Maureen: 0:00
Welcome back to another Episode

2:10min
As schools, colleges and universities look at re-opening in a few weeks time, we are led to ask and wonder if they have the resources to create an equitable experience that meets each of their students' needs? 

How prepared are our educational institutions to help students and teachers who are dealing with the after effects caused by the corona virus? 

It is hard to gauge the full impact that the situation is having on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing but I was on a round table discussion a few days ago with teachers and education leaders and it’s not surprising how concerned they are for themselves and their students mental and emotional wellbeing.

Pupils’ experiences of the lockdown period will be very varied, so lecturers and teachers need to be adequately equipped to support their learners to adapt to their new situation and the challenges that they are facing as a result.

This Podcast aims to:

• Outline how educational institutions can support teachers and lecturers so that they can function optimally and also
• Provide effective practical advice, on embedding SEL into educational institutions.

A growing number of studies have shown that teachers' personal competencies, more specifically Emotional Intelligence (EQ), are particularly important for teacher effectiveness. Marc Brackett said When schools recognize that emotions drive much of how and what we learn, students and educators flourish.”

The fact is that what makes students and educators thrive in challenging times or times of change like we are currently facing is exactly what makes them human - EMOTIONS!

4:16min - Before Covid

The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, carried out a survey of 22,000 high school students from across the United States, asking them to describe how they feel in school. Seventy-five percent of the words they used were negative; tired, bored, and stressed were the top three. When we gave 6,000 U.S. educators a similar survey, respondents said they spend nearly 70 percent of their days at school feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and stressed. Our research indicated that much of this stress was related to the climate and culture in the educators' schools.

How clearly do you think children and students think when they're feeling scared, anxious, tired, bored, and stressed? How well do they absorb new information or engage in conversations leading to deeper understanding? 

And how effective would you guess educators are when they're anxious for their own safety, worried about getting ill themselves, frustrated or overwhelmed?

Ignoring how you people feel and just expecting them to "push through" emotions can impair a person's ability to learn, process knowledge, make good decisions; develop healthy relationships; feel confident, secure, and happy; and perform at their best (Brackett et al., 2016).

There is now a growing recognition of the importance of social-emotional competencies to students' learning and academic achievement with a growing need to train new and old teachers' with  EQ skills. 

There is a great need for patience, flexibility and support for all staff to effectively manage the transition back to school, college or university. 

Teaching is a demanding activity and teachers have great responsibilities in the overall development of physical, mental, emotional and intellectual growth of learners. They are required to take care of the mental and emotional wellbeing of the students besides ensuring academic excellence. 

The continuous professional development of teachers should encapsulate updating their knowledge and equipping them with befitting competencies and skills. 

An emotionally intelligent teacher is one who imbibes emotional skills and practises the behaviour on a daily basis and as a result experiences a more successful and contented professional career and life. Such a teacher knows when and how to be more resilient and proactive for different stressors and is not pressurised by change or stress.

Teachers who have high emotional intelligence are reflective (not reactive), more flexible (not resistant to change), effective communicators (not aggressive or passive), more future oriented and optimistic (not pessimistic and negative), and are creative and practice positive behaviours (not reactive). 

9:19min - The Relationship Between Social-Emotional Learning and Mental Health

Experts recognise that social emotional learning (SEL) plays an important role in promoting positive mental health like anxiety disorders, among learners.

Social and Emotional Leadership focuses on developing emotional intelligence, behavioural, and character skills that support success in school, the workplace, relationships, and the community.

It’s about creating a classroom culture that reflects social belonging and emotional safety.

Sadly, many schools, colleges and universities place social and emotional skills at the bottom of the list of things to learn. We need to ask ourselves where children and youth will learn these skills, since few parents have these skills and unfortunately, most teachers haven't received formal training to pass along this knowledge, either. The good news is, any teacher or lecturer can learn how to integrate SEL, and most teachers actually recognise that  they are an essential component of educating the whole child.

11:23min - Some of the Benefits of Social Emotional Learning

Self-awareness—the capacity to reflect on one's own feelings, values, and behaviours. 

Social awareness—the ability to view situations from other peoples perspective, respect the social and cultural norms of others, and celebrate diversity. 

Relationship skills—the ability to initiate and sustain positive connections  with learners, colleagues, management and others. 

Self-management—these are a set of skills that include self-motivation, resilience, goal setting, self-discipline, impulse control, and use of strategies for coping with stress. 

Effective decision making—the ability to make choices that consider the well-being of oneself and others. 

Emotional control—identify and understand emotions, emotion and behaviour regulation, and empathy or perspective taking. 

Social/interpersonal skills—understanding social cues, conflict resolution, and prosocial behaviour.

As teachers unquestionably influence students' social and emotional development, they have a responsibility to do so in a way that is positive and deliberate but for this to happen, teachers and lecturers need help themselves to develop the skills for themselves first. You cannot give what you don’t have!

