Can an emotion-focused intervention improve emotion socialization in secondary school teachers? A group randomized control trial

Abstract

Background

Teachers vary in how they socialize emotions in day-to-day teaching, including during delivery of social emotional learning content. Teachers’ difficulties in managing their own emotions can impact negatively on teaching, teacher wellbeing, teacher-student relationships, as well as teachers’ capacity to be supportive with adolescents. Improving emotion socialization skills in teachers has shown benefits for primary teachers, students and the broader school community, however, there have been limited evaluations of intervention programs that aim to improve teacher emotion socialization in the secondary school setting, a critical time for students’ emotion regulation development.

Aim

This group randomized controlled study examined outcomes, feasibility and acceptability of the Tuning in to Students program (TIS), a variant of the evidence-based Tuning in to Teens® parenting program, designed to enhance teacher emotional competence and supportive responses to students’ emotions.

Method

Four secondary schools (matched pairs) were randomized to intervention or 12-month waitlist-control conditions. Teachers (N = 117; 68 intervention) self-reported on program acceptability post-intervention, and on wellbeing, emotional competence, and emotion socialization responses pre-intervention and 12-months later.

Results

Participating teachers reported high acceptability and greater improvements in teacher emotional competence and reductions in emotion dismissing responses, when compared with control teachers who reported no change at 12-month follow-up.

Conclusions

These findings provide initial support for TIS as an acceptable teacher intervention for improving teacher emotion socialization, supporting its use as part of a whole school multisystemic intervention of Tuning in to Teens.