an Observation Form. Pre- and post-test scores of the participants were analysed using paired samples t-tests along with Cohen’s d effect size scores to assess the significance of the differences. Qualitative data were subjected to thematic content analysis. The findings revealed that children’s overall sense of belonging scores increased after the morning routines intervention, and teacher observations showed that morning routines helped children fulfill their social and emotional needs and fostered their sense of belonging.