Teachers who lack the communication and regulation skills needed to navigate the current unprecedented challenges are vulnerable to becoming victims themselves. 

It is crucial for schools, colleges and universities to train staff adequately and implement systems that helps them to develop students' social and emotional skills so that they can practice, and use these throughout their day, at home and for the rest of their lives.

In order for educational institutions to successfully weave EQ into their policies and procedures requires the leaders, staff, and parents to collaborate with intention to create the required conditions. These stakeholders must confront troubling and challenging issues and respond proactively to infuse EQ into academic content and social situations. Doing this work, and meeting its many challenges, is only possible if the adults in the school are themselves EQ competent.

An emotionally intelligent teacher will serve as an important role model for students, particularly as the extraordinary challenges of the classroom evolve and become more evident. 

For this, educators need to be trained in Emotional Intelligence, to manage their own emotions and those of others. Emotions are critical ingredients for optimal information processing, social communication, written communication, motivation, attention, concentration, memory, critical thinking skills, creativity, behaviour, physical health, and even our very survival (Goleman 1995 et al). 

Teachers, need to be high in Emotional Intelligence to be successful.

Untreated or undiagnosed mental health conditions are likely to affect a student’s emotional wellness and their ability to learn, develop, and grow.

If undetected, these metal and emotional problems can lead to severe problems such as, low achievement, high absence, disruptive behaviour, and even dropping out.

 SEL can be one of the most proactive initiatives for mental health illness prevention by equipping students with the skills and competencies they need to develop resilience and effectively manage their behaviour, emotions, and relationships with others. Research indicates that focusing on social-emotional needs can help reduce anxiety, suicide, substance abuse, depression, and impulsive behaviour in learners. On the other hand, it can also help to increase academic performance, attendance, and prosocial behaviours such as kindness, personal awareness, and empathy.

How Focusing on Emotional Health in with EQ will Impacting Students

Embedding Emotional Intelligence into learning is very vital to reduce reactive stress responses with practices such as mindfulness exercises having a positive effect on reducing aggression and reactive behaviour.

21:43min - How EQ and Mental Health Affects Teachers 

Every teacher will tell you that teaching can be very stressful as they have to not only manage a classroom full of children, but they also have to respond to parent queries, handle administrative paperwork, develop curriculum, and be responsible for extracurriculars. 

Studies indicate that up to 50 percent of new teachers quit the teaching profession within five years. With incredibly high rates of burnout and stress, it is important to support the emotional well-being of teachers.

Having had experience as a university lecturer, a school teacher and a college teacher and leader, I know the amount of pressure educators, education managers and leaders come under but I also know from my work as a Neuroleadership trainer and consultant, having worked with managers, leaders, students in colleges and universities that EQ makes a huge difference to both their mental health, academic performance and their future life as they get into the work place.

Teachers who have developed high EQ are more likely to respond to students with empathy. Angry and stern responses from teachers can easily breed resentment in learners. On the other hand, educators who lead with care and compassion are more  likely to build positive relationships with learners and gain their trust and respect. 

EQ training helps educators with better classroom management, as well as learner engagement in a way that promotes interest and engagement.

25:28min - Conclusion:

1) A better educational outcome can only then be achieved if educators are high in EQ. 

3 days of Inset training at the beginning of the academic year is not enough to help teachers rewire their brain to increase their EQ. They need ongoing support to enable them address issues appropriately as they arise.

The impact of training programmes should ensure better effective teachers. A teacher can be more effective in teaching if they have high emotional intelligence. They can plan the lessons as per the desired goals and can manage the classroom well keeping in mind the individual differences of the learners.

2) It is important to note that, there are very concrete reasons to promote social and emotional learning in schools at all levels. According to Goleman, the various problems like bullying, disciplinary problems, violence and drug abuse can be addressed in schools with application of emotional Intelligence. The EQ of children starts developing long before they ever joined school. EQ levels vary widely, depending on the learners’ home environment. With a solid basis in emotional intelligence, academic performance as well as a sound behaviour, learners can improve and learn to control their emotions, thoughts by maintaining their brain health.

These skills don’t just stop while they are students, these are the skills that they learn to use as adults in their personal and professional life.

3) Lastly, There's no age at which it's too early or too late to start teaching and learning SEL. The parts of the brain needed to enhance emotion vocabulary and learn strategies for regulating emotions are active until we die. By infusing into our education system and equipping our educators with solid teaching about emotion, we can ignite passion and purpose in our students and educators. 

We can teach our students to collaborate, take risks, and get up when they're knocked down. 

Teaching EQ will help our learners and educators, inform their decisions, support their well-being, and help them achieve goals. 

When learning about emotions and how to manage them pervades a school—classrooms, lunchrooms, hallways, school offices—the entire school community can be transformed. Leaders, teachers, students, and families interact more positively. 

Heads, governing bodies and leaders in educational institutions have a responsibility to use your power, influence and resources to protect the physical and mental well-being of educators and students during this time.