In SELMA, researchers and employees in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centers collaborate to develop resources to promote Social and Emotional development and Life Mastery. The five core themes of SELMA derive from the Framework plan for kindergartens: Social interaction, Engagement, Love and joy, Mastery, and Acknowledgement.
Main location: Rogaland and Oslo, Norway
Sample: 900 children - 97 ECEC centers
Timeline: 2021 to 2040
Target Group: Five-year-olds during their last year in preschool
Outcome of Interest: Social development, well-being, a sense of mastery (growth mindset), and academic development. Long-term achievements in school.
Intervention: The SELMA intervention includes elements from positive psychology and is aimed at both ECEC teachers and children (five-year-olds). The intervention contains multiple interconnected resources, including a textbook for ECEC teachers, a children’s book and a webpage with pedagogical videos for staff and children, online professional development for ECEC teachers, and sing-along videos for children.
Data: Social development, well-being, and mastery at pre-intervention and post-intervention. Registry data on family background. Follow up: school achievement in language, mathematics.
Principal Investigator: Ingunn Størksen and Mari Rege
Investigators: Ingunn Størksen, Mari Rege, Dieuwer Ten Braak, Ragnhild Lenes, Svanaug Lunde, Pål Roland, Cecilie Evertsen, Janine Anne Campbell, Thomas Moser, Klara Øverland, Ingeborg Foldøy Sollie, Marianne Torve Martinsen, Ellen Elverthon, Henning Plischewski, Ingrid Veronika Midteide Løkken and Natalia Kucirkova.
Funders: The Research Council of Norway and The Saving Bank Foundation DNB.
Background
In a diverse world with many new challenges and high numbers of mental health problems among children, it is crucial to address socio-emotional learning and life-mastery at an early age. Currently, no Norwegian evidence-based intervention exists, and in general, surprisingly few ECEC studies apply positive psychology to strengthen young children’s life-mastery. Building on international research and Norwegian teacher experiences we address this societal challenge and build competence and knowledge needed by society.
Our collaborative and knowledge-building project studies ECEC assessment, learning, professional practices, competence-development, organization, and implementation. The project is designed to measure the impacts of an intervention to promote ECEC quality through a randomized controlled trial. Thus, it contributes to developing ECEC knowledge of high quality and relevance for policy development, and to the field of practice. It will promote ECEC scientific renewal and innovation.
Context
Norway offers all children (1 – 5 years) a subsidized place in ECEC, and attendance is high (97% of children aged 3 - 5). Centers are regulated by a Framework Plan characterized by learning through play and everyday experiences. The plan contains no specific guidelines for teaching Life-mastery and SEL. The share of free play or non-scaffolded play in Norwegian ECEC is high (60% of the day), and oftentimes teachers are absent during free play. This way, children are missing learning opportunities within SEL and Life-mastery since research indicates that the content of instruction and teacher scaffolding is essential to child development.
Intervention
The SEL intervention is developed with elements from positive psychology and aimed at both ECEC teachers and children. The nine-month SEL intervention promotes social and emotional development and life mastery. The five core themes of SELMA derive from the Framework plan for kindergartens: Social interaction, Engagement, Love and joy, Mastery, and Acknowledgement.
The ECEC teachers were expected to spend at least 15-20 minutes a day for nine months (almost the full preschool year) engaging the five-year-olds in the SELMA activities.
Experimental Design
In our cluster RCT design, 97 ECEC centers were randomly assigned to treatment and control using block randomization based on municipality and size of ECEC centers. Data were collected pre- and post-intervention. The SELMA intervention consists of a whole year program for 5-year-old children in ECEC. To follow and guide the teachers closely, we gave training and supervision both ahead of and during the implementation of the SEL intervention. The treatment centers received the package during the RCT implementation, and the control centers received a similar package after post-data collection.
For outcomes at the child level, we rely on computer tablet testing by trained and certified research assistants blind to the conditions (treatment vs control). Teacher reports of child development are used to triangulate findings. We also gathered data on teachers’ social development and learning pre- and post-test.
Results
First publication on trial is expected in 2025/2026. Several qualitative studies supplement the trial and will be published in parallel with other findings.