SCHOOLS should provide students emotional intelligence education says Rural Health CEO Rob Waterman.
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Mr Waterman will visit a school in Victoria next month to find out about the RULER program that provides emotional intelligence training to students throughout primary school.
He said there was a wealth of evidence that teaching kids about emotional regulation will prevent them developing mental health problems and help them develop respectful attitudes and social skills.
The five key points of the RULER program includes teaching self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.
The program, “sets kids up early with all they need,” Mr Waterman said.
“Emotional intelligence is about new ways of describing those older style approaches to discipline.”
Mr Waterman said that improving emotional intelligence of students will solve the problem of disruptive students and improve academic outcomes by teaching students about dealing with their emotions in a mature way.
Similar to schools incorporating healthy eating programs into the curriculum to address the burgeoning obesity epidemic and chronic illnesses associated with it, Mr Waterman believes that teaching mental health in the classroom will combat anti-social behaviour in society.
Mr Waterman said that emotional intelligence education will equip children with strong social skills and coping mechanisms and prevent kids developing drug, alcohol and family violence problems.