Integration of Emotional Intelligence Education into Primary and Secondary Education by Ayodele Olufunmilayo D. & Ola-Alani Eniola ‘Keji

Introduction A person’s IQ is an expression of his/her cognitive ability. Cognitive ability is measured in education as tests and examination on which decisions are made. There has been a recent paradigm shift into Entrepreneurial education in both Secondary and tertiary education. This incorporates the Psychomotor domain of education. These are two out of the three domains of education.

EQ (Emotional intelligence Quotient) springs from the affective domain EQ (Emotional intelligence Quotient) springs from the affective domain. However till date, the Affective domain has been sadly left out of the paradigm shift. There is need for a further expansion in educational practice to encompass the intellectual, physical, spiritual, emotional, social and aesthetic needs of the learners. (Mahmoudi et al 2012)

Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence is an affective construct that reveals a person’s capacity to; Recognize one’s own feelings( self-awareness), the feeling of others, (Social awareness), manage emotions well, (self management) and motivate oneself and others (social skills). Goleman, Boyatzis & Mckee (2002).

Emotional Intelligence vs Academic Achievement Emotional intelligence has been reported to improve educational outcome, (Durlak and Weissberg, 2005), Its been found to moderate the relationship between academic performance and cognitive ability (Petrides, Fredrickson & Furnham, 2004) Emotional intelligence was found to be a good predictor of academic achievement(Nwadinigwe & Azuka-Obieke, 2012; Chamundeswari, 2013)

Emotional Intelligence vs Behaviour High emotional intelligence has been linked to pro-social behavior and decrease in anti-social behavior (Mayer & Cobb 2003, Brackett, Rivers and Salovey, 2011)

Emotional Intelligence vs Workplace Success and Leadership Researchers reported significance in the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness (Rosette and Ciarrochi, 2005). High level of Emotional intelligence has been reported to enhance job performance (Ganji, 2011).

The need to Integrate EI in Curriculum of Primary and Secondary schools Emotions have significant role on human life and learning(Durgut, Gerekan& Pehlivan, 2013) EI has been reported to be a better predictor of future success than IQ(Chamundeswari, 2013) EI is a component of holistic education i.e education of the whole child (Bhadouria, 2013) EI develops innovational creativity in individuals (Ganji, 2011) EI correlates with academic achievement and pro-social behavior(Chew, Zain and Hassan, 2013) EI is developed from infancy (Cooper, Masi & Vick, 2009)

Implications For teachers; Teachers should use their emotions in teaching, Employ collaborative teaching strategies Create interactive classroom that allows learners to work in front of their peers without feeling they are being judged.

For policy makers, Need to introduce policies that would improve emotional intelligence of learners at all levels of education especially from early childhood to secondary education.

Recommendation Emotional intelligence should be introduced as a subject to be taught in primary and secondary schools. It should be integrated as part of learning outcome. Workshops and seminars should be held for teachers and trainee teachers on the teaching and assessment of emotional intelligence.

Thank you for listening.