Teaching is intrinsically an emotional practice, given the centrality of emotions in the teaching and learning process. Facilitators in the classrooms today must have the right skills to respond to emotional challenges in the classrooms. The manner in which teachers shape and handle their emotional state and those of their learners , is integral to student success. A teacher’s emotional stability and intelligence is like a beacon supporting the young learners to realise their full potential and a healthy pedagogical relationship between the teacher and the taught . It thus becomes imperative to integrate emotional skills in the pre-service teachers’ curriculum as skills needed for teaching practice and also to build capacity and support students during challenging times that are constantly changing.In a society, marked by the globalization of information and knowledge happening at a frenzied pace and changes in education, we have to redefine skills that teachers must possess . With the COVID-19 pandemic, which, since 2020, has caused changes at a personal, professional, and social level. require skills from teachers to face the difficulties of new contexts and ensure the success of the teaching and learning process.
In the vision for education’s future in 2030, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) propagates essential learner qualities as the acquisition of skills to embrace challenges and the development of the person as a whole, sustainability, and wellbeing . To accomplish this , a varied set of skills and competencies is needed that will allow learners to act as “change agents”, among which the most important are social and emotional skills . However, it should be noted that good training of students requires good teachers’ training. Teachers are critical to the successful implementation of any new skills development approach, and it is important that teacher training is aware of and responsive to teachers’ personal and professional needs in building new skills. In this regard, for a teacher to be effective, their academic training is only complete when they acquire the knowledge that allows them to apply and develop emotional skills in themselves and in their students.
For most teachers, emotional skills development remains a pipe dream , since there is a lack of learning these skills in the academic curricula in teachers training. Since their work requires a high level of sensitivity to their own and their students emotions. In this sense, it is relevant to not undermine the importance of teachers emotional intelligence (EI) skills in the teaching role, Teachers EI facilitates an excellent quality of interpersonal relationships, provides a safe and nurturing classroom environment. Apart from this, it helps in nurturing a positive and deep relationship with students , leading to gratification of psychological needs and improved relationships. Besides , emotions are the pivot of a teacher’s life . Most educators come with a dream of changing the lives of disadvantaged children . They want to inspire a love for learning. However, many may not be able to do so , as they experience a burnout within 5 years of joining the profession. Teaching is an emotional practice, and teachers need support in strengthening their social and emotional skills to manage the stress that comes with teaching and stay in the profession for the long term. Teachers navigate stressful situations every day — and students are paying attention! They learn from how their teachers manage frustration, deal with conflicts, or maintain control in the classroom. Teachers must maintain a sense of calm, be organized, and develop social trust if they want a well-organized classroom that encourages creativity or student autonomy. Lack of social and emotional skills can lead to the precipitous path to burnout. Developing social and emotional skills—particularly at the adult level—is a complex process. For starters, teachers are not necessarily taught these skills as children and may not even realize that they can or need to develop them. hese skills are imperative not only for their personal well-being but to improve student learning. According to Patricia Jennings and Mark Greenberg, leading scientists in the field of social-emotional learning, teachers who exhibit social-emotional competencies (SEC) are less likely to experience burnout because they’re able to work more effectively with challenging students—one of the main causes of burnout.
Instead of quickly resorting to punishments, teachers with SEC recognize their students’ emotions and have insight into what’s causing them, which then helps teachers respond with compassionate understanding when a student is acting out—and re-direct the students’ behavior appropriately. If, for instance, a teacher knows that a student is acting out because of problems at home, that teacher may be more likely to treat the student with kindness. This sort of response results in an amiable relationship between teachers and students—a key to reducing both student behavior problems, possibly by as much as 30 percent and teachers emotional exhaustion.
Educators with social and emotional intelligence also create warm and safe classroom climates, fostered by strong classroom management skills. In these kinds of classrooms, the teacher and students practise respectful communication and problem-solving; transitions from one activity to another run smoothly; and lessons are designed to encourage student engagement and love-of-learning—all of which promote academic achievement and create a positive feedback loop for teachers, sustaining their passion for teaching