Emotional competence skills—including the ability to recognise emotions in oneself and others, understand the causes and consequences of emotions, and effectively regulate emotional responses—are fundamental to children’s and adolescents’ academic success, mental well-being, and social relationships. These skills are primarily learned within the context of relationships, including those with parents, peers, and teachers. Schools play a crucial role in fostering emotional competence, yet most school-based interventions target only one group—students, teachers, or parents—rather than the whole school community.
While research has highlighted the benefits of targeting student emotional competence through working directly with teachers, parents and students, more recent research has explored the benefits in fostering adaptive emotion socialization for the whole school community. A whole-school approach to emotional competence integrates social-emotional learning across different relationships within the school environment. This presentation will explore how Tuning in to Kids® (TIK) and Tuning in to Teens® (TINT), evidence-based emotion-focused programs, have been adapted and implemented as whole-school interventions in both primary and secondary school settings. These programs equip parents and teachers with emotion coaching skills, enabling them to respond to children’s and adolescents’ emotions in ways that support self-regulation, problem-solving, and social-emotional development. The student component teaches young people to recognize, express, and manage their emotions effectively, respond to peers’ emotions, strengthening skills in emotional competence. Schools implementing TIK and TINT have reported improved parent-reported and teacher-reported emotional competence and emotion socialization, with positive effects on child and adolescent emotional competence, reinforcing the value of a comprehensive, community-wide approach.

This presentation will review key research findings, provide a brief overview of the Tuning in approach, and discuss practical strategies for implementation. Attendees will gain insights into the theoretical foundations of emotion-focused interventions and how to integrate them into school curricula and student support services to create a culture of emotional competence within educational settings.


Three Key learnings:
1. The Importance of a Whole-School Approach to Emotional Competence
• Emotional competence skills are best developed within the context of relationships, yet many school-based interventions focus on students, teachers, or parents in isolation. A whole-school approach fosters emotional competence across all key relationships, creating a supportive and emotionally responsive school environment.

2. How Emotion-Focused Interventions Enhance Social-Emotional Development
• Programs like Tuning in to Kids® and Tuning in to Teens® equip parents and teachers with emotion coaching skills, enabling them to support children’s and adolescents’ self-regulation, problem-solving, and peer relationships. By integrating these principles across the school community, students gain stronger emotional awareness, empathy, and resilience.

3. Practical Strategies for Implementing and Sustaining Emotion-Focused Programs in Schools
• Schools implementing TIK and TINT have reported improved emotional competence in students, as well as enhanced teacher-student relationships and parental engagement. This presentation will outline key steps for effective program adoption, highlight research findings on impact, and address challenges in embedding emotional competence initiatives into school curricula and student support services.