Political Pedagogical Project: Investigating Conceptions and Proposing Paths to Develop Socioemotional Competencies

Maria Luiza Couto Lorena; Alaina Alves

DOI: 10.22167/2675-6528-202603256

Article derived from a Course Conclusion 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 Instituto Pecege for textual synthesis and organization.

Summary

The development of socio-emotional skills represents a growing demand in the contemporary educational landscape, driven by neuroscience studies that highlight their importance for integral development. We investigated how Brazilian schools incorporate this demand into their Political Pedagogical Projects (PPPs). A comprehensive bibliographic research was conducted on socio-emotional skills and guiding educational documents. Five PPPs from Brazilian schools were analyzed, including public and private institutions from different states, published between 2016 and 2025, seeking the presence and conception of proposals for socio-emotional development. The analyzed PPPs showed a concern with the integral development of students, encompassing cognitive, affective, and social dimensions. However, they did not explicitly present the concepts of socio-emotional development or socio-affective skills in their exact terms, touching upon the theme through general educational objectives. Affective literacy was not found as an explicit proposal in any of the documents. It was concluded that schools are moving towards the effective implementation of integral education, but they need academic deepening to expand and create new opportunities for socio-affective learning. The research contributed to the elaboration of a pathway for the construction of PPPs and a didactic sequence proposal for socio-affective literacy.

Keywords: Socioaffective literacy; Socioemotional skills; Integral development; Neurosciences; Political Pedagogical Project.

1. Introduction

The educational scenario constantly follows the social, historical, and economic adaptations and changes of society. In the current neoliberal context, where the formation of individuals with the characteristics necessary for the job market is sought, the development of socio-emotional skills emerges as an urgency to be considered and incorporated into educational programs (Pucci et al., 2025). This scenario demands a comprehensive educational proposal that considers the cognitive, social, and emotional aspects of human development.

The relevance of emotion in learning began to be recognized in the 1990s, driven by research such as Goleman (2012). However, attention to the importance of affectivity in cognitive development was already evident in the studies of developmental psychology by Piaget, Vygotsky, and Wallon, who emphasized the construction of the self, social interactions, and affect. Goleman (2012) consolidated this perspective by introducing the concept of emotional intelligence, which encompasses self-awareness, emotion management, self-motivation, empathy, and relationship skills, defining how individuals interact with themselves and others. For the author, emotions are biological reactions and impulses, while feelings are the conscious experiences of these emotions.

The expression “socioemotional learning” gained prominence at a conference of the Fetzer Institute in the United States in the 1990s. At this event, researchers in child and adolescent development defined socioemotional learning as a group of social and emotional skills that promote self-awareness, self-control, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making to students (Chaves, Pinheiro, and Haiashida, 2022). This approach emphasizes the importance of development that goes beyond the merely intellectual, encompassing the totality of the human experience.

Currently, advances in neuroscience reinforce the ideas of developmental psychology, demonstrating that the socio-affective dimension is crucial for cognitive development. Social and emotional experiences directly influence neural circuits, potentially consolidating or weakening new learning (Damásio, 1995). This understanding underscores the need for an education that values a culture of peace and integral development, as advocated by documents such as those from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Jacques Delors Report (1998), which argue for an education that transcends technical training and economic performance (Bento, Júnior, and Rossi, 2022).

In the national context, the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) recognizes the relevance of the affective dimension, establishing ten general competencies that include social and emotional skills, aiming for integral education (Brazil, 2018; Cavalcanti, 2022; D’Auria-Tardeli, 2022). The Ministry of Education (MEC) also published the “School Implementation Manual – Socioemotional Development Strategy” in 2022, which guides socioaffective work based on the five axes of the CASEL organization (Brazil, 2022; CASEL, 2020). Furthermore, several private initiatives, such as those by the Ayrton Senna Institute and the Unibanco Institute, offer materials and programs for the development of these competencies.

Given this panorama, the question arises as to how Brazilian educational institutions have incorporated the demand for the development of socio-emotional skills into their Political Pedagogical Projects (PPPs). In a post-pandemic scenario, marked by social isolation, the urgency of a pedagogical project focused on the socio-affective dimension becomes even more evident (Simões, 2025). PPPs are essential instruments for building institutional identity and promoting educational transformations (Vasconcellos, 2002). The present research is justified by the need to understand whether schools perceive this educational urgency and how emotions and feelings are addressed in their curricula, aiming at the development of socio-affective literacy. Thus, the objective of this study is to understand how the promotion of socio-emotional skills is presented in the educational proposals of the Political Pedagogical Project (PPP) of Brazilian schools.

