Promoting Social and Emotional Learning in Early Childhood Through Positive Behavior Support: A Study Across Four European Countries

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings play a key role in fostering young children’s social-emotional development. Skilled professional teams are essential to creating inclusive, supportive learning environments that promote these competencies. In response to the need for systematic enhancement of social-emotional support in ECEC, this study examined the perceived impact of a professional development program, grounded in a program-wide positive behavior support (PW-PBS) approach, on children’s social-emotional competence and behavior. The study involved 139 professionals and considered both institutional and professional characteristics. A blended-learning professional development program, delivered through a train-the-trainers model, was implemented across diverse ECEC settings in Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. Participants reported improvements in children’s social-emotional outcomes and in their own professional skills, highlighting the program’s promising effects despite its relatively short duration. Findings further indicated that more experienced professionals, teachers working with larger groups, professionals in the social (nonprofit) sector, and those in centers without existing behavioral guidelines perceived greater benefits from the training. Overall, higher perceived quality of the program was associated with stronger perceived impact. These results extend existing knowledge on PW-PBS implementation in Europe and underscore the importance of targeted professional development to support young children’s social-emotional development.