The Socio-Emotional Competencies of Students: A Guide for Teachers

This book comprises materials that may serve as an inspiration to teachers and non-pedagogical employees who wish to develop socio-emotional skills in pupils. (...) There are various concepts of socio-emotional learning (SEL); however, they all refer to the development of personal and social skills, including learning how to cooperate, be empathetic, communicate, self-regulate (manage one’s emotions) and think critically. (...) Socio-emotional competencies of pupils foster their functioning in school and achieving – both personal and professional – success in the future. These competencies may be developed at school. The socio-emotional learning process is not a separate aspect of the didactic process; it is rather a philosophy of developing these competencies during each activity: lessons, project work, and school breaks. *** The guide is prepared in a way that makes it accessible. It is divided into subject sections, (...) and individual modules are not too extensive; each of them ends with a set of questions which encourage a reflection. Particular problems are also completed with examples from school practice. (…) A significant challenge in training teachers is not providing them with knowledge but working with teachers’ personal beliefs. Owing to these beliefs, information is either accepted or not, and the proposed solutions are implemented (or not) into school practices, both didactic and pedagogical. The authors offer questions that are very useful in terms of encouraging reflections on one’s own opinions, beliefs, practices and their consequences. Małgorzata Rosalska, Prof. UAM, Ph.D. The book has been created for the purposes of the EU project Building social and emotional skills to BOOST mental health resilience in children and young people in Europe and funded from the Horizon 2020 scheme.