Skip to content
Be You home
Log in Register for free
  • Home
  • About

    What is Be You?

    Be You provides educators with professional development, tools and resources to support mental health and wellbeing in early learning services and schools.
    • Organisations involved
    • Evidence base
    • History of Be You
    • Education Voices
    • News and updates
    • Research and evaluation

    Be You Stories

    Discover how educators from early learning services and schools across Australia are implementing Be You.

    Be You became the missing piece in our wellbeing strategy

    Supporting authentic engagement with First Nations communities

    Immediate support Help

    If you are concerned about someone at risk of immediate harm, call 000 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
    • Support helplines
    • Be You suicide response

    Be You implementation support

    Explore how Be You can support you and registered Be You Learning Communities.
    • Be You Consultants
    • Frequently asked questions
    • Contact us
  • Get started

    How to get started

    Not sure where to start? Our tailored handbooks have essential information for starting your Be You journey.
    • Educators
    • Wellbeing teams and Action Teams
    • Leadership teams
    • Pre-service educators
    • Tertiary professionals

    Register yourself

    Access free accredited professional learning modules and other resources.

    Register your community

    Is your early learning service or school registered with Be You? Be You Learning Communities can access Be You Consultants, tools and resources to support a whole-setting approach to mental health and wellbeing.
  • Courses

    Track your Professional Learning

    • Access our free learning modules.
    • Track and log your professional learning hours.
    • Discover tools and resources to put your learning into action.
    Log in Register for free

    Professional Learning

    Explore our accredited learning modules to build your skills, knowledge and confidence in mental health and wellbeing.

    • Mentally Healthy Communities

      Learn about mental health and how to create thriving learning communities.

    • Family Partnerships

      Build relationships with families to support mental health and wellbeing.

    • Learning Resilience

      Explore social and emotional learning and how to embed it in your practice.

    • Early Support

      Notice early signs, have sensitive conversations and provide support.

    • Responding Together

      Plan for critical incidents, learn about trauma and support recovery.

    Evidence and accreditation

    Explore the evidence behind Be You Professional Learning and how it aligns with national education standards.
    • National standards
    • Accreditation
    • Supporting evidence

    Planning for Implementation

    Five short modules exploring the Be You Implementation Cycle and how it can support you to create a mentally healthy learning community.
    • Planning for Implementation modules
  • Resources

    Immediate support Help

    If you are concerned about someone at risk of immediate harm, call 000 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
    • Support helplines
    • Be You suicide response

    Wellbeing toolkits

    Wellbeing tools for children and young people

    Wellbeing tools for educators

    Wellbeing tools for leaders

    Resource topics

    • Educator wellbeing

    • Cultural responsiveness and First Nations perspectives

    • Suicide prevention and response

    • Disability inclusion

    • Natural disaster response

    Wellbeing toolkits

    Wellbeing tools for children and young people

    Wellbeing tools for educators

    Wellbeing tools for leaders

    Implementation tools

    • Tools for Action Teams
    • BETLS Observation Tool
    • Mental Health Continuum
    • Programs Directory

    Fact Sheets

    • Child and adolescent development
    • Grief, trauma and critical incidents
    • Mental health issues and conditions
    • Mental health support
    • Communication and relationships
    • Social and emotional learning
    • Wellbeing and stress management
  • Events

    Explore Be You events

    Join our online events to learn about mental health and wellbeing topics, enhance your practice and support your engagement with Be You.

    Upcoming events

    Hear from Be You Consultants and subject matter experts talking about a range of topics.
    • Early learning
    • Primary
    • Secondary

    Event recordings

    Have you missed an event? Would you like to learn more about a particular topic? Check out our recorded events.
    • Be You Virtual Conference
Log in Register for free Immediate support Help
  1. Social and emotional learning

Emotional development

Emotional development involves learning what feelings and emotions are, understanding how and why they occur, recognising your own feelings and those of others, and developing effective ways for managing those feelings.
Three young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls looking up and smiling at the camera.

What's emotional development?

