Session 4G
Tracks
Track 7
| Saturday, October 31, 2026 |
| 11:30 AM - 1:05 PM |
| Meeting room P10, Plaza Level |
Overview
Meeting room P10
Speaker
Mr Phil Slade
Founder / Psychologist
Switch4schools
Emotional Intelligence 2.0: Moving Beyond Awareness to Emotional Competence in Schools
11:30 AM - 12:15 PMAbstract
Aim:
To explore how Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (EI 2.0) extends trauma-aware education by moving beyond emotional awareness toward emotional competence, agency, and decision-making capacity in students and educators.
Background/Context:
Trauma-aware education has made significant contributions to improving emotional safety, awareness, and compassion in schools. However, emerging research and practice suggest that awareness alone does not reliably translate into improved regulation, judgement, or resilience. EI 2.0 reframes emotion not only as something to be named or managed, but as information that can be interpreted, regulated, and used skillfully. This approach draws on contemporary psychology, neuroscience, and behavioural science to distinguish emotional literacy from emotional competence.
Relevance:
For trauma-aware practice to be sustainable, individuals and systems require skills that support emotional regulation, impulse management, and adaptive decision-making under stress. EI 2.0 offers a framework that complements trauma awareness while addressing educator wellbeing, student agency, and system-level functioning.
Contribution:
This presentation contributes a conceptual and practice-informed framework that helps educators avoid unintended outcomes such as emotional dependency, fragility, or avoidance, while maintaining trauma sensitivity. It offers language and tools for strengthening emotional capability rather than simply reducing distress.
Description:
The presentation synthesises research insights with applied examples from school settings, illustrating how EI 2.0 can be embedded into classroom practice, staff development, and wellbeing systems.
Engagement:
Participants will engage through reflective prompts, short scenarios, and interactive discussion to apply EI 2.0 concepts to their own educational contexts.
Keywords:
emotional intelligence, trauma-aware education, emotional regulation, educator wellbeing, student agency
To explore how Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (EI 2.0) extends trauma-aware education by moving beyond emotional awareness toward emotional competence, agency, and decision-making capacity in students and educators.
Background/Context:
Trauma-aware education has made significant contributions to improving emotional safety, awareness, and compassion in schools. However, emerging research and practice suggest that awareness alone does not reliably translate into improved regulation, judgement, or resilience. EI 2.0 reframes emotion not only as something to be named or managed, but as information that can be interpreted, regulated, and used skillfully. This approach draws on contemporary psychology, neuroscience, and behavioural science to distinguish emotional literacy from emotional competence.
Relevance:
For trauma-aware practice to be sustainable, individuals and systems require skills that support emotional regulation, impulse management, and adaptive decision-making under stress. EI 2.0 offers a framework that complements trauma awareness while addressing educator wellbeing, student agency, and system-level functioning.
Contribution:
This presentation contributes a conceptual and practice-informed framework that helps educators avoid unintended outcomes such as emotional dependency, fragility, or avoidance, while maintaining trauma sensitivity. It offers language and tools for strengthening emotional capability rather than simply reducing distress.
Description:
The presentation synthesises research insights with applied examples from school settings, illustrating how EI 2.0 can be embedded into classroom practice, staff development, and wellbeing systems.
Engagement:
Participants will engage through reflective prompts, short scenarios, and interactive discussion to apply EI 2.0 concepts to their own educational contexts.
Keywords:
emotional intelligence, trauma-aware education, emotional regulation, educator wellbeing, student agency
Biography
Phil Slade is a behavioural economist, registered psychologist, entrepreneur, and award-winning musician. He is also a best-selling author, host of The Turnaround Mindset podcast, and a regular columnist for Money Magazine and ABC commentator.
With a gift for making neuroscience accessible, engaging, and entertaining, Phil is a sought-after keynote speaker and leadership consultant, known for his dynamic and down-to-earth approach. He empowers individuals to take control of their choices and shape their own futures.
