Emotional literacy
- Emotional Literacy is the term used to describe the ability to understand and express feelings
- It involves having the self-awareness and recognition of one’s own feelings and knowing how to manage them
- Emotional Literacy also includes being able to recognise and adapt to the feelings of other people, whilst at the same time learning how to manage and express one’s own emotions effectively
- It is especially important that young children develop Emotional Literacy because they need to have a recognition of their emotions in order to know how to behave, mature and ultimately be happy
Why emotional literacy is important
- Having an ability to understand and express feelings improves a person’s self esteem
- Emotional Literacy is thought to be important in promoting happiness and self satisfaction
- Many people, as well as children, may have trouble expressing their emotions simply because they are not used to talking or thinking about their feelings or because they are afraid of social disapproval
STAR emotions
- STAR Emotions is a health and wellbeing intervention to improve learners’ ability to recognise and talk about their emotions
- This intervention focuses on teaching the vocabulary of emotions to ensure that the learner has a deep understanding of what the emotion means:
- It then goes on to develop the learner’s knowledge of how this emotion can feel and when it might be felt, before going on to discuss different strategies that can be used to deal with the particular emotion:
- Select
- Teach
- Activate
- Review
- Can be adapted to suit small groups, classes or even individuals
- Majority of activities can be adapted to suit a number of different emotions and stages
- Provides children with the opportunity to open up and express their feelings in a safe environment
- Allows small groups of children to build friendships and gain trust in one another
- Allows children to understand and express their emotions and begin to deal with them in an appropriate manner
Self-regulation supports
- Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and control our own behaviour, emotions or thoughts, altering them in accordance with the demands of the situation
- Self-regulation skills are linked to how well children manage many other tasks during early childhood. With these skills, children are more able to manage difficult and stressful times that occur as part of life, such as loss of a pet, death of a family member or family separation. This helps to decrease the ongoing impact of stress that can contribute to mental health difficulties.
- As a child learns to self-regulate, skills such as concentrating, sharing and taking turns also develop
- This enables a child to move from depending on others to beginning to manage by themselves
- Most children at some stage will struggle to manage their feelings and behaviours, particularly when they are tired, hungry or facing new experiences. When this happens, they might become upset, sulky or angry
Signs of self-regulatory difficulties
- Ongoing difficulties with concentration, for example, being unable to listen to a story
- Looking very sad and uninterested in daily activities, for example, playing with other children
- Becoming easily upset and worried so they are unable to move on
These types of self-regulation difficulties can interrupt important tasks of childhood such as:
- Learning and maintaining relationships
- Understanding feelings and behaviour
This is where STAR Emotions can play a role in supporting these young people. This intervention can deepen their knowledge and understanding of specific emotions and provide them with a number of different strategies to deal with them appropriately. This would all take place in a small group or individual setting, therefore helping to build positive relationships at the same time.
Further information
If you require further information about this intervention or would like support to introduce this within your school then please do not hesitate to contact East Ayrshire Support Team.