Examining the Effects of a Drama Education Programme Designed for Preschool Children on Self-Concept, Assertiveness and Social Skills

The aim of this research was to examine the effects of a drama education programme designed for preschool children on their self-concept, assertiveness, and social skills. The study employed a quasi-experimental design, consisting of 40 children from two intact preschool classes that were randomly assigned to the experimental (n=20) and control (n=20) groups. Four measurement tools were included in the research, namely the Personal Information Form, the Purdue Preschool Self-Concept Scale, the Assertiveness Development Scale for 4-6-Year-Old Children, and the Social Skills Evaluation Scale (4-6 Years). Within the scope of the research, an eight-week drama education programme was implemented. The findings indicated that the drama education programme had no significant effect on children's self-concept. However, there is a significant difference in favour of the experimental group regarding the effects of the programme on assertiveness, total social skills, and seven of the nine sub-dimensions of social skills (interpersonal skills, coping with peer pressure skills, verbal expression skills, goal setting skills, listening skills, task completion skills, accepting consequences skills) of preschool children. It was determined that there was a decrease in the listening skills of the control group in the post-test compared to the pre-test. No significant differences were observed between the pre-test and post-test scores of the two groups in two specific sub-dimensions of social skills: anger management and adaptation to change skills, and self-control skills.