Social Emotional and Embodied Learning in South African Sociocultural Contexts

• In Event: Culturally Relevant Embodied and Social-Emotional Learning in Asian, African, and North American Contexts

Abstract

In this presentation I describe how situated and embodied learning processes could be incorporated into social emotional learning in various the South African sociocultural context.
Similar to Japan, social-emotional development is highly valued. In South Africa, Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs are designed as partnerships between parents, teachers, and health professionals to support children’s social-emotional development. In South African early childhood education, ECD programs were originally designed as a way to narrow the socioeconomic inequality gap that existed at the end of apartheid in 1994 by improving school readiness for all children in South Africa (Atmore, 2013). Quality ECD programs have been shown to be effective in fostering children’s social-emotional development by providing optimal learning environments for children to develop or learn social-emotional competencies. Thus, ECD programs in South Africa serve some of the aims of SEL programs that have been implemented in North America.
In a study on South African stakeholders’ account of early childhood developmental milestones, Dawes et al. (2004) found similarities and differences in the expectations between South Africa and those in the U.S. Cross-cultural differences in the standards for specific behaviors were seen. The indigenous way of learning in Sub-Saharan Africa supports children’s social-emotional development by embedding embodied learning into “family traditions, daily routines and social and community life” (Pence & Nsamenang, 2008, p. 22). Through these authentic and embodied learning activities, children are expected to engage in self-directed learning or to learn by observing and then by doing, including participating in social and economic activities that are set up as ‘work-play’ (Chikovore et al., 2012). These types of authentic and embodied learning activities offer rich opportunities to learn and practice social-emotional skills. For example, children develop social awareness and respect for others as they take turns while following the order of seniority, including showing deference to their elders. This highlights that these social-emotional skills are learned in the informal learning environments of the home rather than through school-based SEL or in the formal learning environments of the classroom or at school.
Another example of culturally responsive, embodied social-emotional learning in the South African context is through participation in community-based activities such as storytelling sessions (Chikovore et al., 2012). Through storytelling and folktales, children learn about key social-emotional competencies, including fairness and gratitude, developing their social awareness and responsible decision-making skills. Furthermore, South African folktales are told in ways that involve embodied learning so that children are actively involved and required to listen and follow instructions as they usually involve responses from the children (i.e., antiphony or call-and-response). According to Chikovore et al. (2012), these group-based forms of learning support the cultural principle of Ubuntu (the “capacity in African culture to express compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony, and humanity in the interests of building and maintaining community” p. 306) whereas formal schooling tend to teach practices that are more consistent with individualism. Thus, South African children learn social emotional competencies through ECD programs and through authentic and embodied learning activities that promote Ubuntu.

Author

• Juliet Mariam Nyanamba, Texas A&M University