The Development of Emotional Competency through the use of Aboriginal Literature

Abstract

The Emotional Competency Through the Use of Aboriginal Literature Project explored the development of emotional competency with students from cross-cultural backgrounds. The project focused on developing teachers’ abilities to plan and create learning opportunities for students to engage with the emotions of characters in Aboriginal literature as a means of developing their own emotional skills. In addition, the project created an understanding of how emotions are developed into values and enhanced respect for the diverse value systems represented by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in the classroom as an aspect of emotional competency. The teachers attended a one-day workshop on emotional competency with an introduction to Aboriginal literature. Teachers were provided with an emotional competency curriculum development guide to help them apply the principles of emotional development to their lesson plans. In addition, they were provided with an introduction to the methods by which literature informs identity. This article will focus on the initial findings of the project. We will examine the implementation of the six principles of emotional competency into classroom practice. The article examines the difficulties and successes of using Aboriginal literature to develop emotional competency and explores the effect the project had on the emotional and identity development of those involved in the project.