Teaching who you are: Preliminary findings linking teachers’ and students’ social-emotional skills

Abstract

Despite recent emphasis of accomplished scholars on the significant role of teachers' social-emotional skills in imparting these skills to their students, there is limited empirical research on this issue. The present study addressed this gap by examining the associations between teachers’ social-emotional skills (mindfulness, empathy, and prosocial orientation) and their students' social-emotional skills. We surveyed 45 primary classroom teachers (all teachers were women) and their 852 fourth- and fifth-grade students (54 % girls), from 12 public schools in Israel (serving students from SES ranging from the third to the eighth decile). All the study’s participants completed self-report measures of their social-emotional skills. HLM analyses indicated that teachers' mindfulness was associated with students' social-emotional skills (mindfulness, empathic concern, and prosocial orientation), and teachers' empathic concern was associated with students' prosocial orientation. These findings provide initial support for the potential significance of teachers' social-emotional skills, particularly mindfulness and empathy, in scaffolding these skills in their students. Implications for teachers' training and professional development in contemporary education are discussed.