Most schools aim to ensure that learners master basic skills such as reading, writing and mathematics and that this learning takes place in a violence free school and classroom environment (Brackett & Katulak, 2007; Brackett & Salovey, 2004). However, basic education and the safety of the school and classroom environment are being interrupted by disruptive behaviour such as bullying (Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention, 2012). In order to effectively manage the classroom, it is important to consider the factors that may cause the learners to behave in a disruptive manner.
Many local and international schools became aware of the important role social and emotional skills play in enhancing teacher, learner and peer relationships. Therefore, instead of only focusing on the enhancement of academic performance, schools are now also focusing on enhancing the social and emotional skills of both educators and learners (Brackett & Katulak, 2007; Busch & Oakley, 2017; Rivers, 2014).
Research on emotional intelligence in the classroom, indicates that social and emotional skills are associated with success in various areas of life, including quality peer relationships, better academic performance, better teaching, creation of a caring learning environment and teaching learners to apply social and emotional skills both in and out of school (Brackett & Katulak, 2007). Brackett and Rivers (2014) stated that children who are equipped with emotional intelligence skills are less anxious, depressed, achieve higher academic results and the bullying in the class also decreases.
Substantial research indicates that emotional intelligence plays a more important role in children’s social, personal and academic lives than general intelligence and personality (Brackett & Katulak, 2007). Brackett and Katulak (2007) stated that attention is driven by emotions, which have an impact on learning, memory and a child’s behaviour. They argue that the ability for children to regulate their emotions can help them to remain focused on class tasks and handle anxiety-arousing situations. Further, research on emotional intelligence in the classroom indicates that children with higher emotional intelligence tend to behave in more
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socially acceptable, non-aggressive ways in class and on the school grounds (Brackett & Katulak, 2007; Buckley, Storino & Saarni, 2003; Busch & Oakley, 2017). Studies on the importance of emotional intelligence emphasised the importance of teachers developing their own emotional intelligence skills before they can attempt to develop the emotional intelligence skills of the learners (Yin, Lee, Shang, & Jin, 2013).
The above statement is supported by Jennings and Greenberg (2009) who developed the Pro-social Classroom Model to highlight the importance of teachers’ emotional intelligence skills and well-being in the development and maintenance of teacher-learner relationships, effective classroom management and the development of the learner’s emotional intelligence. According to Jennings and Greenberg, all these factors will ultimately lead to a healthy classroom environment. The model is shown in Figure 4.3.
Figure 4.3. The Pro-social Classroom Model. Retrieved from
https://www.seltedconsortium.com
Emotionally intelligent teachers can convey a sense of caring for their learners and therefore tend to create an emotional climate in the classroom that may enhance learning, improve the learning environment, reduce peer conflict and create a more desirable teaching situation. Therefore, unless teachers enhance the emotional intelligence and social skills of the learners, learners might pass from one teacher to another, ill-equipped to deal with those inappropriate,
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aggressive or bullying types of behaviours (Jennings & Greenberger 2009; de Klerk & le Roux, 2003).
Goleman (1996) identified three elements that may give rise to classroom confrontation between teachers and their learners. Firstly, a lack of clarity of what is expected of the learners’ behaviour and performance. Secondly, learners who lack empathy and social skills may misinterpret their teachers’ intentions and normal interactions may be perceived as confrontational and stimulate an aggressive response from the learner. Thirdly, teachers may often react to the learner’s reputation rather than to the actual level of disruption that is taking place in the classroom, especially when the teacher’s emotional intelligence is not well developed.
When teachers develop their emotional intelligence, it is suggested that they should focus on the five emotional competencies namely, self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and relationship skills (Goleman, 1996).
Self-awareness in a teacher is described as the ability to be in touch or to understand your own emotions (Dolev & Leshem, 2016; Gold & Roth, 1993; Goleman, 1998). Self-awareness forms part of the intrapersonal competencies of emotional intelligence. Dolev and Leshem (2016) stated that teaching is an emotional profession where teachers are faced with many challenges on a daily basis. Some of these challenges may include learners misbehaving in class and on the playground, workload and the ability to maintain a healthy emotional intelligent classroom climate where academic learning and personal growth of the learners can take place.
