STL2C5 – Maintain relationships with children and young people

3- Be able to build and maintain professional relationships with children and

young people and others in a learning environment.

3.3 – Explain the need to understand and respect other people’s feelings and
points of view to children and young people (professional discussion):
When we explain to children the importance of understanding and
respecting other people’s feelings we are helping them to:
-develop empathy;
-work with others;
-build relationships.
Pupils who have special educational needs, young children and children
who have social or communication, language and speech impairments (delays)
will require more attention from the teacher and teaching assistant, because it
is more challenging for them to identify feelings.
When children identify the different feelings they understand that other
people have feelings too and start to show empathy towards others.
To help children understand and respect other people’s feelings,
teachers and teaching assistants can:
-name the feelings and associate them to a moment, to a face, for example,
when reading a book, explore the characters’ faces and if one is smiling say he
is happy. This helps children identify the different feelings and they will know
what happy is. Discuss emotions when they occur. You can use a journal to
write about events and the emotions associated with them as well as their
consequences. As mentioned above, once the child can identify a feeling, the
child will be able to recognise this feeling in other people;
-help children cope and manage their feelings. They have to know that their
reactions will affect others and they need to learn how to react to their
different emotions. If they are angry and they shout at a friend, the friend will
be sad. Not knowing how to manage the feelings can impact on relationships.
They need help from adults to have strategies to manage their feelings.
Children should be encouraged to talk or write about their emotions. They can
be taught words like “Excuse me, I need to sit quietly on my own” for example,
to regain control over their feelings and the situation;
-when there is a disagreement, help children to listen to each other and their
different points of view. Help them understand actions can have a negative
impact (restorative justice). When there is a disagreement, they have to listen
to each other so they can understand the feelings involved. As well as
recognising other people’s feelings they need to learn how to deal and respond
to other people’s feelings. Discussions, role play activities can help;
-use books and films to discuss feelings, e.g., why actors reacted in a certain
way;
-teach children about non-verbal communication, like body language. What
certain body language means, that certain behaviour indicates feelings;
- teach them that it is fine to feel different emotions, that we are have our
highs and lows, but it is not right to treat someone badly because of the way
we feel at the time. We need to respect the feelings of others;
-teach them that it is fine for people to have different points of view because
people are different and have different opinions. E.g., the voting system
everybody can express their opinions and wishes and the system works.

Reference:
Burnham, L (2018) Cache Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and
Learning. London: Hodder Education

Teaching children to understand feelings. Available at: https://www.sandbox-

learning.com/Default.asp?Page=170 (Accessed:10/10/2019)