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According to Australian emotional intelligence expert Dr Ben Palmer, Chief Executive of Genos International, universities could play an important role in securing the the sector's future by offering units in emotional intelligence in their initial teacher education courses.
In a nutshell, Palmer explains EI as being related to feelings, which can spark both positive and negative emotions in not only teachers and students, but people within all workplaces. In this podcast he highlights that successful, harmonious businesses, organisations and departments all possess an evidence-based understanding that EI has the power to improve teacher and student health, wellbeing, and relationships, while also producing more robust academic results.
By equipping education students with the emotional skills they'll require when they enter a profession replete with competing demands, high work loads and frequent change, universities could provide tomorrow's teachers with a stronger EI foundation.
Both the education sector and the Australian public are well aware of the significant challenges that existed even before COVID lashed the sector over the last two years. Recent data cited in an article by the Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT Branch found that a disturbingly high rate of school leaders felt emotionally stressed, overburdened with workloads and "continually pivoting to different ways of teaching". And, if we remain this way, the so-called 'great resignation' trend in the US could be gathering pace in Australia.
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As much as band-aids are sometimes needed, emotional intelligence courses for teachers are nothing more than band-aids. The education system itself (and its focus on the continuous measuring of cognitive academic success) is driving the great resignation wave, not teachers’ possible lack of emotional intelligence. If we want to reduce the wave of resignations, we might want to start there: https://insidestory.org.au/dear-ms-plibersek/