Implementation of a program to promote socioemotional skills development at school

Abstract

The socio-emotional skills have an impact on both student’s academic performance and on their social and emotional development. Several investigations have raised the effectiveness of programs aimed to the promotion of socio-emotional skills at school. The present study assessed the impact of the Aprender a SER program on a sample of 153 students aged 8 to 12 in Argentina. We compared the development of emotional problems and personal resources in a control and in an experimental group. Significant differences were observed, there being less presence of problems and greater resources in the children who received the intervention. An effect of age and sex on some of the evaluated indicators is observed. The study provides evidence to support the need to implement active learning, focused, explicit and sequenced programs to promote the development of socio-emotional skills at school from a curricular perspective.