https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104137 2026-04-14T12:49:51Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104136 Title: Editorial [International Journal of Emotional Education, 14(2)] Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has helped to foreground mental health and wellbeing in education, underlining the need for a more caring education which addresses the social and emotional needs of students. It is becoming more evident than ever before, however, that educators cannot effectively support the social and wellbeing of students, unless their own social and emotional needs are addressed as well. As a result of the increasing evidence on the relationship between students’ and staff’s wellbeing, more attention is being given to the wellbeing of school staff as a prerequisite for quality education. In the first paper in this edition, Savage and Woloshyn (Canada) investigated the well-being, perceived stress, and use of coping strategies amongst 686 K-12 educators’ and school staff in Canada. They found that all educators regardless of their grade or position reported overall lower scores of wellbeing and higher levels of perceived stress when compared to the general population. Maladaptive coping strategies were related to poorer wellbeing and higher levels of stress. 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104135 Title: Coping is crucial : exploring relations between K-12 educators and staff coping strategies, perceived stress and psychological wellbeing Authors: Savage, Michael; Woloshyn, Vera Abstract: This causal comparative study explored K-12 educators’ and school staff’s self-reported levels of well-being, perceived stress, and use of coping strategies. An online survey was administered to 686 educators consisting of teachers, school administrators, professional support staff, administrative support staff and other school staff in a medium-sized schoolboard in Southern Ontario, Canada. The results show that educators reported overall low scores of wellbeing and higher levels of perceived stress as compared to the general population. Female educators reported significantly higher perceived stress than their male colleagues. A k-means cluster analysis of the educators’ coping strategies identified four unique clusters which were significantly different from each other. It was shown that participants in two of the clusters, consisting of approximately 32% of the participants in this study, used maladaptive coping strategies more frequent and that the participants in these two clusters exhibited significantly poorer wellbeing and significantly more perceived stress than their colleagues in the other two clusters. The limitations and practical implications of this study are discussed. 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104134 Title: Promoting the use of social-emotional learning in online teacher education Authors: Lapidot-Lefler, Noam Abstract: The goal of this paper is to address the questions of how social-emotional learning [SEL] can be incorporated into online learning and what effect such integration can have on students. The COVID-19 outbreak significantly increased the use of online learning at all levels of education. However, research shows that the online learning experience may contribute to students’ feelings of distancing, alienation, and loneliness. The assumption underlying this study was that these negative feelings are not inherent to the online learning experience; rather, they can be avoided by using online-SEL (“O-SEL”) techniques that integrate SEL into online learning processes. This qualitative case study included 42 preservice teachers enrolled in a college of education in Israel, who participated in an online course that employed specific methods for integrating the SEL component. Analysis of students’ reactions to the course revealed that O-SEL not only improved students’ emotional experience but also enhanced their cognitive learning. These findings strongly suggest that models of online learning should include SEL. Additional research may confirm the positive O-SEL effects on students’ experience and achievements. In this context, the current study introduces the concept of “social emotional presence,” which is necessary for learning and development to take place online. 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104119 Title: Adolescent cyberstanders’ experience of cyberbullying in the era of Covid-19 in South Africa Authors: Adewoye, Segun Emmanuel Abstract: Indications are that cyberstanders can be negatively affected by witnessing cyberbullying incidents and are even more likely than direct victims of cyberbullying to report symptoms of stress. However, cyberbystanders are understudied in the cyberbullying literature because most research predominantly focuses on perpetrators or direct victims of cyberbullying. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of adolescent cyberbystanders who witnessed cyberbullying in the COVID-19 era. Twenty adolescent cyberbystanders were purposely selected to participate in this study. The qualitative data was analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The findings demonstrated that cyberbullying has various detrimental effects that include educational, psychological, and emotional consequences for those exposed to it. It is recommended that anti-cyberbullying programmes should be incorporated into the curriculum so that teachers and educational psychologists can emphasise the negative impact of cyberbullying on bullies, victims and bystanders. With more awareness of the detrimental consequences of cyberbullying on all parties involved, adolescents may become more competent in respecting people’s rights and privacy within cyberspace. 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z