The socio-emotional education It is the process by which a person acquires skills, beliefs and competencies related to the social and sentimental aspects of his life. It is an area that has been largely ignored in education, but has recently begun to pay more attention.
Traditionally, formal education focused primarily on teaching what are known as 'hard skills'. These have to do with the classic subjects of knowledge, such as mathematics, the use of language or science. In recent years, however, social-emotional education has been found to be essential in virtually all areas.
Theories such as that of multiple intelligences or that of emotional intelligence have allowed the focus to be placed on skills related to self-knowledge, the regulation of one's own feelings and relationships with others. Currently, programs are being developed that allow training these skills in a formal way.
Studies related to socio-emotional education suggest that receiving training in this regard can help students to have greater self-confidence, be able to set their own goals and meet them, know how to make better decisions and in general can relate to others and with your environment more effectively.
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According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) foundation, socio-emotional education is made up of five different competencies, which feed back and reinforce each other: self-awareness, self-control, social awareness, interpersonal skills and responsible decision-making. Next we will see each of them.
Self-awareness is the ability to know oneself and discover the most relevant characteristics of oneself. This implies, for example, knowing what our strengths and our limitations are; but it also has to do with understanding the emotions we feel at all times, our preferences and our desires.
Self-awareness is a fundamental part of social-emotional education, since it allows us to act in the most effective way possible in different areas by helping us to choose which course of action to take. It also involves developing greater self-esteem and a sense of optimism..
Finally, it has been seen that people with greater self-awareness usually have what is known as a “growth mindset”. By knowing where they are at each moment, they are better able to focus on their own development and move forward to achieve what they want.
Another skill closely related to self-awareness is self-control. It is about the ability to regulate one's emotional states in order to act in the desired way and avoid unnecessary suffering..
Thus, people with greater self-control are able to manage their stress levels, act despite not being motivated, work to meet the goals they have set for themselves, develop habits and control their impulses..
Social awareness encompasses many of the characteristics and capacities related to empathy. It is, therefore, the ability to understand the points of view of other people, in addition to the emotions they are experiencing at all times..
However, the concept of social conscience goes further, by also including the ability to understand the perspectives of individuals with very different experiences, including those who come from other countries, cultures or groups. This is especially important in today's environment, which has a great diversity of races, preferences and opinions..
Interpersonal skills are all those that allow to develop relationships with other individuals in an effective and satisfactory way. In addition, they are also necessary to function correctly in environments in which it is necessary to interact with more people.
Within this category we find a large number of different capacities, related to areas such as communication, teamwork and conflict resolution; but also those that have to do with the management of social expectations, collaboration and assertiveness.
The last dimension that is trained with socio-emotional education is decision making. Due to the complexity of the modern world, it is increasingly necessary to have tools that ensure that the right path is chosen based on ethical standards, personal values and long-term thinking..
Thus, a person with true capacity to make responsible decisions has to realize not only the consequences that what he chooses will have in the short term, but also what may happen from his choice in the future. She also has to be able to set standards of behavior for herself, based on what she thinks is right and what is socially acceptable..
Until relatively recently, social-emotional skills were not highly valued in academia. Traditionally, it was considered the responsibility of families and institutions such as organized religions to educate children and young people in areas such as ethics, emotional management and social skills..
However, the rapid changes that society has undergone in recent decades and certain challenges such as the loss of stability due to factors such as the automation of jobs and the fluidity of modern relationships have made social-emotional education much needed. to function in the current environment.
Thus, the studies carried out in this regard suggest that having a good level of social-emotional skills can help people achieve their goals, be more satisfied with their life situation, have more satisfactory relationships and improve their self-esteem. At the same time, it also protects against psychological problems, loneliness, stress and frustrations of all kinds..
Due to this, more and more countries are including certain aspects of socio-emotional education in their classrooms, with the aim of preparing their young people for the challenges of modern life..
However, there is still much to do in this regard, since the formal education system has not yet managed to adapt to the new needs of the current century..
Education in socio-emotional skills implies working with quite complex aspects, such as self-knowledge and the management of one's own emotions. For this reason, it is usual that these topics begin to be discussed when students reach a certain age, usually already within adolescence..
However, already in the early years of formal education it is possible to encourage the acquisition of social-emotional skills in students. Unlike what happens later, generally in preschool and primary school, this will be done through practical exercises, which can indirectly develop the five areas mentioned above..
The key to developing socio-emotional skills in young children is to do it from a specific level, relating each of the areas to be worked on with the direct experience of the students..
For example, if you want to foster empathy, you usually do exercises that force children to put themselves directly in someone else's shoes.
In addition to this, it is also possible to work on socio-emotional education through stories, concrete examples and resources such as films or stories. In any case, the most important thing in this educational stage is to realize that children are already capable of learning to deal with the world, even though they do not do it in the same way as adults..
Starting in adolescence, when young people reach what is known as the “stage of formal operations”, it is possible to make the learning of socio-emotional skills more explicit. At this point, students can reflect just as an adult would, since their mental capacities are almost fully developed..
Both in high school and high school, some subjects were introduced some time ago that sought to work on social-emotional skills directly. This is the case, for example, of subjects such as ethics, education for citizenship or philosophy..
However, even at this point it is necessary for teachers to be able to relate what they want to convey to the personal experience of the students..
Thus, instead of speaking in an abstract way about concepts such as ethics, empathy or assertiveness, it has been shown that it is much more useful for young people to use concrete and practical examples that make them reflect on their own life.
On the other hand, socio-emotional education is especially important at this stage of the students' lives. This is because during adolescence, young people undergo many changes that they generally do not know how to cope with; and therefore they are exposed to all kinds of risks and problems that can have very serious consequences in their adult life.
In this way, despite the fact that many advances have been made in the teaching of social-emotional skills, it is still necessary to develop new methods to work on them and implement them both within the family and in the field of formal education..
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