Emotional development begins at birth

Emotional development is a complex task that begins in infancy and continues into adulthood. The first emotions that can be recognised in babies include joy, anger, sadness and fear. As children’s sense of self develops, more complex emotions like shyness, surprise, elation, embarrassment, shame, guilt, pride and empathy emerge. School aged children and young people are still learning to identify emotions, to understand why they happen, and how to manage them appropriately. 

Emotional expression includes several components:
  • physical responses (like heart rate, breathing and hormone levels)
  • behavioural displays of emotion
  • feelings that children and young people recognise and learn to name
  • thoughts and judgments associated with feelings
  • action signals (for example, a desire to approach, escape or fight).
Influences on emotional expression include: 
  • values and beliefs about appropriate and inappropriate ways of expressing emotions that children and young people learn from families and educators
  • how effectively children and young people’s emotional needs are usually met
  • children and young people’s temperaments
  • cultural norms
  • emotional behaviours that children and young people have learned through observation or experience
  • the extent to which families are under various kinds of stress.

The rate of emotional development in children and young people can vary from person to person. Some children may show a high level of emotional skill development while quite young, whereas others take longer to develop the capacity to manage their emotions well into adolescence.

  • Emotional development and sense of self

    A person’s sense of self is strongly influenced by their perception of themselves.

    Knowing that they can be successful at what they do allows children to feel competent and confident – which in turn affects their emotional development.

    Children who don’t have many experiences of success, more often have to cope with disappointment, which can lead to development of a negative sense of self.

    By being supported to learn to value their own strengths and efforts, as well as those of others, children and young people develop resilience to bounce back from challenges and hardship.

  • How can educators support emotional development in children and young people?

    Providing effective support for children and young people’s emotional development starts with paying attention to their feelings and noticing how they manage them. 

    Many learning communities incorporate specific programs to teach social and emotional skills. These skills can also be taught and learned through everyday interactions. 

    Tune in to children and young people’s feelings and emotions 

    Some emotions are easily identified, while others are less obvious. Tuning into children and young people’s emotions involves looking at their body language, listening to what they are saying and how they are saying it, and observing their behaviour. This allows you to respond more effectively to children and young people’s needs and to offer more specific guidance to help them manage their emotions. 

    Help children and young people recognise and understand emotions

    Talking to children and young people and teaching them about emotions helps them to become more aware of their own emotions as well as those of others. It also helps them to better manage their own emotions over time.

    Set limits on inappropriate expression of emotions

    Let children and young people know that it’s normal and OK to have a range of emotions and feelings. Teach language and skills for dealing with strong or difficult emotions, such as anger and frustration, in a positive way. It’s also important to set limits on aggressive, unsafe or inappropriate behaviours. 

    Be a role model

    Showing children and young people different  ways you understand and manage emotions helps them learn from your example. If you lose your temper, apologise and show how you might make amends.

    Be You Professional Learning

    Check out content on social and emotional learning (SEL) and teaching for resilience in the Learning Resilience domain. 

  • References

    Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2018). Core SEL competencies. Chicago: CASEL. Retrieved from https://casel.org/core-competencies/. 

    National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2004). Young children develop in an environment of relationships. Boston: Harvard University. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/wp1/.

    Shonkoff, J.P., & Phillips, D.A. (2000). From neurons to neighbourhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington: National Academy Press.

Resources

  • Emotional development (465.20KB, PDF)

Learning Resilience

Support the development of social and emotional skills.

Last updated: November, 2024

    • What is Be You?
    • Be You Stories
    • Immediate support
    • Be You implementation support
    • How to get started
    • Register yourself
    • Register your community
    • Professional Learning
    • Track your Professional Learning
    • Evidence and accreditation
    • Planning for Implementation
    • Resource topics
    • Wellbeing toolkits
    • Implementation tools
    • Fact Sheets
    • Explore Be You events
    • Upcoming events
    • Event recordings
  • Delivered by
    • Beyond Blue home
  • In collaboration with
    • Early Childhood Australia home
    • Headspace home
  • Funded by
    • Logo - Department of Health and Aged Care
  • Follow us

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Youtube
    • Twitter
  • Contact us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy
  • Privacy collection statement

Copyright © 2025 Australian Government

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags

Be You acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend our respect to all Elders and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples across Australia.