Pioneering emotional skills in Tuusula

Educators and teachers need emotional skills in their work all the time. Emotions are present in encounters with children and young people as well as adults, such as colleagues and guardians.  

Recognising both their own and others’ emotions gives education and teaching professionals the tools they need to support children and young people on their journey through life. Emotional skills involve various aspects related to emotions, such as recognition, tolerance, regulation, expression and processing. Supporting

emotional skills is an important means of promoting well-being in both early childhood education and basic education. Many teachers find it challenging to deal with emotional and interaction skills with children and young people, and staff are offered support for this through tutoring, among other things, says learning expert Laura Aalto.
   With
the help of these lessons, open early childhood education, daycare centres, schools and youth work can encourage children and young people to recognise their emotions, both positive and negative. Good emotional and interpersonal skills are linked to the well-being and success of children and young people in life.
  
 The aim of practising emotional skills is to strengthen the skills that children and young people need, such as social skills and empathy, which are important in various interactive situations. Practising these skills increases the sense of self-efficacy in children/young people and, of course, adults too, the feeling that they can influence their own wellbeing, explains Outi Mélart, a class teacher and emotional skills instructor for children and young people in Tuusula, explaining the importance of practising these skills. 

The importance of emotional skills has been recognised more strongly than ever before. 

Emotional skills have been a topic of discussion in the field of education and learning for a long time; this is nothing new. Public debate has supported the rise in status of emotional and interpersonal skills as learnable and desirable skills that can and should be practised.
  
 The younger the child, the more they need the guidance of a trusted adult in recognising their emotions, during emotional turmoil and in coping with it. Gradually, through practice, these skills accumulate and become new ways of acting. Practising emotional skills and stimulating empathy also strongly prevents bullying and helps to resolve potential bullying situations.
   When working
with adults, it also becomes clear how awareness of one’s own emotions and emotional reactions, as well as the needs behind them, increases well-being. We simply feel better about ourselves. When we understand ourselves, we can also understand others. Recognising the importance of emotional and interpersonal skills on a personal level also increases the wellbeing and team spirit of the entire work community.
  
 Practising emotional and interpersonal skills is an essential part of life and personal growth. First, it is important to know yourself and recognise your own emotions and needs. Only then, with the development of emotional and interpersonal skills, empathy and emotional intelligence, can we expand our understanding towards others and otherness, Mélart explains. 

Lessons for the world 

Alongside Mélart, Liisa Reinilä, a special needs teacher and deputy headteacher who promotes skills in Tuusula, says that Tuusula’s pioneering work in emotional skills has already attracted attention abroad. Mélart and Reinilä have twice – in spring and autumn 2025 – trained staff at the Hovorcovice comprehensive school in the Czech Republic and held lessons on emotional and interaction skills for the school’s pupils. There is hope that this collaboration will continue.

Emotional skills are part of the curriculum, but the focus on them gained momentum in Tuusula following a council initiative in 2021. The coronavirus pandemic caused concern for the well-being of children and young people, and emotional and interaction skills were seen as an important means of reducing the distress caused by the
pandemic.   
Based on the initiative, a pilot group considered how to implement these skills in Tuusula. The concrete result was the creation of a well-being calendar, which helps educators address the topic.   

– In our schools, the topic is discussed with pupils, particularly in the fifth grade, as part of Agenda 2030. The aim of the ‘I respect diversity’ theme is to support pupils’ self-awareness, self-compassion and empathy, as well as their ability to appreciate diversity. To support this work, fifth-grade teachers are trained in how to address the topic, explains Reinilä, describing Tuusula’s steps in developing emotional skills.
 
 Further information:
Learning expert Laura Aalto, laura.aalto@tuusula.fi, 040 314 3485
Class teacher, emotional skills instructor for children and young people Outi Mélart, Paijala School, outi.melart@tuusula.fi, 040 314 2236
Special needs teacher/assistant headteacher Liisa Reinilä, liisa.reinila@tuusula.fi, 040 314 4355 

This content has been translated using AI