Design, implementation, and evaluation of an emotional education programme in Primary Education

Abstract

Through this study we tried to evaluate and improve the level of emotional competence of the students of a primary school. Emotional competence was evaluated by the teacher in 135 students using the Teacher Child Rating Scale of Hightower et al. (1986). A program to improve the emotional competence of the students was designed based on the data obtained in the initial evaluation and implemented with an experimental group (n = 72, 35 girls and 37 boys). Sessions were given one hour per week for 20 weeks. Using a quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent control group and pre-test post-test measures, the effectiveness of the program for the improvement of emotional competence was checked. The results showed improvements in the variables of Sociability and Disturbing Behaviours within the experimental group. In addition, assessment of the participants' satisfaction yielded very positive results.