Integration of Emotional Intelligence Education into Primary and Secondary Education

by
Ayodele Olufunmilayo D. &
Ola-Alani Eniola Keji

Introduction
A persons 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.
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 persons
capacity to;
Recognize ones own feelings( selfawareness),
the feeling of others, (Social
awareness),
manage emotions well, (self
management) and
motivate oneself and others (social

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.