Emotional education is a continuous process that we want to develop in our students throughout their schooling, allowing them to resolve problems related to emotions and feelings. In our programme we take into consideration emotions and feelings such as happiness, sadness, hostility, frustration, hopelessness, fear, free will…
One of the objectives of the project is to enable students, from a very young age, to be aware of and regulate their own emotions that will eventually determine their life style, their identity, their personality and their behaviour. Through this project, we offer them a basis on which to build their future emotional maturity.
We set out several objectives; to develop self-awareness; to be able to identify thoughts, and feelings.
Auto-regulation of emotions; how to regulate emotions adequately.
To increase the threshold of tolerance of frustration, an important element for learning. Develop empathy; to know how to identify the feelings of others.
To expand their ability to listen; on one hand, to listen to oneself and on the other, to listen to others.
To develop the ability to solve problems and take responsible decisions.
To generate positive emotions and interpersonal skills in order to resolve conflicts appropriately.
The form teacher is the person of reference that students have in school, therefore, he/she is the person who develops and teaches the subject of emotional intelligence, along with the Counseling Department, although the entire educational community is involved.
Our method is a global one; the contents being integrated and interrelated transversely within the curriculum. It is a continual and practical process; taught through group dynamics, self-reflection, games, reading stories, discussions, brainstorming, role-play, teamwork, etc. and the sessions are developed actively and dynamically so that the students develop their own vision of the world as well as that of others.
Each stage requires a specific type of action, therefore the programme of activities has been divided into groups according to pupils’ age. The School Counseling Department is responsible for the preparation and follow-up of these activities. However, these can be adapted weekly, according to the needs of the group of students in question and with consultation with the form teacher.
From the age of two, teachers use the methodology based on here and now, as it is important at this age to act on each situation as and when it occurs. Conflicts or problems which arise within the school are used as examples to teach pupils how to solve and analyze feelings that cause these situations. There is an ‘Emotions Corner’ where children may go to in order to think about their feelings. With guidance from their teachers at these early stages, they try to understand and find solutions to situations of conflict.
During the primary stage, form teachers dedicate a daily, twenty- minute session to this subject to help students reflect on their day, think about the various emotional states that they have encountered and why they experience such feelings. Scheduled activities are carried out during this time. At Secondary level, the programme is adapted so that these sessions can be carried out during the weekly tutorial session.