Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: April | Volume: 6 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 244-249
Teacher Perception on the Importance of Keeping the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Children in Early Childhood Education
Desni Yuniarni
Tanjungpura University, Profesor Dokter H. HadariNawawi Street, Pontianak, West Kalimantan 78115
ABSTRACT
Children with good mental health and well being are children who grow up and develop optimally and are physically and mentally fulfilled. They can also adapt well with other people and actively learn in their schools. However, in contrary, children with poor mental health tend to be passive and less likely to interact with other people in school. Therefore, the health mental and wellbeing is very important for the development of the children. In this case, the teachers have such important roles to acknowledge the mental health and well being of their pupils. The objective of this study is to find out the perception of the teachers about the mental health and wellbeing of the students in their schools. This is a qualitative study, in a form of case study. The data was obtained through interviews and focus group discussion that were conducted to 7 kindergarten teachers from 4 different classes. The study finding shows that most teachers in the kindergarten agree the importance of keeping the mental health of the children, because the children with mental health will show excitement, cheerful, eager to do activities in the school, can get through obstacles in the school, and are confident. All teachers agree to keep the wellbeing of the children, because the wellbeing children are those who show the joy in interacting with people, relax, is not seemed tense, show the desire to learn new experiences, is open, and be able to express their feelings proportionally. All teachers also be able to demonstrate how to keep the mental health and wellbeing of the children in school, which are by always paying attention to the needs of each child, take a special approach on children who are in needs, and engage children in activities that require various fun activities that make them enthusiast to actively participate in various activities in their class.
Key words: mental health, well being, teacher perception, early childhood education
[PDF Full Text]