“The EQ competencies really helped me to look deeper not only at myself but it helped me to look deeper into all aspects of my life and work” (School Counseling Graduate Student intern)
Last spring, two counselors educators completed a pilot case study of school counseling interns in their last semester of graduate school. The purpose of the study was to explore the impact of supplementing the traditional school counseling curriculum with social emotional learning lessons using the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence (EQ) model, competencies, and assessment tools. In the case study, the counselor educators compared two groups of school counseling students during their internship semester, one of whom received training in EQ competencies, leadership, and advocacy and the other who received leadership and advocacy training without the framework of the EQ curriculum.
School counselors assist students with academic, personal/social, and career development (ASCA, 2005), and engage in leadership and advocacy efforts for school reform (DeVoss & Andrews, 2006). 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. The researchers used a quasi-experimental mixed methods design. The participants were two sections of school counseling interns in a masters’ program at a southwestern university. One section served as control group; the other half experimental group. Both groups participated in eight regular internship lessons focused on leadership and advocacy; however the development of intern EQ competencies was the focus for the experimental group.
Students in both groups completed pre and post self-report assessments of their EQ competencies (Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment (SEI), 2011).
Data sources also included qualitative statements by the students in class, journals, mid-term and final reflection papers, and evaluative feedback from school supervisors. Students in the experimental group received individual and group scores on the eight competencies utilized in the assessment. These students engaged in individual reflection and group debriefing on their SEI results and journaled on their use of EQ during the semester.
The composite Emotional Intelligence score gain for the experimental group was 22.7% versus .5% for control group, which was representative of all subscale scores.
The EQ Test group of school counseling interns demonstrated impressive growth in all eight EQ competencies from pre to post test.
The EQ group indicated the transformative power of the lessons and their ability to use newly strengthened competencies in their personal and professional development. Two of the interns used the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment- Youth Version (SEI-YV) with their K-12 counseling group students, and also reported substantial growth in pre to post test group scores for their students.
School counselors who increase their own EQ 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. Further research is needed to explore the inclusion of EQ in graduate school counseling programs, and other pre-service and inservice training (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).
The full text of this study is available at:
Special note: Dr. Anabel Jensen, Founder and President of Six Seconds, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, SEL SIG (Special Interest Group) on April 14, 2012, in Vancouver, BC. Her talk will be entitled: iSearch: Leveraging EQ in Higher Education.
Authors’ Note:
Joyce A. DeVoss, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the department of Educational Psychology at NorthernArizona University. She is currently Coordinator of the M.Ed. School Counseling Program at Northern Arizona University in Tucson, is Co-chair of the Arizona School Counseling Association (AzSCA) Research Committee and co-editor of the journal, School Counseling Research and Practice. She co- authored the book, School Counselors as Educational Leaders (2006), has published articles and book chapters, and has presented at local, state, national and international levels.
Susan Stillman, Ed. D. is Director of Education for Six Seconds. She is also adjunct faculty at Northcentral University and Fielding Graduate University, and has taught school counseling students at Northern Arizona University and Southern Connecticut State University. She is the current chair of the Social Emotional Learning Special Interest Group at the American Educational Research Association, reviews for the Grounded Theory Institute journal, and is co-editor of the journal, School Counseling Research and Practice.
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Hi dr . susan stillman
My name is mina zakaria , I’am a teacher in Santa Catherine school in Alex Egypt , I have many studies in mental health. I interested in Developing EQ , so that i need your help to apply your studies in Developing EQ in my school in the range of limited resources .
I need books , PD F , studies , programs , EQ children tests .
How you can help my ?
Thanks…
[email protected]
Thank you very much for your detail answer. Follow up stydy? Great thought. If I would be of your help in any way i would love to . Thanks again. Arati
Hi! Susan Stillman, this is stunning, great to know about this comparison study. Comparison in the two groups control and experimental is amazing. What changes in thinking, feeling and behaviour would be there? and children would be experiencing? fascinating results. they and their parents and teachers would be very happy. 🙂
thanks for sharing.
Arati
HI Arati: Thanks for your kind thoughts. It was a very small study, but indicative, I believe, of the power of using EQ in pre-service education for school counselors, and also for teachers, social workers, school psychologists, and administrators. These are critical skills for parents too and for anyone who receives education or training for working in schools. I think the field of SEL is just now coming to recognize the value of teaching EQ concepts to students in college and university pre-service courses. What the Six Seconds approach does so well is make sure that the concepts are integrated by the adults, for themselves, and not just for their future K-12 students. In this way, the graduate students transform themselves into EQ educators before they even enter the classroom. To answer your question about their thoughts, feelings, and actions, I would like to do a follow up study, now a year later, and ask my students what part of the EQ experience has stayed with them as they themselves have become professional school counselors in various schools within the community.
Wow, these are SIGNIFICANT improvements! Congrats, and hooray for EQ! People are finally realizing how powerful EQ can be. It’s inexpensive to teach, easy to comprehend and remember, and results are dramatic and lasting. Thanks for sharing these findings!
– Matt
Thanks, Matt. Makes me want to do more research!
$145.00 for the book!!!!!!
Hi Buddy: Yes, it’s a hefty (and crazy) price. Each of the twenty or so chapters has a case study associated with it, so ours is a small part of an extensive effort to look at what the authors call “pro-social education.” The book would be marketed to faculty in higher/teacher education. Of course, as authors of the study, we don’t receive any payments for our work.
If you (or anyone) is interested in reading the full study, please email me off this posting. Thanks!!
Hi dr . susan stillman
My name is mina zakaria , I’am a teacher in Santa Catherine school in Alex Egypt , I have many studies in mental health. I interested in Developing EQ , so that i need your help to apply your studies in Developing EQ in my school in the range the limited resources .
I need books , PD F , studies , programs , EQ children tests .
how you can help my ?
Thank
[email protected]
Hello Mina: Thanks so much for your interest. I would be happy to help you to think of ways you could work with EQ and Social Emotional Learning at your school. If you haven’t already, I’d go to the Six Seconds website and search for articles on Education at http://6seconds.org/education/
You can also view our certification programs, including ones specifically geared to educators, at http://6seconds.org/certification/ and our tools and resources, including curriculum and assessments and great interactive materials, at http://6seconds.org/tools/.
After that, I’d be happy to have a skype call with you to explore your options further. Thanks!
The skills of emotional intelligence can be learned, measured and make a profound difference for success. http://www.NexusEQ.com
These results are most encouraging. I also feel that work with SEI helps to make things more explicit and as a result, people are more intentioned about what they do or say (at least for a time!)
But do you think you got your colours or your legend wrong in the bar graph?
Thanks, Belinda. Results ARE encouraging for this small study and the qualitative comments from our students regarding their experiences were profound, as well. It’s exciting to see that the field of social emotional learning is finally beginning to make inroads into higher education–so that all educators–classroom teachers, school counselors, social workers, school psychologists, special ed teachers, and administrators learn about and experience emotional intelligence in their pre-service education.