Relationship between Pedagogical Approaches and Socio-Emotional Development of Students in Early Childhood Education

Socio-emotional development is the process in which students acquire awareness of themselves, interpersonal skills, and decision-making abilities, which are required for success in the classroom, workplace, and life. Normally, schools keep putting more emphasis on learning through rote learning, and socio-emotional skills are overlooked. This study was designed to determine the association between socio-emotional development and pedagogical strategies. The study was descriptive and delimited to the private ECE schools in Rawalpindi. The target population of the study was comprised of all instructors from private ECE institutes. A purposive sampling technique was applied to select forty teachers from twenty private ECE schools. Observational checklists for teachers were self-developed and pilot-tested. The face and content validity of the scale was improved through experts' opinions. Data was collected from teachers personally by the researcher. Researchers spent three-month time for data collection. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics and correlation. The findings indicated a positive relationship between pedagogical approaches and the students' socio-emotional development. The effectiveness of these teaching methods for enhancing students' socio-emotional development was found. The study recommends that teachers should encourage games-based activities to utilize the relationship skills of pupils at the early childhood level.