ABSTRACT

It is important to focus on different aspects of wellbeing, including a child’s personal, social and emotional wellbeing, and what this means in practical terms for the early years setting. Relevant research is drawn into the discussion to secure the term wellbeing within an early years educational context. Bowlby’s attachment theory is explored, and the precepts behind quality of care and early wellbeing linked to children’s future outcomes looked at in relation to identifying ‘at-risk’ infants. The potential for measuring wellbeing is discussed and two examples compared: Bertram and Pascal’s (1996) Child Engagement Scale developed from the Effective Early Learning Programme in the United Kingdom; and Positive Entwicklung und Resilienz im Kindergartenalltag (PERIK), a scale for measuring children’s social and emotional wellbeing in early childhood settings, recently developed in Germany. Both are reviewed in the context of suggesting possible ways of assessing how well or otherwise children are thriving in this area within your setting.