Emotional Intelligence Is Teachable

By [Author name, credentials needed] · Reviewed for School of Educators

Key facts

• Research on social-emotional learning shows consistent benefits for academic achievement, mental health, and social outcomes.
• India’s schools rarely teach SEL explicitly, despite evidence that doing so is one of the highest-return investments available in education.
• The most widely used framework for what SEL actually covers, associated with CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning), names five specific competencies rather than one vague skill.
• NEP 2020, NCF 2023, and the NIPUN Bharat foundational literacy mission all point toward social-emotional development as a legitimate curricular priority, not an informal byproduct of good classroom management.
• Free classroom resources: NIPUN Bharat FLN assessment tools (through your SCERT or DIET), NCERT teacher guides, Azim Premji Foundation’s open-access research, and DIKSHA platform content in 36 languages.
• Support for teachers: KIRAN mental health helpline (1800-599-0019), Tele-MANAS (14416), CHILDLINE (1098).

Research on social-emotional learning shows consistent benefits for academic achievement, mental health, and social outcomes. India’s schools rarely teach SEL explicitly, despite the evidence that doing so is one of the highest-return investments in education, and part of the reason is that “emotional intelligence” often gets treated as an innate trait rather than what the research actually finds it to be: a teachable set of specific skills.

What the research actually says

Indian teachers already sense that the research on teachable social-emotional skill is more specific and more useful than most professional development programmes suggest; it just rarely gets said aloud in a staffroom. The evidence here draws on ASER survey data, Azim Premji Foundation field studies, NCERT curriculum research, government programme evaluations, and peer-reviewed work conducted across Indian schools. Where international evidence is used, including the five-competency SEL framework associated with CASEL, it is noted explicitly and needs to be checked against Indian classroom conditions before it is applied directly.

This is not an essay about education in Singapore or Finland, translated awkwardly into an Indian setting. It is written for teachers across every subject and stage, because social-emotional competency, like the future skills examined elsewhere in this essay series, is meant to develop across the whole school day, not within one dedicated period.

A teacher who genuinely cares can still make a problem worse by misunderstanding its mechanism. Understanding the mechanism is what turns sincere care into effective care.

Good intentions are not sufficient on their own. A teacher who assumes emotional intelligence either exists in a child or doesn’t, out of a common but mistaken belief that it’s a fixed trait like height, treats it as something to accommodate rather than something to actively teach. The research finds the opposite: these are specific, learnable skills with a name and a structure, not an innate quality some children happen to have.

Five competencies that make up social-emotional learning

Five competencies make up the SEL framework most widely used in the research, and each is a specific, teachable skill rather than one vague quality called “emotional intelligence.”

1. Self-awareness. Recognising one’s own emotions, and understanding how they influence thinking and behaviour, is the foundational skill the other four build on. Teachers can build this by regularly naming and normalising emotional states in the classroom, “it makes sense to feel frustrated when a problem doesn’t work out,” rather than only addressing emotion when it becomes a behaviour problem.

2. Self-management. Regulating emotions, thoughts, and behaviour effectively, including managing stress and controlling impulses, is a skill distinct from simply knowing what you’re feeling. Teachers can build this by explicitly teaching and practising specific strategies, a pause before responding, a way to calm down before continuing, rather than only correcting the behaviour after self-management has already failed.

3. Social awareness. Understanding and empathising with others’ perspectives, including those from different backgrounds, is what allows a student to read a classmate’s emotional state and respond appropriately. Teachers can build this through activities that require genuinely considering another person’s perspective, not just being told to “be kind,” which names the goal without building the specific skill.

4. Relationship skills. Communicating clearly, cooperating, resolving conflict, and building positive relationships are specific, practisable behaviours, not just a byproduct of a friendly personality. Teachers can build this through structured peer collaboration and explicit conflict-resolution practice, giving students actual opportunities to use the skill rather than assuming it develops on its own through unstructured social time.

5. Responsible decision-making. Making constructive choices about behaviour based on considering consequences, ethics, and others’ wellbeing is a skill that can be explicitly practised through real or realistic scenarios, not just addressed after a poor decision has already been made. Teachers can build this by walking students through decision scenarios before a real one arises, rather than only discussing decision-making retrospectively after a problem occurs.

Where this fits Indian education policy

NEP 2020, NCF 2023, and the NIPUN Bharat mission all point in the direction this research supports: social-emotional competency as a legitimate, explicit curricular priority, not an informal byproduct of good classroom management or discipline. The gap between that policy direction and what actually happens in many classrooms, SEL addressed only reactively when a behaviour problem occurs rather than taught proactively, is the space this piece is trying to close. It is not an argument for a new policy. It is guidance for the teacher who already wants to build these skills, deciding which of the five to focus on first.

Frequently asked questions

Is emotional intelligence something a child either has or doesn’t, or can it genuinely be taught? The research treats it as teachable, made up of five specific, practisable competencies rather than one fixed trait. A child who struggles with self-management or social awareness can build that specific skill through explicit practice, the same way any other skill develops.

Does teaching SEL take time away from academic instruction? The research finds the opposite relationship: SEL consistently correlates with better academic achievement, not worse, which suggests it functions as a support for academic learning rather than a competing use of classroom time.

Which of the five competencies should a teacher start with if she’s introducing SEL for the first time? There’s no fixed universal order, but self-awareness is often treated as foundational since the other four competencies build on a student’s capacity to first recognise her own emotional state, which makes it a reasonable starting point for many classrooms.

Where can a teacher find state-specific material on this? Start with your SCERT or DIET for NIPUN Bharat FLN assessment tools, NCERT’s teacher guides, Azim Premji Foundation’s open-access publications, and DIKSHA, which carries content in 36 languages. If nothing exists for your specific state and grade, that gap is itself worth reporting to your Block Resource Coordinator.

What to do:

• Name one child in your class who would benefit most from explicit practice in one of the five competencies above, and write down one specific activity you will try this week. Not a general improvement: a named competency, a named child, a named activity.
• Search DIKSHA or ask your Block Resource Coordinator for any resource specific to this topic in your state’s context. If nothing exists, note that and report it. The gap in resources is itself useful information.
• Spend five minutes this week just observing which of the five competencies your current classroom practice already builds, and which it doesn’t, not teaching, just watching and noting.
• Tell one colleague one specific finding from this piece this week. Explaining it will sharpen your own understanding, and it may start a conversation that helps more than any single action.
• At the end of the week, ask yourself what you will do differently next week because of this, and what you will look for to know whether it worked.

Support resources for teachers: NIPUN Bharat FLN assessment tools (via your SCERT or DIET), NCERT teacher guides, Azim Premji Foundation open-access research, DIKSHA (36 languages), KIRAN mental health helpline (1800-599-0019), Tele-MANAS (14416), CHILDLINE (1098).