Article: The Education Hub

How to support effective emotion regulation in schools and classrooms 

Effective emotion regulation is linked to a number of important life outcomes, including success at school. 

Research has demonstrated a link between higher levels of emotional regulation and academic performance, persistence with school tasks, improved attention, improved memory, increased motivation to learn, positive behaviours towards learning, positive social relationships, and improved mental health and wellbeing. Children and young people who can regulate emotions efficiently are not necessarily always happy (or never sad), but those with effective regulation can express a range of emotions for the purpose of accomplishing goals.

Emotional regulation crucial for Engagement

Emotional regulation is crucial for students' engagement in schools, as it enables them to manage their emotions effectively, allowing for better focus, participation, and resilience in learning. Here are some ways it plays a role and strategies to support it:

1. Reducing Stress and Anxiety

• Impact: High levels of stress and anxiety can lead to disengagement, as students may become overwhelmed and unable to concentrate.

• Strategies: Schools can teach relaxation techniques, like mindfulness or breathing exercises, to help students manage stress. Teachers can also structure classrooms in ways that reduce pressure, such as incorporating flexible deadlines or allowing movement breaks.

2. Fostering Positive Relationships

• Impact: Positive peer and teacher relationships create a supportive environment where students feel comfortable taking risks and engaging actively.

• Strategies: Implementing programs that encourage peer support, like buddy systems, and fostering teacher-student connections help students feel emotionally safe. Social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculums also build empathy and communication skills.

3. Building Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation Skills

• Impact: Self-regulation helps students control impulses, allowing them to stay on task and make positive choices, which directly improves engagement.

• Strategies: Explicitly teaching SEL skills helps students recognize and manage their emotions. Tools like “zones of regulation” can help students identify their emotional states and strategies to transition to a calm, focused state.

4. Promoting a Growth Mindset

• Impact: When students believe that challenges are part of learning and can be overcome, they are more likely to stay engaged even in difficult situations.

• Strategies: Teachers can encourage resilience by celebrating effort, not just achievement. Feedback should focus on process and improvement, reinforcing the idea that skills can grow with practice.

5. Providing a Structured, Predictable Environment

• Impact: Predictability reduces uncertainty, which can decrease anxiety and help students feel secure.

• Strategies: Establishing clear routines and consistent rules helps create an environment where students know what to expect. This stability allows them to better manage emotions and engage more fully in learning.

6. Incorporating Breaks and Physical Activity

• Impact: Physical activity and breaks give students a chance to reset emotionally and physically, which can improve focus and engagement when they return to tasks.

• Strategies: Including short breaks, movement exercises, or even a walk outside can help students regulate their emotions, release energy, and come back to tasks with better focus.

Integrating emotional regulation techniques into the school environment not only helps students engage more fully but also contributes to a positive, supportive atmosphere where learning and growth can thrive.

Term 3: Rethink, Reset and REGULATE

After the challenges faced in the pervious term, it was clear that before I could successfully embed my class program with an integrated approach, what stood on top alongside behaviour management, was that my identified learners needed additional support with emotional regulation. I had to rethink, reset and restart how to engage my learners by meeting their sensory needs first and foremost, as well as supporting them to be in a focused state. I started looking at my program through a fresh lens to pull back the 'academic' demands being placed on my student when they were in fact facing bouts of anxiety and struggling to regulate big emotions. 

I became more explicit about injecting the Zones of Regulation to check-in with where my students were at emotionally. 

Why Teach Self-Regulation?
Regulation is something everyone continually works on whether we are aware of it or not. We all encounter trying circumstances that can test our limits. If we can recognize when we are becoming less regulated, we are able to do something about it to manage our feelings and get ourselves to a healthy place. This comes more naturally for some, but for others it is a skill that needs more attention and practice. This is the goal of The Zones of Regulation​.

Sorting Our Emotions Into Four Zones
Feelings are complicated. They come in different sizes, intensities, and levels of energy that are unique within our brains and bodies. To make them easier to talk about, think about, and regulate, The Zones of Regulation organizes our feelings, states of alertness, and energy levels into four colored Zones – Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red. The simple, common language and visual structure of The Zones of Regulation helps make the complex skill of regulation more concrete for learners and those who support them. We learn to regulate our Zones to meet our goals and task demands, as well as support our overall well-being.

Term 2 Challenges

Over the course of Term 2,  I was faced with an increase in behaviour challenges with multiple students which started to overshadow the class program and the learning focus shifted more towards emotional regulation as well as tolerance training for unsettled students. This significantly impacted the intended delivery of my class program with an integrated curriculum approach. I was only able to successfully teach integrated lessons in sporadic bursts when the class was settled. This meant my data gathering was hindered. I was only able to capture student engagement from part way through the term onwards once escalating behaviour concerns were remedied.

Class Profile and Targeted Learners

• Specialist school

• Satellite class based at Howick Intermediate (host school).

• Age range: 11 - 14 years old

• 10 neurodiverse learners supported in their personal, social, emotional and educational growth through personalised learning programmes.

• A wide range of learning abilities with various medical neurodiverse diagnoses

• Mixed group of verbal and non-verbal students

• 6 learners using Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems

• 5 out of 10 learners with significantly low levels of engagement (Student R, Student B, Student M1, Student M2, Student Q).

After much deliberation, I decided I would focus my intervention efforts primarily on increasing the engagement levels in my 5 learners who consistently:

1. show disinterest/defiance to carry out assigned learning tasks
2. explicitly vocalise that they "do not care" or "you can't make me"
3. demonstrate wanting to be left alone through physically lashing out at others
4. unable to join in with group based learning and require 1:1 support
5. emotionally overwhelmed by the busy/unsettled dynamic of our class environment
6. choose to distance themselves away from the class e.g. - Student R: always sits at the back of the class - Student M1: refuses to be inside the classroom and spends all day outside - Student M2: lays on the floor; hides under tables; or run out of class to escape work demands - Student Q: confining himself into the corner of the class anytime learning demands are placed on him - Student B: high pitch screaming when overwhelmed
7. occasionally engage in carrying out activities of their own choosing only
8. push work away/or off table top or push the table away
9. will initiate a task but not complete an activity.