Teachers who are self-aware are found to be the ones who can deal with these challenges and are able to ensure that successful teaching will take place in their classroom (Dolev & Leshem, 2016; Goleman, 1998; Stein & Book, 2006). Further, research indicated that teachers who are self-aware will have the ability to identify the impact their learners have on their emotions both positively and negatively and the impact their own behaviour has on their learners. In developing a competency, a teacher must be willing to take risks and learn through trial and error. An emotionally intelligent teacher, who is competent in self-awareness, will do regular introspection to determine whether their own behaviours have a negative or positive impact on their own personal and professional growth (Goleman, 1998; Gold & Roth, 1993). Moreover, self-awareness enables teachers to deal with and respond to learners who are disruptive in a more appropriate and calm manner (Dolev & Leshem, 2016, p. 77; Gold &
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Roth, 1993; Goleman, 1995; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Self-awareness is thus the competency that will ensure that a teacher experiences job satisfaction and decreases burn-out. Teachers with low self-awareness will be unaware of how they are perceived by their learners. Teachers are not only expected to equip learners with the necessary skills and knowledge they need to be successful in the future, they are also faced with emotionally provocative situations such as misconduct of learners and child abuse or neglect (Jennings & Greenberger, 2009). Teachers are experiencing more and more stress and burn-out as a result of the many challenges they are faced with. It is therefore important for teachers to be equipped with competencies that will assist them in finding a way to cope with the many challenges. Self- regulation is defined as the ability of a teacher to deal with disruptive behaviours such as anger and fear and being able to cope when having to make choices in a crisis (Ergur, 2009). Teachers are expected to deal with any situation in their classrooms. Studies indicated that non-regulated behaviour of teachers contributed to children experiencing the classroom and classroom environment as unsafe (Ergur, 2009). It is thus important for teachers to have high levels of self-regulation as this will enable them to deal with emotionally provocative situations. As discussed in Chapter 2, Bandura (1963) stated that children model the behaviour of their role models. Teachers serve as the role models of children in the classroom and therefore it is important for them to set an example of how to express appropriate social and emotional behaviour when dealing with emotionally provocative situations. According to Ergur (2009) teachers with a high level of self-regulation will be able to manage their behaviour in the challenging classroom and will be able to build trusting relationships with their learners.
Motivation is considered one of the most important competencies a teacher should have. As mentioned earlier, teaching is an emotional career with many challenges. For a teacher to get up every morning and be ready to face any challenge coming their way, being motivated is the key to being able to deal with the challenges, enjoy their job and ensure that the learners in their classes are also motivated. Studies indicated that highly motivated teachers enjoy their profession and will make sure that learners enjoy school. Motivation is contagious and therefore if the teacher is motivated then the learner will also be motivated (Ergur, 2009; Gold & Roth, 1993; Goleman, 1998).
Empathy can be defined as an individual’s capacity to understand the emotions of others. It is characterised as the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes and imagine how you would have felt being faced with the same situation or experiencing the same emotions. Empathy should characterise all teachers and other professional people who work with
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children. In the classroom teachers have learners who come from diverse backgrounds. An empathetic teacher will be able to deal with all his or her learners and their diverse backgrounds effectively as they are able to build caring relationships with their learners. As the teacher is the role model, the learners will in turn be motivated to act in an empathetic manner towards their peers. This will lead to better classroom climate and management, a decrease in misconduct, motivated learners and better academic performance (Goleman, 1998; Gottman, 2000; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Brackett, Reyes, Rivers, Elbertson, & Salovey, 2011). Empathy can be developed in a classroom when teachers encourage their learners to communicate their feelings and emotions and share their ideas. This leads to teaching being more interactive as it allows for learner involvement.
