Human Formation and Socioemotional Approaches in the School Context

Lígia Lira Feitosa Nascimento; Alaina Alves

DOI: 10.22167/2675-6528-202603157

Article derived from a Final Course Work (TCC), with content based on the student’s original work and adapted to the editorial format of the E&S Magazine with the support of the ResumeAI tool, an artificial intelligence solution developed by the Pecege Institute for textual synthesis and organization.

Abstract

Although the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) established a commitment to integral education, emotions, character formation, values, and virtues were superficially addressed in textbooks. In this context, the approach to socioemotional proposals, presented as cross-cutting themes, was investigated in teaching materials for Early Childhood Education and the Initial Years of Elementary School. The objective was to understand how these themes were contemplated in pedagogical proposals and in the promotion of socioemotional competencies. A qualitative and exploratory documentary analysis was conducted, focusing on the content and pedagogical methodologies employed in teaching collections from Editora FTD for Early Childhood Education and the Initial Years of Elementary School. The results indicated that socioemotional approaches in teaching materials were sporadic, indirect, and fragmented, serving more as a context for cognitive development than as a structured and intentional pedagogical axis. It was concluded that there is a need for a virtue-based socioemotional program to fill the gaps identified in textbooks, proposing the “Crescer com o Coração de Leão” program as an initiative to promote integral human formation.

Keywords: Education; Teaching material; Neuroscience; Socioemotional; Virtues.

1. Introduction

Human formation transcends the mere acquisition of linguistic and mathematical knowledge, expanding into the domain of emotional intelligence, which encompasses the ability to know and manage one’s own emotions, motivate oneself, recognize emotions in others, and manage relationships (Goleman, 2012). In this expanded context, virtues such as self-control, self-mastery, self-knowledge, education for will and freedom, order, temperance, and a sense of responsibility are considered essential for the integral formation of the individual, constituting an urgent and permanent task (Faus, 2021).

In Brazil, recent educational guidelines, such as the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), seek to reassert the importance of socioemotional skills, establishing a commitment to integral education (Brazil, 2018). However, it is observed that, despite these specifications, emotions, character formation, values, and virtues are often addressed superficially in teaching materials. Furthermore, the role of families is often secondary in children’s development, creating a gap in promoting values such as respect, solidarity, and cooperation, which should be experienced both at school and at home (Fraiman, 2022).

Socioemotional skills, although advocated by the BNCC (Brazil, 2018) as abilities of emotional self-regulation, empathy, and social coexistence, find their ethical foundation in the formation of virtues, understood as stable character dispositions acquired by habit (Aristotle, 2009). Socioemotional education, by articulating skills and virtues, contributes to the integral formation of the individual, aligning emotion, action, and values (Morin, 2000). However, the contemporary educational context still faces significant challenges in achieving this integral formation. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, has amplified emotional fragility and the urgent need to develop emotional intelligence and human formation to deal with oneself and with others (Fraiman, 2022).

Given this scenario, the approach to socioemotional proposals in the teaching materials for Early Childhood Education and the Initial Years of Elementary School has proven fragmented and lacking the necessary pedagogical intentionality for systematic development. The analysis of these materials reveals that, although they touch upon emotional and social aspects, the main focus remains on cognitive development, leaving a gap in the explicit and structured promotion of socioemotional skills and the formation of virtues. This superficiality prevents the effective implementation of a truly integral education, where cognitive and socioemotional aspects are inseparable processes in brain function, especially in childhood (Damasio, 2012).

The relevance of this study lies in highlighting the need for pedagogical proposals that more systematically integrate the emotional, ethical, and social dimensions into the learning process, recognizing the central role of emotions, bonds, and values in education. Thus, this work aimed to investigate how the socio-emotional context is addressed in the Teaching Materials for Early Childhood Education and the Initial Years of Elementary School, mainly through the elucidation of virtue, in order to understand how human formation occurs in current schooling.

2. Material and Methods

The present investigation was carried out through a qualitative and exploratory documentary analysis, with the purpose of understanding how didactic materials address the socio-emotional theme, presented as a cross-cutting topic. This type of research allowed for an in-depth examination of the content and pedagogical methodologies employed, seeking to identify how human formation is contemplated in the current school context, according to the general objective of the study.

The empirical object of the research consisted of didactic materials intended for Early Childhood Education and the Initial Years of Elementary School. Specifically, two collections from Editora FTD were analyzed: “Na Ponta do Lápis”, aimed at Early Childhood Education, and “Porta Aberta para o Mundo”, directed at the Initial Years of Elementary School.

