Social work among primaryschool children: promoting emotional intelligence

Abstract

This article addresses important aspects of social work service-rendering to primaryschool children in respect of emotional intelligence. The primary-school child is constantly confronted with developmental tasks, such as adapting to school and social activities. There is also an increasing global emphasis on the role of emotional intelligence skills in a child’s adjustment. The focus of this article is on abilities and skills related to two components of personal emotional competence, namely selfawareness and emotional self-regulation, and one component of interpersonal emotional competence, namely empathy. It aims to provide guidelines for social workers in this regard.