Analysis of the role of visual discrimination of emotions in the training for social-emotional competencies of future teachers

Abstract

Educators' ability to effectively manage and respond appropriately to emotional dynamics in the classroom is essential for creating an inclusive educational environment. In the era of digitalization in education, the growing importance of social-emotional competencies requires an emphasis on building relevant competencies in the education of future teachers. This study aims to investigate the role of visual discrimination of facial expressions of emotions on social-emotional competencies in general and on social engagement (Social Awareness) in particular. The study includes 122 participants, students in pedagogical majors, divided into a control and an experimental group. Both groups take a quiz consisting of three problem-solving scenarios involving situations that require the practical application of the teacher's social-emotional competencies. Immediately before taking the test, in the experimental group, another test was administered, requiring the subjects to recognize the facial expression of a given emotion, presented in the form of a photograph, an emoticon, and a schematic image. The results show that the experimental group performed significantly better in solving the cases. These data suggest that the introduction of additional training components related to the recognition of emotions facial expressions will contribute to improving the social emotional skills of future teachers and educational specialists.