A program for the promotion of social emotional skills and positive social school climate mediated by ICT in secondary education: teacher training and impact study.

There is a growing consensus on the need to incorporate social emotional skills (SES) training in educational systems for the 21st century. Countless studies have shown that these skills have an impact on learning and academic achievement, individual and collective wellbeing, and are key for a positive social school climate. They can be promoted through educational interventions, including those mediated by ICT, and are particularly relevant during adolescence.

This study aims at promoting social emotional skills and positive school climate in secondary school students, by training teachers in service in order to implement a program with their students in the classroom. This implies expanding PICA - an evidence-based intervention program for adolescent positive school climate previously designed by the research team in collaboration with teachers and students - as well as adapting its materials to an online learning platform for teachers and directors. The platform will contain an online course on social emotional learning and school climate, educational and ICT tools allowing the coordinated and supervised implementation of the program with students.

During a first focus group study with teachers, data will be collected on the needs and conditions for adapting the program to an ICT-based environment. A second study will evaluate the implementation process (platform register data, interviews and focus groups with participants). A third study addresses program impact on teachers (thematic knowledge, emotion regulation, self-efficacy, social school climate) and students (emotion regulation, prosocial skills, social school climate, academic outcomes) in a quasiexperimental and longitudinal design. The project aims secondary schools that form part of the Red Global de
Aprendizajes in Montevideo, Canelones and Maldonado. As a result of this project, the educational community will dispose of a freely available evidence-based educational tool for the promotion of SES and social climate.