Socio-Emotional Competencies and Well-Being in Online Educational Settings

Introduction

The teaching and learning process encompasses several essential aspects to ensure its quality. While formal elements such as content, methodology, objectives, and resources are widely addressed throughout the curricula (López, 2022), they are not the only factors that contribute to a successful academic experience. In the educational environment, aspects such as well-being and social, emotional, and moral competencies are particularly relevant due to their potential to promote mental health and positive functioning in children and young people (Hernández Barraza, 2017). Teachers and students with low levels of well-being or who do not feel socially, emotionally, or morally competent may compromise their effectiveness and performance, which will also imply a lower quality of education. These have been considered as protective in the face of the changes that have arisen, ranging from face-to-face contact to the revaluation of teaching-learning methodologies based on online tools (Ruiz-Sánchez, 2020). Quality is also a matter of concern for the international community, as evidenced by the United Nations 2030 Agenda through the Sustainable Development Goals, in which these issues are addressed in goals 3 (good health and well-being) and 4 (quality education) (United Nations, 2023).

Promoting socio-emotional and moral competencies is essential for teachers to meet the personal, social, and professional demands of their labour (Slapac et al., 2021). In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards the inclusion of these aspects in educational curricula due to the demands of the schools to integrate social and emotional learning into the teaching-learning process (CASEL, 2012). This requires a significant organisational change, involving the entire educational community (Bryk et al., 2010) with a particular emphasis on teacher training (López-López & Lagos San Martín, 2021). There are political initiatives to include socio-emotional competencies in the university curriculum aimed at preparing more skilled professionals who will have a positive impact on society (Llorent et al., 2020); nevertheless, this process needs to be developed carefully as teachers require adequate training to meet the needs of their students. A teacher who is well-trained in socio-emotional and moral competencies will have a broad set of competencies that will allow them to achieve high-quality professional performance, such as be able to perceive, understand, manage, and regulate not only their own well-being but also that of their students. (Llorent et al., 2020). The result will be the promotion of educational contexts that enhance a holistic development of students, going beyond the focus on content learning to the search for the optimal development and functioning.

Based on these premises, this chapter aims to conceptualise the constructs of well-being and socio-emotional and moral competencies, especially considering the increasing relevance of transnational learning of future teachers (Montejo-Ángel & Pava-Díaz, 2022). Secondly, educational practices related to the field will be reviewed, and the relevance of their promotion will be addressed, bearing in mind virtual learning environments as an educational tool. Finally, implications and future research lines will be suggested.