The role of teachers' positive attitude toward emotions in implementation of a social-emotional intervention

Abstract

This study investigates the role of elementary teachers' attitude toward teaching emotions in their implementation of the Promoting Alternative THinking Skills (PATHS) curriculum. The measure of teachers’ attitudes, the Positive Attitude Toward Teaching Emotions (PATE) scale, was developed for this study and was administered to 159 teachers in kindergarten through fourth grades prior to their implementation of the PATHS curriculum. The PATE evidenced adequate internal consistency (.79). To account for the dependency among the observations (teachers) within clusters (grade/school), correlational analyses were conducted using the Cluster feature in Mplus. Teachers’ scores at pre-test on personal and general teaching efficacy predicted PATE scores. PATE scores predicted several indices of teacher implementation of the PATHS program, including observed adherence to the lessons, consultant ratings of teacher engagement in PATHS, and teacher evaluation of PATHS. PATE scores did not predict number of lessons taught or the observed quality of lesson implementation. Findings provide evidence of the construct validity of the PATE and suggest that congruence between teachers’ attitudes and beliefs and the curriculum they are responsible for executing are pivotal components in the eventual success or failure of program implementation.