https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/26852 2026-06-13T22:22:25Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/29675 Title: The use of technology in the promotion of children’s emotional intelligence : the multimedia program “Developing Emotional Intelligence” Authors: D'Amico, Antonella Abstract: "Developing Emotional Intelligence” is an Italian language multimedia tool created for children between 8 and 12 years of age. The software is based on the four ‘branches’ of model of emotional intelligence proposed by Mayer and Salovey and aims to evaluate and improve abilities in perception of emotions; using emotion to facilitate thought; understanding emotions; and managing emotions. In the software, four characters represent the four branches of emotional intelligence and guide children through the ‘world of emotions’ using drawings, animations, music, sounds and verbal instructions. The software is comprised of two components, namely an assessment section (27 items) and a training section (46 exercises). Both the assessment and the training sections aim to measure and improve children’s abilities in perceiving emotions (faces, drawings and music); using emotions (emotional synaesthesia and facilitation); understanding emotions (blend and transformation of emotions); and managing emotions (personal and interpersonal situations). Two studies involving primary and secondary school children respectively, demonstrated the efficacy of the training performed with the software in improving performance in emotional tasks and academic achievement in the linguisticliterary area. A comparison between the two studies offers interesting insights about the best ways to integrate technology in social and emotional learning programs. 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/29674 Title: Short research paper : academic optimism and organizational citizenship behaviour amongst secondary school teachers Authors: Makvandi, Abdollah; Naderi, Farah; Makvandi, Behnam; Pasha, Reza; Ehteshamzadeh, Parvin Abstract: Academic optimism and organizational citizenship behaviour amongst secondary school teachers 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/29673 Title: Beyond the ‘diminished self’ : challenging an array of objections to emotional well-being in education Authors: Downes, Paul Abstract: With early school leaving prevention being an agreed European Union headline target of 10% across the EU by 2020, emotional-relational dimensions to education are gaining renewed attention in European education policy. Against this backdrop, prominent criticisms of an emotional well-being agenda in education by Ecclestone and Hayes require further consideration. The key objective of this paper is to challenge and reconstruct six key arguments of Ecclestone and Hayes against emotional wellbeing in education. There is a need to move beyond paradigms of conceptual coherence that rest upon diametric oppositions – thought/feeling, healthy/sick, diminished/undiminished, optimism/pessimism, subject/negation of a subject, learning/therapy. It is argued that an emotional well-being agenda in education is a conceptually coherent one, once different levels of prevention and intervention are distinguished and the argument goes beyond flat, undifferentiated conceptions of ‘therapeutic culture’. The Cartesian model supported by Ecclestone and Hayes to frame a ‘diminished’ self is but one selfhood. A more nuanced debate would focus on the strengths and weaknesses of different, pluralistic conceptions of selfhood. Their most substantive objections to an emotional well-being agenda in education concern deficit labelling and privacy and are important cautionary notes. 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/29672 Title: Inclusive education : beyond popular discourses Authors: Portelli, John Peter; Koneeny, Patricia Abstract: The popular discourse of democratic education is home to numerous myths surrounding our conceptions of what inclusion means in today’s schools. Certain beliefs like the idea that offering equal opportunities for participation to all students regardless of individual need, which conflates equality and equity, or that democracy in classrooms involves nothing more than limitless inclusion are upheld as go-to solutions for the inevitable dilemmas for educators committed to inclusion. This paper argues that philosophical clarification of the concept of inclusion is urgently required by teachers, policy makers, and theorists of education committed to both democracy in education and democratic education. Our most urgent concern is related to the inherent attitude toward deficit implied by different understandings of inclusion. This is not necessarily due to the unclarities and ambiguities associated with the concept itself, but rather reflect the calculated and anticipatory way educators tend to approach classroom practice. We argue that with careful philosophical clarification, along with an entirely new stance on the part of teachers regarding their pedagogical practice and a reconceptualized notion of student ‘needs’, the concept of inclusion can continue to remain not only useful but essential to creating a robust democratic community in the classroom. 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z