Primary School Teachers' Beliefs on Students' Socio-Emotional Development

Abstract

The social (communicative competence, mastering social norms) and emotional (responsibility, self-control, and self-development) development of students is one of the tasks of the modern school, which is presented in sections such as "Personal" and "Meta-skills" educational results of the Federal State Educational Standard at all levels of general education. In modern research, the concept of ‘social-emotional skills’ (SES) is commonly used to define this area. The development of SES takes place both at school and outside; regarding school, it is the teacher who is the leading conductor of the development of SES. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to explore the perceptions of elementary school teachers about SES and the system of practices for the development of SES at the elementary school. Thus, qualitative (Research 1) and quantitative (Research 2) research were carried out. In Research 1, two focus groups were conducted with 13 primary school teachers. Based on the results of this phase, a "Questionnaire on Teachers' Perceptions of SES" was developed and used in Research 2 on a sample of primary school teachers (N = 144). The results indicate that teachers emphasize the importance of some SES (achieving and setting goals, working with others) for school adaptation and future success both at school and in life, despite the lack of a systematic approach to the development of SES.