Challenges and Opportunities of a Social and Emotional Skills High School Program: The Case of Mexico

• In Event: Current International Practices and Challenges in Social and Emotional Learning Intervention Programs

Abstract

Increasingly, especially in the context of innovation and reforms of educational systems and programs, evidence shows that the social and emotional skills represent a very important aspect in the education of young people. Although the training of these skills had been considered relevant for several years, it had not been made explicit that these skills formed a substantial part of the profile of successful high school graduates.

In Mexico in 2017, a program was restructured and built up based on the information that was available at that time regarding the Mexican high school educational system and the training of social and emotional skills. Its central axis was related to the development of these skills as a part of the formal curriculum, which were already considered essential in the students' graduation profile. However, developing programs to train these skills is not an easy task. Quality of the program’s implementation and measures of its quality are indispensable elements when considering the effectiveness of these programs. There is also evidence that monitoring, evaluating and making adjustments to educational programs is essential for them to be sustainable, and also to improve.

This paper presents the experiences and challenges faced throughout the development of a program of social and emotional skills with an objective to improve school resources. The goal of the program was to promote the learning of the social and emotional skills for high school students, to help them promote their present and future well-being, and to give them tools to successfully face their academic and personal challenges.

The program offered tools (videos, didactic materials, etc.), activities, and a guide on how to teach these skills. These materials were available for students and teachers. There were six social and emotional skills included in the program: self-knowledge, self-regulation, social conscience, collaboration, decision-making, and grit. The program was carried out with national coverage that included almost 4 million students of the public system across 32 states in more than 12,000 public high schools. Implementation was standardized and considered high-quality.

We will discuss the evaluation of the existing program, the design of the new one, the challenges related to its implementation and the measures that were used for its evaluation. Despite the advantages of coverage and communication offered by the website of the program, some aspects were identified as areas that required improvements, particularly surrounding design and implementation. These areas included teacher training, dissemination of the program, advice for implementation, fidelity to the instructional design, and fidelity in the implementation in the classroom. Accordingly, some strategies about the implementation of the program and the measures that were used for its evaluation will be discussed.

Authors

• Ingrid Garcia, Ceneval

• Sofia Frech, Fundacion Reintegra