‘Teach teachers, students to regulate emotions’

MANY generations of students and teachers in Malaysia were not explicitly taught social-emotional skills.

This, said Nalissa Suria (pic), does not mean they are socially incompetent or are unable to show empathy.

“It’s just that they may not have been exposed to expressing their emotions in a healthy and constructive way, which includes identifying what they are feeling, using the appropriate words to describe how they feel, and taking the necessary steps to deal with their emotions,” she told StarEdu.

As a result, the Arus Academy programme lead added, educators often resort to punishments because they’re perceived as an easy way out.“Punishments tell the children that what they did was wrong and for that reason, they are being punished.

“But we are lacking a very important step, which is to have that difficult and often uncomfortable conversation to explain to the children why what they did was wrong, to understand why they decided to do it, and to then figure out a more appropriate response to the situation, which is agreed by both the adults and children,” she said.

Nalissa, who initiated a project called Social and Emotional Learning for All (SEL4A) last year to kickstart the SEL movement in the country, said the ultimate goal of SEL is for one to be able to regulate emotions.

This, she explained, means having the ability to bring oneself back to a neutral state after feeling a strong positive or negative emotion. Stressing the importance of cultivating social-emotional skills among educators, she said many unfortunate situations such as the recent slapping incident by a volleyball coach happen because one is not able to control one’s emotions.

Through the SEL4A project, Nalissa established ARUS x BJCK (Buku Jalanan Chow Kit) as the model school for SEL in the classroom.

To date, the project has benefited 101 teachers, programme associates and officers from 32 organisations, which include private and public schools, alternative learning centres and the Education Ministry.

Nalissa said the core of SEL skills is all about building good relationships with oneself and with others.

“I acknowledge that equipping ourselves and our children with SEL skills takes time, and time is something educators do not have a lot of.

“But I believe it will be worthwhile in the long run because SEL skills are a time-maker, not a time-taker,” she said.In a video posted by Arus Academy on its YouTube channel, Education Ministry Curriculum Development Division (Social Science Sector) deputy director Fazlinah Said said SEL could be one of the ways in which values and characteristics could be taught effectively.

“At the end of the day, we aim for students to have a towering personality and it will take more than just academics to achieve that,” she said in the video.

Educators who are keen on equipping their children with SEL skills can join the SEL4A Malaysia Telegram Group at https://t.me/ SEL4AMalaysia for more updates.