Education systems emphasize academic achievements and neglect the development of emotional skills which constitute fundamental life skills. Emotional literacy is intertwined with the socio-emotional development of children. It is associated with emotional wellbeing and positive interpersonal relationships (Alemdar & Anilan, 2021). Steiner & Perry (1997) coined the term emotional literacy. The concept of emotional literacy puts emphasis on emotion perception, emotional understanding and emotion management. Emotion literate children can tolerate frustration and have greater academic achievements. Emotion literacy is linked to wellbeing, school adjustment and prevention of emotional and behavioral difficulties (Joseph, Strain & Ostrosky, 2005). It is a component of wellbeing with multiple benefits for children’s development as it fosters academic achievement and promotes mental health (Francis, Chin-Vella, & Brodrick, 2020). Socio-emotional skills are associated with improved coping with school stressors, increased understanding of consequences of behavior and lower rates of interpersonal violence (Zins & Elias, 2007). In addition, emotional wellbeing can nurture educational equity and social justice. According to Weare (2004), emotional literacy includes the following competencies: self-understanding, understanding the causes of emotions, managing emotions effectively, using information about emotions for problem-solving, understanding social situations and making relationships, as well as effectively communicating and managing relationships appropriately.

 Literacy and intelligence have overlapping features and include similar components. Scholars assert that there is no distinction between intelligence and literacy and are used interchangeably (Kliueva & Tsagari, 2018). According to Alemdar & Anilan (2021) the term intelligence implies that it is a capability that it is innate, whereas literacy suggests that it is teachable and can be improved.

Emotional literacy and socio-emotional competence is crucial to be cultivated within school context (Carnwell & Baker, 2007. Nikolaou & Stamatis, 2020). Preschool curriculum should include activities that aim to develop a vocabulary of emotions, expand emotional understanding and teach social skills. Teachers should observe the signs of children’s distress and take into account their emotions. This will lead to children’s wellbeing (Figueroa-Sanchez, 2008. Nikolaou, Stamatis, & Papavasileiou, 2022).

Education should re-envision its goals (Nikolaou & Stamatis, 2022). Education programming should include the development of multiple forms of intelligence and design an educational curriculum for the whole child (Burroughs & Barkauskas, 2017). Socio-emotional learning interventions have been demonstrated that lead to positive outcomes. They ought to be curriculum embedded and to include family and community partnerships. They also nurture a wider school ethos and a healthy school climate. Whole-school approaches, staff training, daily practice of skills and school policy contribute to the effectiveness of socio-emotional learning interventions programming (Wigelsworth, Veritoy, Mason, Qualfer, & Humphrey, 2022). Teachers’ emotional intelligence can contribute to the enhancement of students’ emotional self-awareness and the establishment of meaningful relationships with students (Dolev & Leshem, 2016). It also fosters better class management and improved climate. According to Haddon et al., (2005) emotional literate schools cultivate a sense of emotional safety which is related to relationships that nurture trust, empathy and respect. The quality of the relationships within school community is linked to the sense of connectedness. Therefore, the development of positive relationships is essential to be an important educational goal.

The present research study aims to explore teachers’ views on the characteristics of emotionally literate teachers, their views on the ways that teachers can nurture emotional literacy in schools as well as their views on the obstacles to cultivating emotional literacy among other research questions.

The sample of the research was consisted of twenty (20) preschool teachers (all women) who worked in public Nursery schools and Kindergartens in the island of Rhodes, in Greece. The range of age of the participants were 28-60 and their professional experience ranged between 3 and 35 years. A semi-structured interview was used as a data collection tool. The design of the interview was based on the theoretical framework and previous research related to the subject. Content analysis was selected as the main method of the data analysis which is the scientific study of the content of communication. In particular, deductive content analysis was chosen for analyzing interview data. The unit of the analysis was the theme. The research team had initially received all necessary permitions and declarations from the participants about their voluntary participation in the research project. The qualitative method was selected as the aim of the research was to explore in-depth the sample's views and to give prominence to their voices and perspectives. The data were coded according to a pre-defined set of concepts and categories drawn from the relevant literature and previous research. Drawing inferences are founded on the content. The purpose was to describe trents in communication content. Content analysis aims to systematically identifying patterns of units. Two independent researchers read the transcripts of the interviews and coded the data. Then they compared their analysis and reconciled any differences. The two independent researchers have developed the coding scheme. The categories were selected prior to the analysis based upon the theoretical background of emotional literacy. Categories were sought to have mutual exclusivity and exhaustiveness. Despite any methodological limitations the research is condered to have reached into interesting outcomes in regards to the research questions that had been set related to emotional literacy within preschool context.

The majority of the teachers of the sample assert that emotional literate teachers are characterized by emotional understanding. They can observe and detect students’ emotions. They recognize them and can emotionally approach students. They also display empathy, seek the causes of students’ emotions and understand their emotional needs. In addition, they can manage their own emotions as well as their students’ emotions. The most effective ways for developing emotional literacy in their students are modeling, discussions with students about feelings in the classroom and the observation of nonverbal communication. Observing students’ reactions and problem solving are also included in teachers’ answers. They contend that teachers should model the appropriate emotional skills and utilize various incidents within and outside classroom for teaching emotional competencies. They can also design activities for teaching emotional skills and employ role-playing, literature and videos as educational material. The obstacles to nurturing emotional literacy are the absence of empathy and limited emotional intelligence, lack of knowledge and skills alongside with lack of cooperation with parents and mental health professionals. Moreover, the goals of curriculum, overload and pressure constitute obstacles to nurturing emotional literacy. The results of this research study could be utilized in cultivating teachers’ emotional literacy, designing emotional curricula that foster the development of these skills and integrating socio-emotional learning interventions into the curriculum. Schools are considered the ideal places for developing these skills. School counselling can contribute to implementing these interventions within school environment and support all members of school community in consolidating these competencies. Thus, school counselling promotes the mental health and well-being of students. Simultaneously, it can enhance social justice and educational equity by empowering students.

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