Social-emotional Skills Development, the Design of a Project in a Danish School

Abstract

This study is inspired by the theoretical framework of socio-emotional education. This is concerned with the process through which children and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills to understand, manage emotions, establish, and maintain positive relationships. This study deals with a practical educational experience developed in a school in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark. The participants were teachers and children, aged 9/10 years old, from a school located in the district of Nørrebro, selected based on the necessity to develop social and emotional skills such as self-awareness and self-management. The approach of the research is qualitative, through the development of a participant observation process and an immersion in the field where the researcher has an active role and participants are conscious to be observed. The investigation shows a plan of activities to practice emotional skills and a chronogram to understand the implementation of the project. This is supplemented by an analysis of human and material resources. The present study responds to the need to spread the implementation of a socio-emotional education project in the northern European context. It marks a significant step for the diffusion of socio-emotional education in an inclusive system careful to the mental health of everyone involved.