Schoolchildren often react emotionally during lessons. According to a study by Juliane Schlesier, an educational scientist from Oldenburg, the subsequent reactions of the teacher and the child usually follow a set pattern.
Every primary school teacher can tell stories about pupils who find it difficult to control their emotions: sometimes a child gets annoyed because they don’t understand a task and, out of sheer frustration, starts poking their neighbour with a pen. Another child is afraid of maths and starts crying because they are asked to work out a problem on the blackboard. Emotions and their regulation are a classic topic in educational research, reports Dr Juliane Schlesier, a junior researcher in Prof. Dr Barbara Moschner’s Empirical Teaching and Learning Research group. “However, the interaction between teacher and pupil has not played a role in studies to date,” she says.
In a study, the educational scientist discovered that classroom situations in which pupils react emotionally often follow a fixed pattern. Based on interviews with primary school teachers, the researcher developed a model to describe the interaction between teachers and pupils. According to Schlesier, the findings provide starting points for how teachers can better deal with difficult situations.
In her doctoral thesis, the researcher analysed interviews with 31 primary school teachers on the topic of emotion regulation. Students had conducted the interviews under her supervision. They asked the teachers how pupils regulated positive and negative emotions, ranging from joy, hope or pride through to boredom, anger, fear, shame or hopelessness.
The interplay of emotions
Schlesier developed her model based on the findings. According to this model, classroom situations in which children react emotionally often follow the same pattern. In response to a trigger – for example, a child being asked to complete a worksheet – the child develops an emotion, such as anger or fear, based on their interpretation of the situation. If the child can regulate this emotion independently, they will complete the worksheet – albeit perhaps reluctantly. However, a reaction inappropriate for a school lesson is also possible: for example, the child might refuse to do the work or start shouting. Teachers, in turn, react to this behaviour: they often try to understand the cause of the emotional outburst, whilst at the same time having to deal with their own emotions, such as helplessness or stress.
To calm the child’s anger, they resort to a wide variety of measures – they tell the child off or send them out of the classroom, explain the task again, offer words of encouragement or give them a hug. Depending on whether or not the child changes their behaviour as a result, the whole process may be repeated once or several times. Ultimately, such a situation can turn out positively for both the child and the teacher – the child gains the confidence to tackle the task after all, and the teacher is pleased about this – or negatively: the child cannot be calmed down, may need to be collected by their parents, and the teacher has exhausted all their pedagogical resources.
A content analysis of the interviews revealed that anger was the most common emotion displayed by children in the situations described by the teachers, followed by fear and sadness. Positive emotions such as pride, a joy of learning or hope, on the other hand, featured significantly less frequently in the teachers’ accounts.
Recognising emotions more effectively
Based on the findings, Schlesier concludes that it would be beneficial to incorporate a form of emotional education into primary school curricula, in which children can develop emotional skills: “There, they could learn to recognise and express their own feelings more effectively and to show understanding for the feelings of others,” says the educational researcher. This is because numerous studies have shown that emotionally competent children are more successful at school, often have a better relationship with their teachers and classmates, and possess greater self-confidence than their peers who are less able to manage their emotions.
Furthermore, according to Schlesier, trainee teachers should learn whilst still at university how they can support schoolchildren in becoming more aware of and managing their feelings. And: “Teachers also need more alternative ways of responding when a child becomes upset during a lesson,” she believes. Instead of isolating a disruptive child – as often happens – it is also possible, for example, to distract them with different tasks or to engage the whole class in a physical activity for a few minutes. The researcher now intends to investigate which intervention strategies are most successful in this regard.
