THE ROLE OF PLAYING IN DEVELOPING SOCIAL EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES WITHING CHILDREN AT PRESCHOOL AGE
Preschool education in Morocco is characterized by the multiplicity of actors supervising it; public authorities, associations and privet institutions, which creates a kind of confusion in its vision, desired goals and programs applied. There are those who consider that preschool education should focus on pure learning activities such as reading, writing and mathematics to prepare the child for school, others believes that preschool education is a stage in which the child needs to play and develop all his competencies in a manner that blooms his personality and reached a psychological balance. Among the most important actors in preschool education sector´s in Morocco, there is the Moroccan Foundation for the Promotion of preSchool education FMPS, it´s a semi-public institution aims to provide quality preschool education for the benefit of all children by creating a network of standard schools, training educators, guiding and accompanying actors, as well as by promoting the scientific research in the field of early childhood. This research work aims to study the role of play activities programmed within the FMPS's schools on the development of social-emotional competencies within the children at preschool age. Our research focused on skills related to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship skills due to the importance of these skills in achieving balanced and healthy growth of the child as well as in long term success. To collect data, we used a scale to measure the social-emotional competencies of preschooler. A sample of 191 children enrolled in the FMPS school network was worked on. Also, a questionnaire was dedicated to the educators regarding their point of views and practices of programmed playing activities in the preschool classes
Keywords: Playing, Social-Emotional Competencies, Children, Preschool Education.