The selection of these collections was justified by their wide distribution and circulation in Brazilian public schools, which makes them representative of the pedagogical proposals in use. For Early Childhood Education, editions from 2018 onwards were examined, covering the age group of 2 to 5 years. In the Early Years of Elementary School, the focus was on materials from the 2nd and 5th grade, with the aim of observing possible variations in the approach to the socio-emotional theme throughout schooling.

The data collection instruments were the teaching materials themselves, which included student books, family guides, handwriting materials, and complementary activities. Additionally, the teacher’s manuals were examined, which contain theoretical guidelines and extra resources to deepen classroom learning proposals, providing a complete overview of the pedagogical guidelines.

The data collection and analysis procedures involved submitting these materials to a rigorous documentary analysis. The content and pedagogical methodology employed were examined from the perspective of the research theme, seeking to identify the clarity of the socio-emotional proposals, the way activities are carried out, and the presence of emotions, values, and virtues in the educational act.

For an in-depth analysis, the contents of the classes contained in the teacher’s books, which guide pedagogical practices, were examined. Orientations to teachers that precede lesson planning were also considered. The analysis sought to understand the textbook proposal on the socio-emotional, the pedagogical intentionality, and how the activities are developed.

The data analysis technique was qualitative and exploratory documentary analysis, according to the methodology of research in education (Mattar and Ramos, 2021). The objective was to outline a real and concrete scenario of the consideration of socioemotional themes and the application of the subjects addressed and suggested by the collections, without presenting empirical findings or interpretations.

The research, of an applied nature, aimed to provide practical contributions to reflections on the contemporary educational landscape regarding the studied theme. The organization of data for analysis focused on the identification and categorization of socio-emotional approaches present in the materials, allowing for a systematic understanding of their presence and pedagogical treatment.

3. Results and Discussion

The analysis of the didactic materials investigated revealed that, although the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) advocates for integral education, the approach to socio-emotional competencies and the formation of virtues in textbooks for Early Childhood Education and the Initial Years of Elementary School still manifests in a punctual, indirect, and fragmented way. This scenario contrasts with neuroscience evidence, which, according to Damasio (2012), indicates the intrinsic integration between emotional and cognitive processes in brain functioning, with affective experiences exerting significant influence on learning and knowledge construction, especially in childhood. Understanding this interdependence is crucial for the development of effective pedagogical proposals.

Socioemotional development, from a neuroscientific perspective, cannot be dissociated from the neurobiological processes of learning. Brain structures such as the limbic system, responsible for processing emotions, and the prefrontal cortex, associated with executive functions, act interdependently in knowledge construction (Damasio, 2012). Educational experiences that promote the naming and understanding of emotions, through affective labeling, contribute to the modulation of the amygdala and the strengthening of connections with the prefrontal cortex, favoring emotional self-regulation, a fundamental skill for learning and social coexistence. Teaching materials that encourage the identification of feelings and reflection on attitudes can thus consolidate complex cognitive processes.

However, the investigation of the didactic materials from the collection “Porta Aberta para o Mundo” (Open Door to the World), intended for the Early Years of Elementary School, revealed a limitation in the explicitation and systematization of socio-emotional proposals. In the 2nd year, activities that addressed themes such as friendship and coexistence, like the one that invited students to observe an illustration from Turma da Mônica and list names of friends, primarily focused on the development of cognitive skills, such as writing, classification, and information organization. The socio-emotional dimension, although present in the context, was not an object of structured learning, lacking guidance for reflection on feelings or conflict resolution.

The detailed analysis of socio-emotional themes in the 2nd-year material of the “Porta Aberta para o Mundo” collection revealed that self-knowledge was approached through specific text interpretation activities that solicited the student’s personal opinion, indirectly and superficially, without clear pedagogical intentionality for naming feelings or emotional deepening. Empathy, present in narrative texts about coexistence or conflicts, was treated implicitly, depending exclusively on teacher mediation to be worked on as a skill. Cooperation, manifested in pair or group activities, was operational, focusing on task execution rather than reflection on respect or listening. The expression of feelings, through open-ended questions like “What would you do?”, was sporadic and lacked strategies to expand emotional vocabulary and affective awareness. Finally, social relationships, approached through image interpretation or reading, were unstructured, with no guidance for emotional analysis or the construction of affective bonds.

