International Journal of Emotional Education

19-34

Authors: Naime Elcan Kaynak

The purpose of this qualitative study is to shed light on elementary teachers’ perspectives on their sense of well-being, with emphasis on contextual factors that promote or block their sense of well-being. Data were collected through background questionnaires, teachers’ journal writings, and interviews with teachers. Findings reveal that teachers’ sense of well-being was fostered mainly by student growth and supportive colleagues. The major themes that emerged as negatively affecting teachers’ well-being were the influence of accountability testing, lack of power, sense of being scrutinized, student misbehavior, and heavy workload. The results of this study show the need for restructuring teaching contexts. When schools are places in which teachers feel valued, respected, empowered and involved in decision-making processes, they are likely to have a better sense of well-being.

48-64

Authors: Valeria Verrastro, Giuseppe Ritella, Valeria Saladino, Jessica Pistella, Roberto Baiocco and Lilybeth Fontanesi

This study examines how family functioning, the parent-child relationship and personal factors are related to happiness in 1549 children aged 7 to 14 years old (53% females) in Italy. Children and pre-adolescents completed a set of questionnaires on self-rated happiness, self-concept and loneliness. At least one of their parents filled in questionnaires on family functioning, attachment and their child’s happiness level. No gender differences were found in the direct measure of happiness, but younger participants were happier than older participants, according to both the children’s and parents’ evaluations. Happiness is influenced by positive self-concept, self-esteem and low levels of satisfaction but family functioning does not seem to play a major role. The clinical and social implications of the study are discussed.

83-87

Authors: Noemi Keresztes, Bettina F. Piko, Lynlee Howard-Payne and Himanshu Gupta

Short Research Report

26 - 40

Authors: Guadalupe Refugio Flores-Verduzco, Blanca Silvia Fraijo-Sing and César Octavio Tapia-Fonllem

Educational institutions are crucial environments to promote students’ wellbeing. This introduces major challenges into the processes of executing and evaluating programmes such as the ones focused on achieving bullying-free schools. The concept of social wellbeing that is used throughout the present paper is associated to the subjective sense of action in the social construction and understanding of reality. The primary objective was to examine the relationship between Family Support (FS) and Social Wellbeing (SW) of high school education students in the state of Sonora, Mexico, as well as the effect of potential mediation of the School Environment (SE). This research was carried out with a cross-sectional sample of 265 teenagers (average age = 16 years old, SD=1.35), who responded to a self-report scale developed for this research study. The structural model has shown a high predictive power of SE as a mediating variable between FS and SW. Furthermore, both immediate contexts of students, i.e. family and school, were found to be relevant to their emotions and SW, which translates into a lower probability of being a victim of bullying. Therefore, we discuss a concept of SW seen from a perspective related to emotions, where material, economic, and/or monetary factors are not a priority.

56 - 72

Authors: Irina Rosa Kumschick, Felicitas Thiel, Camilla Goschin and Eva Froehlich

The internship that preservice teachers complete early in the course of their studies paves the way for their transition from the role of student to that of teacher. It gives them a first opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge and develop practical skills, especially to improve their decision-making competences in the three-part process of teaching: planning a lesson, teaching it, and reflecting on the teaching performance (PTR). The present study addresses two research questions. First, to what extent do preservice teachers perceive themselves to be more competent in PTR after their initial teaching internship? Second, to what extent does the individual mood correlate with any reported improvement? 592 preservice teachers participated in the study. Using latent change score modelling, we found learning gains in all three dimensions of PTR. In addition, the results show that negative mood predicts processes of planning and reflecting following the internship, but has no effect on the actual teaching of the lesson.

90 - 102

Authors: Eugeny L. Dotsenko, Vera A. Startseva, Olga V. Pchelina, Elena V. Karaberova and Natalya Ivantsova

This paper discusses a class of phenomena called a “responsible decision”, a type of decision making in which the choice between behavioural capabilities is determined by the alternative values that lie behind them. Using Vygotksy’s theory of cultural and historical development, this paper posits that the process of a child's internalization of interpersonal dialogue is used as a means of making a responsible decision. The participants in the study included 137 Russian children and adolescents, aged 6-17 years old. The procedure used in the study showed an increase in the level of maturity of responsible decisions in children aged 6-11-year-old. The study revealed that the primary school age is the crucial time and area of proximal development for making responsible decisions. This has implications for some of the methods which adults can use to support a child’s ability to make responsible decisions.