“You Can’t Always See What’s Going On”: A Qualitative Exploration of Educators’ Perceptions Supporting Children’s Social Engagement

Development of social skills occurs rapidly in early childhood. Educators are important facilitators of social engagement opportunities but may struggle to facilitate positive social interactions for many children. We conducted a qualitative interview study with 11 early childhood educators across 3 of the 4 regions of the United States to better understand educator experiences supporting the social engagement of young children (ages 3–6), and gain insights related to the potential of sensor technology to assist in measuring engagement. Through interviews, we found that all participants supported children with social engagement challenges, including speech and language delays, emotional challenges, social delays, and interaction issues. Thematic analysis of the data revealed three themes: (a) child behaviors can hinder or aid child social engagement; (b) educators use a variety of intervention approaches matched to child social engagement needs; and (c) measurement of child social engagement is difficult, and sensor technology could aid early childhood educators in this area. Early childhood educators emphasized the importance of fostering positive behaviors while promoting social engagement and enhancing social-emotional development. Implications for practice, limitations, and future research directions are discussed including the potential usefulness of sensor technology to help educators in supporting child social engagement.