Introduction
As children grow up, they usually encounter various problems, including academic burden, depression, peer pressure, etc. These problems affect the mental health of children. The inexorable penetration of technology into human life has further complicated the mental health of those children. Therefore, children need to be taught emotional intelligence at an early stage. The central vehicle for the transfer of emotional intelligence is education. It enhances human skills like self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Education encourages children to explore and examine their thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and motivations to understand themselves better. It develops the human capacity to embrace diverse ideas, analyze them, and respond effectively.
What is Emotional Intelligence(EI)?
Salovey and John Mayer define emotional intelligence as the human ability to understand and manage emotions. They have expanded this ability into five domains: knowing one’s emotions, managing emotions, motivating oneself, recognizing emotions in others, and handling relationships. Key components of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
Significance of EI in the 21st Century?
According to UNICEF, emotional intelligence is essential for students to live a balanced life. It states that emotional intelligence enables students to manage their emotions and prepares them better for challenges in life. The advent of the 21st century has brought many socio-economic challenges for individuals. It has become difficult for an individual, a child, for instance, to face depression, academic issues, and social issues at a time. The lack of emotional intelligence education affects children’s mental health and competence. Emotional intelligence helps children deal with all issues with courage and competence. It enhances the human capacity to manage things with patience. It develops the capacity to form healthy relations and strong bonds among people.
What Role Does Education Play in Imparting Emotional Intelligence to Students?
Fostering resilience, empathy, and calmness
Education enables individuals to develop resilience, empathy, and calmness. Knowledge encourages a person to evaluate things thoroughly. A knowledgeable person acquires patience and learns to react responsibly and carefully. The learning experience teaches them ways to empathize with people in hard situations. They provide a listening ear and extend a helping hand to people around them, enhancing community bonds. Knowledge teaches them values to promote peace, tolerance, and harmony in society.
Developing influential thinking power
Education helps individuals enhance self-awareness and self-regulation skills through an improved thinking approach. Book reading teaches them various ideas of self-exploration. Self-discovery encourages them to navigate fears and wishes. Through different learning experiences, they develop an ability to explore their strengths and weaknesses and recognize emotions, behavior, and their impact on their life. Following that, they ponder the best possible ways to control their feelings, especially when things get tough. It helps them think before they act, not just react.
Preparing students to address problems
Education prepares individuals to address their problems through proper emotional management. People face various problems at every stage of their life, especially as a child. Children are very prone to emotional exploitation. For instance, children are subject to physical and mental abuse. Terrifying events of their lives haunt them all the time. Similarly, they start developing a biased approach towards gender as they learn gender stereotypes in their surroundings. Education plays a crucial role in making children resilient against those problems. Knowledge boosts their confidence and incites their consciousness regarding rights, privacy, etc.
Training students in interactive classrooms
Interactive classrooms encourage children to learn the necessary skills for emotional intelligence. As children start communicating with each other in classrooms, they develop skills like self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills, motivation, and empathy. An effective bond between teacher and students helps children learn empathy elements. Similarly, a dialogical conversation between teachers and students enhances their confidence and motivates them.
Personality development through collaborative learning
Collaborative learning opportunities at schools lead students to peace and harmony. Students work together on assignments and projects and help each other by sharing ideas. Coordination and cooperation instill confidence and patience in students. Collaborative learning encourages them to listen to each other and understand each other, giving way to empathy and motivation. Collaboration helps students learn proficiency in managing relationships, communicating things clearly, and influencing people through ideas and inspiration.
Enhancing EI through Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs
Initiatives like social-emotional learning(SEL) programs enhance students’ emotional intelligence. Such programs teach students to set goals, understand their fellows, make good friends, navigate feelings and wishes, and make wise choices. These programs consist of everyday lessons and activities aimed at effectively training children’s minds. As children grow up, they are taught advanced things under SEL programs. For example, they are encouraged to learn ways to resolve conflicts instead of escalating them. Incorporation of conflict resolution into curricula enables negotiations and win-win solutions. This practice is very common in schools in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and others.
Implementing Social-Emotional Learning in Schools: Other Strategies for Educators
There are multiple strategies that educators can follow to implement social-emotional learning. They can initiate mindfulness and reflection practices in schools. Practices like meditation and journaling help students know themselves better and control their feelings as well. For example, Japan’s schools arrange sessions and camps for meditation, encouraging students to manage their emotions effectively. Similarly, organizing gaming sessions or sports events at schools can also positively impact the mental health of students, giving them relief from academic depression. Educators can also engage parents in the emotional development of children by establishing effective communication between children and parents. Moreover, children must be taught extensive sessions on digital literacy to enhance their knowledge about the use of technology, its opportunities, and challenges.
What are the Long-term Benefits of Learning EI?
Teaching emotional intelligence enables children to act wisely and responsibly. It helps develop consciousness and self-regulation in children. An emotionally intelligent child can deal with problems and establish strong family bonds. He or she develops a personality characterized by tolerance, patience, empathy, and consciousness.
Conclusion
Emotional intelligence isn’t an inborn talent, but it is developed through education and other experiences. Education helps students learn self-awareness and self-regulation to understand and regulate their emotions and wishes. Students develop the ability to understand the emotions of others, which facilitates building strong relationships and responding effectively to their needs. Interactive classrooms teach them social skills to control emotions and generate empathizing responses to others.