As co-founder of Switch4Schools (a globally recognised wellbeing software company recently named by HundrED and the International Baccalaureate as one of the top 10 most significant wellbeing educational innovations worldwide) Phil is dedicated to unlocking human potential and helping people live fuller, more meaningful lives. He firmly believes that many of the world’s greatest challenges (social, environmental, economic, and political) can be addressed by better understanding, managing, and harnessing our emotions.
Miss Semra Gundogan
Leader Of Inclusion
Hester Hornbrook Academy
From Behaviour to Belonging: Reframing Student Support Through Inclusion
12:20 PM - 1:05 PMAbstract
AIM – This session advocates for a trauma-informed approach that moves beyond awareness to transformation by challenging deficit based interpretations of behaviour and centring safety, identity, belonging, and student voice.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT – Grounded in practice within a flexible learning context, it focuses on learners in out-of-home care, those identifying as LGBTQIA+, from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and individuals with lived experience of trauma, systemic inequity, and disrupted educational pathways. Too often, behaviour is interpreted in isolation from identity, culture, and context, reinforcing exclusionary practices and disengagement, particularly where schools fail to engage with research, community members or adopt culturally responsive approaches.
RELEVANCE – Positioned across policy and systems perspectives and practice reflections, this session highlights the need for whole-school, cross-sector approaches that embed inclusive, trauma-informed practice while remaining grounded in practitioner insight.
CONTRIBUTION – Our healing-oriented approach presents a scalable framework to reframe behaviour as communication, amplify student voice, and create predictable, relational environments that reduce re-traumatisation. We share how this and the equal focus on Wellbeing and Learning can maximise positive impacts for students and their pathways.
DESCRIPTION –The session addresses trauma-informed educator wellbeing, recognising that sustainable change requires building staff capacity, confidence, and care. This workshop aims to equip participants with practical strategies that can be immediately applied and sustained, while incorporating futures thinking to respond to social change and increasingly diverse student identities.
ENGAGEMENT – The audience will be engaged through case studies, professional learning models, and interactive scenario based reflection.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT – Grounded in practice within a flexible learning context, it focuses on learners in out-of-home care, those identifying as LGBTQIA+, from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and individuals with lived experience of trauma, systemic inequity, and disrupted educational pathways. Too often, behaviour is interpreted in isolation from identity, culture, and context, reinforcing exclusionary practices and disengagement, particularly where schools fail to engage with research, community members or adopt culturally responsive approaches.
RELEVANCE – Positioned across policy and systems perspectives and practice reflections, this session highlights the need for whole-school, cross-sector approaches that embed inclusive, trauma-informed practice while remaining grounded in practitioner insight.
CONTRIBUTION – Our healing-oriented approach presents a scalable framework to reframe behaviour as communication, amplify student voice, and create predictable, relational environments that reduce re-traumatisation. We share how this and the equal focus on Wellbeing and Learning can maximise positive impacts for students and their pathways.
DESCRIPTION –The session addresses trauma-informed educator wellbeing, recognising that sustainable change requires building staff capacity, confidence, and care. This workshop aims to equip participants with practical strategies that can be immediately applied and sustained, while incorporating futures thinking to respond to social change and increasingly diverse student identities.
ENGAGEMENT – The audience will be engaged through case studies, professional learning models, and interactive scenario based reflection.
Biography
A passionate educator with several years of teaching across a diverse range of educational settings, including mainstream, flexible learning, and special education environments. Throughout my career, I have developed a strong commitment to inclusive and student-centred practice, supporting young people with a wide variety of learning needs, backgrounds, and life experiences. I am passionate about creating safe, engaging, and supportive classrooms where all students feel a sense of belonging and are empowered to succeed. My work has focused on building positive relationships, implementing differentiated teaching strategies, and responding to behaviour through a strengths-based and trauma-informed lens. I am dedicated to helping students develop confidence, resilience, and meaningful pathways for their future.
