Towards More 'Emotional Intelligence' Programs in Primary Education

Children, nowadays, need to be recognized and treated as human beings rather than mere agents of economic prosperity. They need to be better prepared for achieving individual prosperity (as defined by the ability to regulate what one feels and does) and leading productive, healthy, and fulfilling lives. The goal of education should be the development of well-rounded, social individuals who “combat the spirit of intolerance and hatred against other nations and against racial and religious groups everywhere„ instead of the development of drivers of economic progress.

My research has been gravitating around the issue of empathy and compassion. I am working on developing a program aimed at fostering understanding and respect towards minority groups - children who live with disability, mobility problems, learning difficulties, poverty, or transience, or who need to learn English - via experiential and art-based learning activities. I consider using the arts – visual, literary, and performing arts – within the classroom setting of elementary US schools in order to help children learn how to de-center, identify their feelings, and empathize with one another. The role of art in developing, refining, and deepening the empathic capacity stems from the element of imagination. Empathy is to let our thoughts and feelings "travel" - it is the willingness and capacity to enter into another person's world. Maria Montessori strongly believed in the power of imagination and defined it as the foundation of intelligence. I would go on to say that imagination is the basis not only of cognitive intelligence but above all - of our social-emotional capacity. As a cognitive process, perspective taking evokes reaction of the mind in the form of compassion and empathy motives for others. To practice perspective taking and reacting, we need to attend to and respond to art work.

In addition, meditation practices are integrated as a means for children to experience the richness of being human and learn how to get control of their feelings. Mindfulness, on the other hand, is a way for children to recognize, understand, label and accept/regulate their feelings while art serves as a means of expressing them. The prerequisite for empathy is awareness and understanding one’s own feelings. Before children become adept at understanding the feelings of others, they need to be mindful of their own feelings. And even though, children are naturally inclined to read facial expressions and emotions and to ask about feelings, the current curriculum is designed in such a way so as to overburden the students with a myriad of cognitive tasks that inevitably lead to the atrophy of children’s social abilities. Thus, the focus is shifted from the heart to the mind.

Homework: Grade 1, VA 

   

Computer games for children focus on earning and shopping

In- and out-of-school initiatives greatly center on Financial Literacy

Don't get me wrong, though. I am not arguing against numerical or financial literacy, not at all. I am simply in support of more social and emotional learning lessons integrated into the Early Years curriculum. To heighten the effectiveness of such classes, children need to be provided with the opportunity to naturally apply the newly acquired skills, which brings me to the second aspect of education I would like to advocate for, namely - the right of children with disabilities and disadvantages to inclusive education. I would like to address both, the lack of empathy-building classes within the primary school curriculum as well as the misrepresentation of diverse minority groups in the classrooms. My aim is to prototype a classroom that reflects the real world and to develop a program where children with all sorts of disabilities and without disabilities participate, collaborate, learn how to empathize, and to give and receive help. 

The goal of my research is to determine ways of ensuring the inclusion of diverse minority groups - different ethnic, racial, religious, cultural, socioeconomic groups as well as children with all sorts of disabilities (physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, developmental, chronic conditions, mental illnesses) – within the classroom setting. Could there be a way to make the class self-sustaining? Can the members of the class themselves provide each other with the help needed to learn and participate in meaningful ways? Is it possible for the students, with the assistance of the teacher, to provide one another with special education services that meet the special education needs?

The second stage of my research will focus on investigating and developing activities, materials, technology that should be provided in order to help children learn and participate in a meaningful way. The primary objective of the program is to instill a sense of cooperation, compassion, and understanding.

It is an 8-week program that integrates weekly social and emotional learning lessons into the existing curricula. Each week's lesson introduces a new topic that builds upon the previous. The program's framework follows the architecture as listed below:
Week 1: Perception of Emotions (Self-awareness through exploration and discovery)
Week 2: Understanding Emotions
Week 3: Labeling emotions
Week 4: Expression of Emotions
Week 5: Regulating Emotions (Self-management)
Week 6: Using Emotions
Week 7: Recognizing Emotions in others (Social awareness
Week 8: Putting it all together 

The program supports the development of sound relationship skills and the capacity for responsible decision making.