LAUSR

Existing research on students’ competencies and their educational experiences points to social and emotional competencies as being crucial for students’ well-being and academic performance, and for establishing satisfactory relationships with others. These findings stress the importance of the role of the school in fostering not only students’ cognitive development, but their social and emotional development as well. School-based programmes for students’ social and emotional learning (SEL) hold the potential to provide “the missing piece” in education (Bridgeland, Bruce and Hariharan, 2013), thus providing students with the skills needed for personal development and fostering harmonious social relations. Social and emotional learning includes processes of acquiring core competencies to recognise and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, appreciate the perspectives of others, establish and maintain positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and handle interpersonal situations constructively (Elias et al., 1997). According to the widely used conceptual framework, SEL programmes aim to foster the development of five interrelated sets of cognitive, affective and behavioural competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), 2003). In other words, SEL programmes aim to build children’s capacities to accept and value themselves Students’ Social, Emotional and Intercultural Competencies and their Development in School Settings