In the 5th year of the “Open Door to the World” collection, despite the increase in textual and thematic complexity, the socio-emotional approach remained predominantly cognitive and with less intentional deepening. One example was the activity in the “Door to reading and writing” section, which invited students to interpret a comic strip about prejudice. Although the proposal stimulated reflection on a relevant social theme, the pedagogical approach remained focused on the conceptual understanding of the term and textual interpretation. No guidelines were identified for the development of socio-emotional skills such as empathy, respect for differences, or conflict resolution, evidencing a punctual and contextualized approach, without systematicity.

The socio-emotional themes in the 5th-grade material of the “Porta Aberta para o Mundo” collection also presented limitations. Autonomy was encouraged in authorial textual production and the resolution of individual activities, but was only addressed in the academic field, without emotional or ethical reflection. Responsibility, addressed in informative texts and research proposals, was content-focused, with no articulation between academic and socio-emotional responsibility. Coexistence and citizenship, present in texts with social themes, were conceptual, with a lack of reflective mediation on feelings, prejudice, listening, and ethical positioning. Personal memories and experiences, which reflected on significant events and associated emojis with emotions, were reflective and contextual, but without pedagogical guidance for recognizing, understanding, or regulating emotions.

Another example in the 5th-grade Portuguese Language textbook, in the unit titled “Remembering is living,” proposed reflection on significant events and the association of emojis with photographs representing emotions. Although this activity favored the expression of opinions and memories, no pedagogical guidelines were identified that promoted the recognition, understanding, or regulation of the emotions involved. The socio-emotional dimension, in this case, appeared as a contextual element of the activity, without configuring a structured proposal for the development of socio-emotional skills. This finding reinforces the perception that, even when they touch upon emotional aspects, teaching materials do not offer systematic and intentional treatment.

In summary, the analysis of the “Open Door to the World” collection demonstrated that, although aspects related to emotions, interpersonal relationships, and coexistence appear occasionally, they are predominantly used as context for the development of cognitive skills. The socioemotional approach, therefore, occurs indirectly and fragmentarily, without a structured pedagogical proposal aimed at the progressive development of socioemotional competencies. This dependence on the teacher’s individual initiative for socioemotional mediation represents a significant gap in the implementation of integral education, as recommended by the BNCC (Brazil, 2018).

The investigation of the collection “Na Ponta do Lápis” (On the Tip of the Pencil), aimed at Early Childhood Education, also indicated a limited deepening in the development of socio-emotional skills, with applications devoid of pedagogical intentionality. Socio-emotional themes, such as recognizing emotions, were addressed through illustrations and stories that demonstrated joy, sadness, or fear, visually and implicitly, without the emotions being named or intentionally explored. Social coexistence, present in group activities and school routines, was behavioral, focusing on adaptation to routine and not on the development of socio-emotional skills.

Empathy, addressed in everyday situations with characters, was indirect, without reflective mediation on the other’s feelings. Collective rules and limits, inserted into landscapes with elements of human intervention, remained implicit and unsystematized in the socio-emotional dimension. Personal expression and identity, through drawing productions or image collage, were spontaneous but lacked pedagogical intentionality to explore dreams, the child’s interests, self-esteem, and self-knowledge. One example was the activity where children observed a landscape with human interventions and were invited to identify changes and draw, contributing to spatial perception but not to reflections on social responsibility or care for collective spaces.

Another activity from the “On the Tip of the Pencil” collection invited children to answer “What do you want to be when you grow up?” through drawing or collage. Although the proposal favored the expression of imagination and the manifestation of future interests, no pedagogical guidelines were identified that stimulated reflections on feelings, values, or motivations related to choices. Thus, the socioemotional dimension remained implicit and unsystematized, centered on creative expression and graphic representation, without a structured proposal for socioemotional development. These findings corroborate the perception that, even in Early Childhood Education, where themes are closer to the child’s affective and relational universe, pedagogical intentionality for socioemotional development is insufficient.

The comparative analysis between the collections “Na Ponta do Lápis” (Early Childhood Education) and “Porta Aberta para o Mundo” (Elementary School) revealed a pedagogical trend of increased focus on cognitive content as school years progress, accompanied by less explicit attention to socioemotional dimensions. In Early Childhood Education, the themes are closer to the child’s affective and relational universe, but still without a structured pedagogical axis for socioemotional development. In Elementary School, emotional and relational dimensions become even more indirect and restricted to the thematic context of the proposals, with a predominantly cognitive and informative focus. This gap in the systematic approach to socioemotional competencies in the school curriculum reinforces the need for specific pedagogical proposals that integrate emotional, ethical, and relational development into the learning process.

