Teaching Emotional Literacy

In public school, very little value is placed on emotional education. That is, tolerance, expressing emotion, coping mechanisms, and labeling emotions. These may be topics children are expected to learn about at home, but I think incorporating emotional education into common curriculum may prove to be more valuable and lead to more success in both school and relationships for those involved.

The reason I suggest putting more stock into teaching emotional literacy is twofold. One, is that it will normalize emotions and processing them for the children involved, making them more likely to talk through issues than, say, using violence. Such classes would also provide an emotional buffer for children who may not be getting adequate emotional education at home. I think promoting emotional literacy also in turn promotes empathy.

Applying social psychology to schools can help produce more effective communication in adulthood and may help children develop certain social skills that will help them maintain relationships for the rest of their lives. Recent research by Coksun and Oksuz (2019) showed that students who were trained in emotional intelligence over a 2 month period saw a significant increase in emotional intelligence after the program. If more programs like this could be implemented in public schools across the country, we could see increases in empathy, communication, and understanding, and reduction in bullying.

While I typically only reference research from the most recent decade, I also found a great deal of research on this topic from the early 2000s. In fact, the majority of articles I came across were in the range of 2000-2010. Emotional intelligennce first became a topic presented in the 1980s, and has since developed into a concept that more adults are becoming familiar with. Introducing emotional intelligence to the school environment can be a very useful tool for the prevention of violence and deviant behavior in schools (Cowie & Jennifer, 2007).

As a child, I would have benefited greatly from emotional literacy. I would have had better relationships with those around me, and I would have formed healthier friendships and bonds had I based my friendships on mutual hobbies and empathy rather than selfish desires. I also think emotional literacy can lead to better mental health outcomes for kids who learn it early. As a person who works with at-risk children every day, I cannot stress the importance of acknowledging and managing emotions enough. We should all encourage our children to be empathetic and considerate.

Here’s a TEDtalk I enjoyed on the topic as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu9oSkCe1e0

References

Coskun, K., & Oksuz, Y. (2019). Impact of emotional literacy training on students’ emotional intelligence performance in primary schools. International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 6(1), 36-47

Cowie, H., & Jennifer, D. (2007). Managing violence in schools : A whole-school approach to best practice

Leave a Reply


Skip to toolbar