Social and relationship skills of a teacher include good communication, understanding the needs and emotions of the learners and good classroom management (Goleman, 1998). A goal of teaching is to impart new knowledge however, it is of no use if learners have trouble receiving the knowledge. A teacher with good social skills will be able to deal with critique and therefore they will ask their learners to provide regular feedback on their teaching methods and strategies to ensure that the learners fully understand what the teacher is trying to put across. Further, it is important for a teacher to attend to the verbal and non-verbal body language of the learners. Attending to the body language will enable the teacher to determine whether the learners understand the information given to them or if they are confused. Body language of the learners can also tell the teacher if learners are uninterested or if the information bores them (Gold & Roth, 1993). Teachers with good social skills will be able to be flexible in their methodology and teaching strategies to ensure that these meet the expectations of their learners (Gold & Roth, 1993; Goleman, 1998).
As stated earlier, teachers have learners with different needs in their classes. Teachers who have high social and relationship skills will better be able to manage the learners in their classes, as they will know which learners are internally motivated and will not require external rewards or reinforcement, and which learners will perform better when they are rewarded or receive reinforcement. Knowing and understanding each learner in the class will in turn create an effective teaching and an emotional safe and positive classroom environment (Gold & Roth, 1993; Goleman, 1998a; Goleman, 1998b; Long, Morse, & Newman, 1996; Richardson, 2001). Teachers with high levels of emotional intelligence will function according to the cognitive, social and emotional qualities of emotional intelligence summarised in Table 4.2 (next page).
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Cognitive, Social and Emotional Qualities of Emotionally Competent Teachers Cognitive behaviour Affective behaviour Social behaviour
1) Talks to learners
professionally and doesn't shout at them
2) Is not loud (emotional awareness / self-control) 3) Keeps a smile on his/her face
every time he/she talks to learners (self-control) 4) Leaves his/her problem
where he/she started it, and treats learners in a friendly manner (self-control) 5) Has discipline in the class
(assertiveness) 6) Is firm and strict
(assertiveness)
1) Kindly and friendly greets learners (happiness) 2) Speaks gently and kindly
(happiness / kindness / friendliness)
3) A teacher who is friendly (happiness)
4) Guides learners towards a better future (optimism) 5) Always looks forward to
teaching his/her learners (enthusiasm)
6) Lifts learners’ spirit (enthusiasm)
7) Has lots of energy (liveliness/ energy)
8) Is active (liveliness/energy) 9) Has a positive attitude towards
others (positive attitude)
1) Can communicate with learners and listens to their problems
(communication/listening/empathy) 2) Talks softly (politely) to enable
learners to feel treated with respect (tone of voice/respect)
3) Greets learners with a smile and does not call them bad names (body language / tone of voice / respect) 4) Using encouraging and motivating
words (social responsibility) 5) Smiles at learners and sometimes
makes a good joke (body language / humour)
6) Uses words such as “good luck”, “we can do it” (language patterns) 7) Use of “we” is very important
(language patterns)
8) Respects learners and does not judge them (respect / unconditional acceptance)
9) Is open to questions being asked by learners (empathy/openness) 10) Teach in a manner that makes
learners feel understood (empathy) 11) Willing to help learners to find
solutions (openness / social responsibility)
Note. Adapted from Jennings & Greenberger, 2009
In conclusion, schools, teachers and the classroom play an important role in the development of children. A growing body of research findings emphasise the need for a shift in education from solely focusing on academic performance and enhancement to including the enhancement of learners’ social and emotional intelligence skills for better classroom and behaviour management (Brackett et al., 2011; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). When teachers have high emotional intelligence skills, they will create a classroom environment that will be supportive and attentive to the needs and emotions of learners. Classroom emotional climate is
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important for behaviour management in a classroom. A positive classroom climate is characterised by low levels of conflict and disruptive behaviour, appropriate expressions of emotions, respectful communication between teachers and learners and learners and their peers and good problem-solving skills (Brackett et al., 2011; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).