Emotional intelligences: vital for students and teachers

This year, several teachers at Carranballac College completed a course in leading pedagogy at Victoria University. Each teacher focused on one particular area/level, such as the early years, the middle years, or specialists and staff. Their research topic was emotional intelligences. Due to my role as the school’s professional growth mentor, I chose to study the emotional competencies of staff, as well as how to teach these skills to children right across the curriculum.

Our school is situated in Point Cook, Victoria. There are approximately 1,350 students across two campuses, Boardwalk and Jamieson Way. Students are often involved in activities across both. The college has a young staff, all of whom work in every area of teaching and learning. There is a strong sense of shared ownership and responsibility for all specialist areas in an effective, learning environment that is sustained across all year levels. Teachers and students are engaged through curriculum that is delivered in comprehensive and authentic contexts. The college views the growth of its staff and children as lifelong learners, and their wellbeing, as major priorities. Our innovative staff and administration act as strong change enablers and this moves the college towards the future.

Emotional intelligences

‘As this child came forward to meet the abrupt forces of life, there grew within him a new awareness of a selfhood, and a breathless discovery that he had within himself a stature and wisdom that expanded and contracted even as do the shadows that are influenced by the sun and clouds.’
V.M. Axline, in Dibs: In search of self (1975)

When I first arrived at Carranballac College in January 2007, I was impressed by the mission statement on the board above the school. Children, it asserted, were empowered to become lifelong learners at this school - not only in an academic sense but also socially and emotionally. At the first assembly, I listened to the children singing, at full strength: ‘Carranballac College is the place for me; it’s a school and community where I love to be!’

As time went by, I reflected further on the words ‘to be’ in that song and realised that they weren’t just referring to a locality. Rather, they were describing the emotional and social reality of our students. Indeed, as I came to appreciate, this was a school that valued each child, teacher and parent. It was with this in mind that the college administration recognised a need for further social and emotional support for younger students. Survey data confirmed this need and, in response, a program called ‘Emotions and Potions’ was developed.

Lyn O’Grady, a psychologist with the Wyndham Student Support Services, provided a program that encouraged the college to reflect upon its strengths and needs in the area of emotional and social wellbeing. Lyn met with our Educational Psychologist, Rozalie Hecht, and our Music Specialist, Melinda Brown to come up with a plan that best suited our needs. The School Service Officers (Integration Aides) were then trained to implement this program with small groups of children. It was to be the first step in our development of an emotional and social learning program that would involve the entire learning community.

Small group implementation

The  ‘Emotions and Potions’ groups that have now been established offer children a safe environment in which they can ‘reflect on their behaviours, explore new ways of being, learn and practice different skills, have fun, gain a sense of belonging and make and consolidate new friendships’. The four components of the program give them the opportunity to develop skills in:

• accurately identifying and expressing emotions
• understanding the emotions of others
• understanding the relationships between thoughts and feelings
• managing and controlling emotions to provide positive learning and growth opportunities.

Developing emotional competence

My role as professional growth mentor has given me an opportunity to look at the emotional competence of teachers and to consider what we can all do, as a staff, to become more ‘skilled in emotional competencies’ (Goleman 2007).

An important part of being a mentor is not telling teachers how to do things, or giving them all the answers. Rather, it involves pointing teachers in the right direction, so they can make the journey on their own.

As teachers, we are fortunate in having the opportunity to think with our head, as well as our heart. We plan and organise programs that build on student engagement and wellbeing.

Growth of young teachers

Emotional intelligence grows from the experiences we have and, to a degree, what we are taught about values and emotions. Through life experience, we empower ourselves. As teachers, we have a unique opportunity to empower children, and to feel emotionally competent ourselves as we learn, and model, appropriate forms of behaviour.

Randell Clinch, an educational consultant and attitude coach, has developed a ‘skill-driven process that empowers individuals to integrate their thinking, feeling and acting, in order to lead productive and rewarding lives’. He often refers to the term ‘coaching’ and stresses the importance ‘of making meaningful connections with young people and then providing the necessary skills to enable them to achieve their full potential’. Carranballac College has many young teachers, some only one, two or three years out of college. As a mentor, making meaningful connections with these young professionals, helping them to identify their future career directions, and assisting them with issues as they arise, is vital. Over time, these young teachers are learning about themselves and how they react, and are encouraged to reflect on their positive and negative experiences. In this way, they are supported in the development of their emotional intelligences.

Goleman’s definition

Goleman (2007) expresses a definition of emotional intelligences that encompasses ‘The ability to rein in emotional impulses, to read another’s innermost thoughts and to handle relationships and conflict smoothly’. These are competencies which we, as teachers, must build within ourselves if we are to teach young children and be successful ourselves.

We must see ourselves as lifelong learners and continue to build on our own understanding of what the emotional intelligences are, and how we can best identify, manage and express our emotions. Simulation games, role plays, completing unfinished scenarios, written conversations that involve a character expressing their feelings, giving advice, asking and answering questions on what it feels like, for example, to have limited vision (Lang, 1994) are all examples of activities that could enhance our own understanding and personal growth. The outcomes we look for in the children we teach can also be outcomes we can look for in ourselves. These might include:

• developing an appreciation of people’s similarities and differences
• developing skills in looking, and listening, for feelings
• developing skills in identifying feelings that are revealed by face, body and voice cues
• developing an understanding of the reasons for feelings and what causes them
• developing skills in managing feelings appropriately.

Over the years, research has been done on the connections between thinking, feeling and action (Baird, 1999). As teaching involves social interaction and emotional wellbeing, this, combined with cognitive growth, has been all-important in providing children with an effective learning environment. As teachers, we need to constantly reflect on our learning approaches and be open to change. We need to constantly be ‘thinking about our teaching’ (Baird, 1999). Developing a shared language with children about emotional intelligences, and scaffolding their learning, will enable them to make connections between their learning and themselves as learners.

Teachers who value who they are, and what they do, are likely to be teachers who contribute more, learn more, and are competent in setting up the conditions in the classroom for children to value themselves and build emotional and social competencies.

Whole-school approach

At Carranballac College, several programs are now underway to support an effective emotional intelligences program. A school-wide approach, with the support of students, staff and the community, is important. In addition to ‘Emotions and Potions’, we also have the ‘Buddies’ program, where children from mixed-aged groups have a shared lunch and activity every Friday. We also have a “Guardians “program where senior children take on leadership responsibilities and provide support in the development of social skills in younger children in the yard. Carranballac College recently introduced a new program called "Moving Children to Learn". This has involved Yr 9 students in a leadership role working with Prep/1 students. Research has shown a strong link between physical development, academic learning and personal growth. The level of importance of this link is demonstrated by the recent training of all Early Years staff in the "Learning Connections" school program, and the appointment of a Program Coordinator, Sandra Andrews. Word and value of the week are regularly awarded. Importantly, there is an overarching belief by the Director of the College, Peter Kearney, that the wellbeing of the staff and the students is paramount to their successful growth.

Every day we perform a balancing act with our emotional competencies. The scales can be tipped either way, depending on our ability to identify, reflect upon and act on our own emotional reactions.

Our modern society requires us to be open to change and new ideas. We need to be able to investigate different points of view and become competent in new ways of doing things. Through growth in our understanding of emotional intelligences, we can better understand the complexities and depths of what, and who, we are.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ms Jennifer Costello is Professional Growth Mentor at Carranballac College, in Point Cook, Victoria, Australia.

 

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