Facilitating Young Children’s Social and Emotional Learning Experience in Hong Kong Protestant Churches - Perspectives of Song Leaders

Oct 15, 2026

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Song leading sections for children in Hong Kong Protestant churches provide a weekly, non-formal music learning context, yet limited research has examined how this platform develops young children’s social and emotional competence. This qualitative study investigates whether song leading in such churches can support two- to four-year-olds’ social and emotional learning. Using thematic analysis of non-participant observations and interviews with song leaders from three churches, results highlight a process-oriented, interactive, autonomous, active participation experience as a key learning mechanism.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Social and emotional learning skills

Facilitating young children’s social and emotional learning experience in Hong Kong Protestant churches: Perspectives of song leaders a u s t r a l i a n a s o c i e t y s f o r m u s i c m e d u c a t i o n e i n c o r p o r a t e d Sarah Wing-yin Lee, Independent researcher, Hong Kong Bo-Wah Leung, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Abstract Song leading sections for children are available on a weekly basis in religious settings in Hong Kong, yet there has been limited amount of research drawn over this learning platform on developing children’s social and emotional competence. This study aims to investigate the extent to which Song Leading sections in Hong Kong Protestant churches may offer a potential non-formal music learning platform for facilitating two-to four-year-old children’s social and emotional learning experience. The concept of social and emotional abilities had been considered via the lens of selfawareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management and responsible decision-making. This study employed a qualitative research approach with thematic analysis, including non-participant observations and interviews with song leaders from three Protestant churches in Hong Kong. Findings identified the Song Leading section as a potential non-formal music learning platform for children by offering a process-oriented, interactive, autonomous and active participatory experience. Song Leading sections offer a potential platform for the facilitation of young children’s social and emotional learning experience via music learning. Key words: social and emotional learning, early childhood music education, song leading Introduction In the past two decades, the Hong Kong government attempted to modify the existing kindergarten education system to offer highquality education for young children that encouraged lifelong and all-round development (Poon, 2008; Curriculum Development Council, 2006; Wong & Li, 2010). However, it seemed that the gap continued to remain between the idealand the existing outcome-focused environment as a result of the heavy workload and academic expectations on teachers (Fung & Cheng, 2012). In recent years, there had been an increasing level of awareness of the need to enhance children and young people’s social and emotional competencies in Hong Kong (Education Bureau, 2012), where kindergartens were found to be preserved in including socio-emotional learning (Chan, 2002). According to a survey conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, out of the 402 primary and secondary teachers who participated in the survey, over 90% believed that emotional education should be included in school from as early as primary or kindergarten stages (Qiu, 2017). The Quality Education Fund also sponsored a research project executed by the Centre for Advancement in Inclusive and Special Education (CAISE) at the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong with the aim of evaluating “the impact of a social skills program on [the] social competence of children from five local kindergartens in Hong Kong”(CAISE, 2017), the result suggested that such kind of programs should be extended to other kindergartens (CAISE, 2017). This study explored the possibility of considering Children’s Sunday Services in churches as an alternative solution to offer children a social and emotional learning experience in a non-formal music learning setting. According to the Hong Kong Church Renewal Movement (HKCRM) (2014), 7.5% of the Protestant church population organized a children’s ministry, with 11,354 kindergarten children attendants, which represented 6.4% of the kindergarten student population (Education Bureau, 2016). The Song Leading section is a regular part of the Service in which children are guided by song leaders to sing. It aims to engage children in singing, and to nurture them with positive attitudesand well-being through the medium of musicmaking

FAQs

What is the research purpose of the study?

The study investigates the extent to which song leading sections in Hong Kong Protestant churches can offer a non-formal music learning platform for two- to four-year-old children’s social and emotional learning experience.

Which social and emotional competencies framework does the study use?

It considers social and emotional abilities through self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management (relationship skills), and responsible decision-making.

How was the study conducted?

The study used a qualitative research approach with thematic analysis, including non-participant observations and interviews with song leaders from three Protestant churches in Hong Kong.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Kurz