Unit 4: What is Emotional Intelligence?
UNIT 4: Social Skills
Developing Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Competencies to Support Social Skills
To support the development of excellent social skills, it is very important that you, as the teacher, can help learners to also develop their Emotional Intelligence (EQ) competencies (skills). In this part of the unit, we will look at what Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is and why it is so important for teachers and learners to develop their EQ competencies.
When learners start to attend school they are faced with many new, and sometimes challenging, things. They are in a new environment, together with a lot of other children, and they have to follow a new routine. Learners may try to compete with other learners for the teacher’s attention, they may not know how to work in a collaborative way, to take turns, or to sit quietly listening to the teacher and their fellow learners. They will also have to learn how to learn and how to be good friends and classmates.
In order to support your learners to cope well in the school setting you should help them to develop their skills and competencies in the five important areas of Emotional Intelligence ( EQ) as follows:|
Self-awareness
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knowing and understanding your own character and feelings.
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Self-regulation/Self-management
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being able to control your own feelings and reactions; this is a crucial skill that helps you avoid impulsive behaviour, and to become positive and resilient.
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Social awareness/Empathy
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Relationship management/Social Skills
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Motivation
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wanting to (internal) or being encouraged to (external) achieve your goals and to behave in ways that are appropriate, to enable you to be successful.
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By developing your EQ elements skills, you can learn to live, study and work with others in a family, in a community or in a nation, in a collaborative and peaceful way.
As a teacher it is important that you remember that your learners’ Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is not the same as their ‘intelligence quotient.’ (IQ). IQ is short for intelligence quotient, which is a way of measuring someone’s reasoning ability. It is supposed to evaluate how well someone can use information and logic to answer questions or make predictions. Emotional Intelligence competencies are the skills we develop to be positive and effective members of society and these can be learnt and developed throughout your lifetime. Teachers must teach these Emotional Intelligence competencies/skills to learners, while they are teaching them positive social skills.