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UNESCO provides tools for the socioemotional learning of children and youths

The document Transformar-nos was prepared with the participation of Hogar de Cristo's Súmate Foundation and has been published in the wake of the serious educational crisis left by the pandemic, with a view to recovery and educational transformation. It was launched in collaboration with the Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez (Chile).

19 May 2023

Proposed guidelines and orientations for the implementation of socioemotional learning are part of the new UNESCO publication Transformar-nos: a framework for educational transformation based on socioemotional learning in Latin America and the Caribbean, launched on May 18, 2023 in Santiago (Chile). The document offers contents that help teachers and their students to build capacities to promote and sustain educational transformation from this perspective.

The text presents a model for generating socioemotional learning opportunities in four scenarios: the classroom, the school, the territory and the educational system as a whole. It also presents the appropriation factors of such learning and details deployment scenarios for socioemotional learning, such as pedagogical and formative practices, well-being and team building, organization and culture of educational spaces, curricular framework, community and networks.

The document was edited after the crisis derived from the pandemic, with a view to recovery and educational transformation.

Through this publication we call for the incorporation of socioemotional learning as a key element for educational recovery. To this end, it is essential to establish a genuine dialogue with young people and educational communities, to gather their concerns and aspirations and, from there, to rethink education.

Claudia Uribe, director, Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC/UNESCO Santiago),

Developing social-emotional learning skills allows dealing with stressful situations, such as those inherited from the COVID 19 pandemic, with emotionally regulated responses and strengthening critical thinking to make better informed decisions and actions. It is in this way that coping with the negative impact on health and learning skills affected by stress and insecurity is facilitated.

Liliana Cortés, executive director of Fundación Súmate, highlighted the opportunities that can be opened up by addressing socioemotional learning through these new instruments: "From our daily work in educational reentry, tools like these are fundamental. If a child or young person does not feel welcome in their school, their disaffection worsens, and for this reason Transformar-nos is a call to find bridges of closeness and build emotional ties that allow us to provide them with security and projection".

Galvarino Jofré, the rector of the Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez (UCSH), an institution that collaborated with the editing of this publication and hosted its launch, emphasized: "Based on our experience in research and work with children and youth, we can observe how both aspects are reflected in the approaches proposed by Transformar-nos. We believe that one of its main contributions lies in its ability to inspire diverse socio-educational systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Furthermore, we acknowledge the potential for this contribution to have an impact at the international level, particularly from the Global South."