The main objectives of EduCardia are: Objective #1: To develop and validate an assessment methodology for training teachers on SEL teaching strategies and on techniques to assess the socio-emotional competencies of students. Objective #2: To make clear and self-explainable the interpretation of Emotional Intelligence (EI) constructs and models by teachers. This will be achieved through (i) the release of a revised version of the open-access EmoSocio EI model, and (ii) the preparation of the associated SEL training material for teachers. Objective #3: To facilitate teachers to apply the proposed pedagogical methodology in a wide scale and with low entry barriers, based on the development and the release of an open-source psychometric toolkit and the development of a set of in-person and online SEL activities. Objective #4: To evaluate the performance of the application of the proposed methodology and to provide documentation with the main lessons learnt, through a set of application scenarios in primary and secondary schools. Objective #5: To disseminate and communicate the results of EduCardia in the Erasmus+ platforms, as well as in the wide network of the EduCardia partners, enabling their adoption by interested parties.
The development of a safe and supportive school climate within the classrooms can provide new opportunities for enhancing children’s academic, social, and relational outcomes. To facilitate the success of inclusion as an approach and philosophy, it is important that all class members as well as their teachers develop the skills to understand each other, and to communicate and work together effectively. EduCardia is offering an assessment methodology, focusing on assessing and improving socio-emotional competencies of students in primary and secondary educational level. EduCardia tackles both the development of the appropriate social and emotional learning (SEL) material and the development of an online tool (software), enabling teachers to efficiently apply assessment processes within their classrooms and track the development of socioemotional competencies of students. The main distinguishing point in EduCardia compared to various SEL-oriented activities is that it focuses on the assessment part and the provision of methodologies and tools to facilitate teachers to apply this part within classrooms. Although there is a lot of SEL material available, few methodologies and tools are provided for the assessment part.