The COMPUSEL project aimed to improve SEL skills among primary school students and give training to teachers to support this development. The initiative includes creating a curriculum and digital stories that address various social and emotional challenges, fostering self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, building relationships, and responsible decision-making. Since teachers played a crucial role in student achievement, and their effectiveness was linked to ongoing professional development this project emphasized the integration of computational thinking with SEL, equipping students with problem-solving skills necessary for future challenges. Ultimately, the project sought to train teachers to implement innovative methods and support students in achieving social inclusion and success in developing their SEL skills.
Today, technology has penetrated many aspects of life, automating various sectors from agriculture to industry. This shift created new jobs, emphasizing human cognitive and emotional skills, making social-emotional learning (SEL) essential for employability and effective social interactions. SEL involves being aware of emotions and managing them, overcoming challenges, building healthy relationships, and empathizing, which are vital for students’ success in school and real life. To improve SEL skills, integrating computational thinking became important. This involved decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition, and algorithmic thinking skills, which could help students solve complex problems across disciplines. Promoting SEL alongside computational thinking would allow students to progress consciously and prepare them for the future by equipping them with the knowledge and interpersonal skills necessary for success. A curriculum integrating those approaches and digital teaching materials has been an immediate need for current primary school teachers to support them in teaching how to overcome challenges that SEL addresses, using a systematic methodology. Thus, COMPUSEL addressed these needs.