Highlights
  • This study examined the impacts of a tiered program on children's socioemotional competence, behavioral adjustment, and pre-academic skills.
  • The program targeted second-year kindergarten students’ socioemotional skills and provided additional training to third-year students with socioemotional difficulties.
  • After completing the program, children showed better socioemotional competence, behavioral adjustment, and pre-academic skills.

Our study examined the impacts of the program on 999 children from 18 kindergartens in Hong Kong, China, using a cluster randomized controlled trial. Children were randomly assigned to undertake the Little Garden Curriculum (n = 624) or join the wait-list control group (n =375).

The 3Es Program includes two curricula: the Little Garden Curriculum (designed for all second-year students) and the Little Greenhouse Curriculum (designed for third-year students identified to have socioemotional difficulties). The 3Es program focuses on the four themes correspond closely to the four core virtues (四德) celebrated by Chinese culture, including benevolence (仁; to love people by considering their well-being), righteousness (義; to uphold right values and do right things according to social norms), propriety (禮: to be polite and show deference to seniors), and wisdom (智: to acquire knowledge and distinguish right from wrong). Our program places particular importance on helping children understand others’ feelings and intentions and do good to others (i.e., empathy and prosocial behaviors), regulate their emotions and behaviors to meet social expectations (i.e., emotion regulation), express themselves without violating emotion display rules (i.e., emotion expressivity), and follow classroom rules and complete tasks (often academically oriented) assigned by adults (i.e., cognitive control).

Results indicated that children who had completed the Little Garden Curriculum showed better socioemotional competence, behavioral adjustment, and pre-academic skills. Moreover, children who had completed the Little Greenhouse Curriculum scored higher on cognitive, socioemotional, and pre-academic outcome measures. Findings highlighted the utility of using culturally relevant programs to improve the socioemotional competence of Chinese children at both the universal and the indicated levels.