Study explores the impact of supplementing a traditional graduate school counseling curriculum with social emotional learning lessons using the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence (EQ) model, competencies, and assessment tools.

Overview

Situation: This study investigated whether including emotional intelligence training for school counseling graduate students impacted the graduate students’ overall EQ.

Solution: Program participants took the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment before and after specific emotional intelligence training – then measured the changes compared to a control group.

Results: The participants’ overall emotional intelligence scores increased 22.7%, compared to less than 1% for the control group.

Situation

School counselors assist students with academic, personal/social, and career development, and engage in leadership and advocacy efforts for school reform. Counselors who increase their own emotional intelligence competencies may be better able to assist students with academics, relationships, and positive youth development. The inclusion of EQ into pre-service programs in higher education is an important precursor to integrating EQ into K-12 education.  The researchers’ hypothesis was that school counselor trainees, intentionally trained in EQ, would both show gains in their own EQ competencies and report self-efficacy in their teaching of social emotional learning lessons to their K-12 students.