Emotional education is a continuous process that we wish to develop in our pupils throughout their school lives, allowing them to resolve problems related to emotions and feelings. In our programme we consider emotions and feelings such as happiness, sadness, hostility, frustration, desperation, fear, willingness…
One of the project objectives is to train the pupils from Nursery to identify and manage the emotions that will determine their way of life, their identity, their personality and their behavior. This way we offer them a base on which to build their future emotional maturity.
We consider several objectives, developing self-awareness so that they identify thoughts and feelings. Emotional self-regulation, so feelings are controlled adequately. Increasing the threshold for their frustration tolerance, so important for their learning. Developing empathy, so they know how to identify others’ feelings. Increasing their ability to listen, on one hand to listen to one’s self and on the other to listen to others. Developing the ability to resolve problems and make responsible decisions. Generating positive emotions and interpersonal skills to resolve conflicts the right way.
The form teacher is the reference that the pupils have at school, therefore it is their job to develop and teach the subject of Emotional Intelligence, alongside the School Counseling Department, although all the educational community is involved.
Our methodology is global; the curriculum content is inter-related and integrated in a transversal manner. It is a continuous and practical process; activities such as group work, self awareness, games, story telling, debates, brainstorming sessions, role play, team work etc are used and developed in an active and dynamic way, henceforth the pupils from an early age, develop their vision of the world and of others.
The School Counseling Department is in charge of the creation and follow up of the aforementioned activities who, along with the form teacher, make weekly adjustments to the planning according to the needs of each specific group of pupils.
From the age of two, a methodology based on the here and now is used, as it is important to act upon each situation as it arises. Conflicts and problems that emerge at school are used to teach how to resolve them and to analyze the feelings that these situations generate.
There is an Emotions Corner in each classroom, where the pupils, carefully guided by the teacher in these early stages, can sit and think about their emotional state, understand their feelings and look for answers to conflicts.
Twenty minutes are dedicated daily to this subject, so that the pupils can take stock of their day and go over the different emotional states that they have been through and why. The different planned activities are also covered in these sessions.