Faced with contemporary school challenges, such as indiscipline and lack of focus, which encompass both the ethical and values dimension and the cognitive one, schools play an increasingly relevant role in promoting educational experiences that favor the integral formation of students. Emotional fragility, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic (Fraiman, 2022), and the growing medicalization of behavioral issues (Moysés and Collares, 2016) highlight the urgency of a personalized and attentive approach. Neuroscience, in turn, reinforces that cognitive and emotional aspects act in an integrated manner in brain function, with emotions being fundamental for behavior and learning (Cosenza and Guerra, 2011; Damasio, 2012).

In this context, socio-emotional skills, although essential for coexistence and personal development, find their ethical foundation and stability in the formation of virtues, understood as stable character dispositions acquired through habit (Aristotle, 2009; Payot, 2018). Personalized education, as proposed by Víctor García Hoz (1911–1998) and Malheiro (2012), seeks the integral development of the student, contemplating formative dimensions such as the cognitive, social, affective, and ethical. Inspired by these principles, the “Crescer com o Coração de Leão” program was developed as a complementary pedagogical proposal, aiming to fill the gaps identified in the didactic materials and promote socio-emotional development and the formation of virtues in a structured way.

The “Grow with a Lion Heart” program was designed to strengthen the socio-emotional dimensions of learning, cultivating virtues, values, and relational skills that favor human development and ethical coexistence in the school environment, with the objective of positively impacting cognitive results. The program’s name, “lion heart,” symbolizes qualities such as courage, inner strength, leadership, generosity, and a sense of protection, representing human virtues such as empathy, responsibility, perseverance, fortitude, and respect for others. The mascot Leo accompanies students throughout their school stages, evolving in its representation to symbolize the gradual process of maturation and development of virtues, reinforcing the idea that socio-emotional development is a continuous and intentional process.

Neuroscience corroborates the effectiveness of educational experiences that integrate emotional and cognitive dimensions, as these promote safer and more motivating learning environments, favoring brain plasticity and the development of essential socio-emotional skills (Damasio, 2012). The “Crescer com o Coração de Leão” program organizes socio-emotional development progressively, introducing central virtues appropriate for each stage of the child’s development. In Early Childhood Education, friendship is prioritized, with the development of positive bonds and caring attitudes, through dynamics about friendship and the resolution of small conflicts. In the 1st year, the focus is on respect, with the recognition of differences and rules of coexistence, through the construction of class agreements and role-playing of coexistence situations.

In the 2nd year, the central virtue is empathy, with the recognition of one’s own and others’ emotions, using stories with the mascot Leo and conversation circles about emotions. In the 3rd year, responsibility is worked on, aiming at understanding the consequences of one’s own attitudes, through reflections on choices and collective commitment activities. In the 4th year, cooperation is the focus, with teamwork and the appreciation of collaboration, developing collective projects and cooperative challenges. Finally, in the 5th year, autonomy and ethics are addressed, with responsible decision-making and reflection on values, through discussions about moral dilemmas and student leadership projects. This intentional progression allows socio-emotional skills to be built gradually and integrated into school experiences.

The pedagogical proposal of the “Grow with a Lion’s Heart” program articulates the formation of virtues with the development of socio-emotional skills. The virtue of respect, for example, is associated with social awareness, developing recognition of others, active listening, and harmonious coexistence. Responsibility is linked to self-management, promoting organization, task completion, and commitment to activities. Empathy, also related to social awareness, seeks understanding of others’ emotions, cooperation, and supportive attitudes. Courage, associated with self-confidence and decision-making, aims at facing challenges, expressing opinions, and perseverance. This articulation seeks to overcome the understanding of socio-emotional skills as mere trained behaviors, guiding them by ethical principles for the integral formation of the student.

An example of a didactic sequence from the program, aimed at the 2nd year of Elementary School, focuses on the virtue of empathy and the competence of social awareness, lasting one week with three pedagogical moments. In the first moment, sensitization, the teacher presents the story “The day Leo noticed a sad friend”, in which the character Leo helps a friend, and leads a circle of conversation to introduce the concept of empathy and stimulate the identification of emotions, active listening, and perception of others. In the second moment, practical activity, students recognize emotions in different situations through cards with images and discuss in groups what could help the children represented, developing emotional recognition, communication, and cooperation.

