Browsing by Author "Lintumäki, Leo"

This study examines the perceptions of pre-service teachers’ emotional skills and education related to those skills, as well as their self-efficacy as future emotional skills educators. Additionally, pre-service teachers’ conceptions of a teacher's role as an emotional skills educator were examined. In previous studies, it is well-established that recognizing, regulating, and expressing emotions are essential for maintaining social relations and promoting well-being, with emotional skills being learned from adults in early childhood. The quality of emotional skills education is known to be influenced by the teacher's own emotional competence and educational background. The present study was conducted using a qualitative, phenomenographic approach. Data was gathered from semi-structured interviews with six pre-service teachers in their final year of studies. The transcribed data was analyzed to form outcome spaces. The results indicate that the pre-service teachers had a comprehensive understanding of emotional skills and their importance to a child's development and life. They also demonstrated knowledge of methods to develop children's emotional skills and integrate them into elementary school education. Despite these results, the students also expressed feelings of uncertainty about their skills as future emotional skills educators due to their lack of education and work experience, as well as the challenges of well-being at work and the limitations of a teacher's influence on children's lives. However, they also showed partial self-efficacy as emotional skills educators based on their own perceived strong emotional skills. The teacher's role as an emotional skills educator was seen as part of their responsibilities, with the development of their own professional skills and shared responsibility for upbringing being especially important. This study highlights the need for further research and development to improve teacher training in emotional skills education. Examining the perceptions and conceptions of future teachers’ self-efficacy provided valuable insights into emotional skills teaching.