Emotional Literacy: Education for Meaning

Abstract

The relevance of ‘emotional literacy’ and ‘emotional intelligence’ to education has become a subject of considerable interest to educationalists and policy‐makers. There is little difference between the way these two terms are currently used. There is, though, a need to draw a distinction between projects that are about instructing young people in how to manage their emotions so as to improve their social behaviour, and those that aim instead to help young people develop levels of emotional understanding that will motivate their desire to learn, enhance their general awareness and stimulate their capacity to engage with questions of values and spirituality.