In the third moment, of application in daily life, each student draws or writes a situation in which they can practice empathy at school, such as helping a colleague or inviting someone to play, and the drawings are displayed on the “Lion Heart Panel”, highlighting empathetic attitudes. This stage aims at reflection on attitudes and habits, perspective-taking, and social responsibility. The program’s structure, with clear objectives, pedagogical progression, and specific activities, favors consistency in educational practices, unlike the occasional approaches observed in the analyzed teaching materials. International research, such as the meta-analysis by Durlak et al. (2011), demonstrates that structured social-emotional learning programs result in significant improvements in students’ skills and academic performance.

In summary, the research showed that the analyzed didactic materials, although touching upon socio-emotional aspects, do not offer a systematic and intentional approach for the development of these skills and virtues. The observed superficiality and fragmentation limit the effectiveness of integral education, which recognizes the inseparability between cognitive and emotional processes. The “Crescer com o Coração de Leão” program emerges as a complementary and structured proposal, aligned with the principles of personalized education and based on neuroscience, seeking to promote the integral development of students throughout their school journey, articulating virtues and socio-emotional skills in a progressive and intentional manner.

4. Conclusion

The study aimed to understand how socio-emotional proposals, presented as transversal themes, were contemplated in teaching materials for Early Childhood Education and the Initial Years of Elementary School, and how they promoted socio-emotional competencies. It was verified that the approach to these themes in the analyzed teaching materials, specifically in the collections from Editora FTD, was punctual, indirect, and fragmented. It was observed that socio-emotional aspects predominantly served as a context for cognitive development, without constituting a structured and intentional pedagogical axis. A gap was identified in the explicitation and systematization of strategies for naming emotions, ethical reflection, and the progressive construction of virtues, which limits the effective implementation of integral education, as advocated by the National Common Curricular Base. Neuroscience, in turn, reinforces the inseparability between emotional and cognitive processes, highlighting the need for a more systematic integration.

Given these findings, the main contribution of this work lies in the proposal of the program “Crescer com o Coração de Leão” (Grow with the Lion’s Heart). This program was developed as a complementary and structured pedagogical initiative, based on the principles of personalized education and neuroscience evidence, aiming to fill the gaps identified in the didactic materials. It seeks to promote the integral development of students, articulating virtues and socio-emotional competencies in a progressive and intentional way throughout their school journey. The qualitative and exploratory nature of the documentary analysis, focused on specific collections, limits the unrestricted generalization of the findings to all didactic materials. However, the results point to the urgency of future studies that investigate the implementation and effectiveness of structured socio-emotional programs, such as “Crescer com o Coração de Leão” (Grow with the Lion’s Heart), in promoting integral human formation and in the positive impact on students’ cognitive outcomes.

Bibliographic References

Aristóteles. (2009). Ética a Nicômaco. Tradução de Antonio de Castro Caeiro. Atlas, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Brasil. Ministério da Educação [MEC]. (2018). Base Nacional Comum Curricular. Disponível em: https://basenacionalcomum.mec.gov.br/implementacao/praticas/caderno-de-praticas/aprofundamentos/195-competencias-socioemocionais-como-fator-de-protecao-a-saude-mental-e-ao-bullying. Acesso em: 01 de nov.2025.

Cosenza, Ramon M.; Guerra, Leonor B. (2011). Neurociência e educação: Como o cérebro aprende. Editora Artmed, Porto Alegre RS, Brasil.

Damasio, Antonio. (2012). O erro de Descartes: emoção, razão e o cérebro humano. Companhia das Letras – São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Durlak, J. A., et al. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development.

Faus F. (2021). A conquista das virtudes, 1 ed. Editora Cultor de Livros São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Fraiman L. (2022). Superação e equilíbrio emocional, 1ed. Editora Gutemberg, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Goleman, D. (2012). Inteligência Emocional, A teoria revolucionária que define o que é ser inteligente. 2ed. Editora Objetiva, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.

Malheiro, João. (2012). Educação personalizada: desafios e perspectivas. CRV. Curitiba SP, Brasil.

Mattar, J.; Ramos, D. K. (2021). Metodologia da pesquisa em educação: Abordagens Qualitativas, Quantitativas e Mistas. Edições 70. São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Morin, Edgar. (2000). Os sete saberes necessários à educação do futuro. Cortez São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Moysés, M. A. A; Collares, C. A. L. (2016). Preconceitos no cotidiano escolar: ensino e medicalização. São Paulo: Cortez. São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Payout J. (2018). The education of the will, 1st ed. Kirion Publisher, Campinas, SP, Brazil.

Article originating from a Final Course Work on Neuroscience and Learning in Education

To learn more about the course, click here and access the MBX Academy platform