2. Material and Methods

The present investigation was characterized as a qualitative and descriptive research, employing a documentary approach. The study aimed to understand how the promotion of socio-emotional skills is presented in the educational proposals of the Pedagogical Political Projects (PPPs) of Brazilian schools, according to the objective outlined in the introduction.

To achieve the proposed objective, the research was structured in a sequence of methodological steps. Initially, a comprehensive bibliographic survey on the theme of socio-emotional skills was carried out, followed by the identification of guiding educational documents. Subsequently, an analysis of Pedagogical Political Projects from various Brazilian schools was performed, and finally, a didactic sequence proposal and a pathway for the construction of PPPs were developed.

In the first stage, a theoretical mapping of socio-emotional skills was carried out through a systematic bibliographic survey. The search for scientific literature was conducted on recognized platforms and digital archives, including the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Scielo, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and several university virtual libraries.

For the initial survey of academic productions, keywords such as “socioemotional skills”, “learning”, “education”, “emotion”, “neurosciences” and “projects” were used. Scientific productions published between 1990 and the present day were selected, considering that the theme gained prominence from the 1990s onwards, with contributions from Goleman (2012).

The selection of works was carried out by reading the abstracts, prioritizing those that presented greater alignment with the central theme of the investigation. Additionally, complementary materials from the classes on socio-emotional skills of the postgraduate course in “Neuroscience and learning in education” of the MBA/USP were retrieved and consulted.

In a second moment, the research was dedicated to surveying legal and guiding documents that were approved by Brazilian education bodies. For this purpose, research was conducted on websites of the Ministry of Education (MEC) and private entities operating in the Brazilian educational landscape, in order to understand the structuring of socio-emotional competencies in these frameworks.

The third stage consisted of the survey and analysis of Political Pedagogical Projects (PPPs) from Brazilian schools. Five PPPs were selected from public access, published between 2016 and 2025, aiming to include current educational documents. The selection aimed to ensure institutional diversity, including public and private schools from different Brazilian states, such as São Paulo, Tocantins, Goiás, and Pernambuco.

The analysis of the PPPs was guided by the three fundamental dimensions for the elaboration of these documents, as proposed by Vasconcellos (2002): Analysis of Reality, Projection of Purposes, and Elaboration of Mediation Forms or Action Plan. These dimensions served as a framework to investigate how schools approach the development of socio-emotional competencies.

For each dimension, specific guiding questions were developed. In the Reality Analysis, questions were asked about community reading and the inclusion of socioemotional development as a need. In the Projection of Purposes, institutional objectives, the presence of socioemotional literacy, and the conception of socioemotional competence were investigated. In the Action Plan, proposals and the approach to affective literacy in the curriculum were sought.

The reading of the projects included the search for keywords such as “emotions”, “feelings”, “socioemotional skills”, “socioemotional competencies”, “projects”, “practices”, and “teacher training”. This approach allowed us to identify the presence and treatment of the socioemotional theme in the documents, as well as the conceptions and improvement plans of the educators.

In a fourth step, a path proposal for the construction of a PPP was developed, based on the conceptions of Vasconcellos (2002). This path was structured in three main stages: Analysis of Reality, Projection of Purposes, and Action Plan, each with specific questions and guidelines for the incorporation of affective literacy.

Step 1, Reality Analysis, included the study of the student body, the identification of latent challenges, and the investigation of students’ socioemotional skills. Step 2, Projection of Purposes, focused on the theoretical design of the concept of socioemotional competence and the delimitation of objectives and evaluation. Step 3, Action Plan, addressed the promotion of teacher training, the elaboration of interdisciplinary proposals, and the construction of a welcoming space.

Finally, as a conclusive part of the study, a proposal for a didactic sequence for socio-affective literacy was developed. This sequence was designed to be applied in four distinct classes: Listening Circles, Moral Dilemma Situation, Socioemotional Games, and Assembly, aiming to offer a practical model for emotional development in the school context.

3. Results and Discussion

The analysis of the Pedagogical Political Projects (PPPs) of Brazilian schools revealed a complex panorama regarding the incorporation of socioemotional skills, evidencing a growing concern with the integral development of students. The research findings demonstrate that, although the theme is touched upon through broad educational objectives, the explicit articulation and systematization of socioemotional development still represent a challenge. The urgency of a school context that embraces emotions and promotes the integral development of children is underlined by several authors, such as Araújo et al. (2025), who highlight the need to go beyond merely cognitive development.

The discussion on the relevance of emotions in learning, driven by Goleman (2012) and reinforced by the studies of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Wallon, who already pointed to the construction of the self and the importance of social interactions and affect, finds an echo in contemporary neuroscience. Damásio (1995) confirms that cognitive functions are guided by emotion, and social and emotional experiences directly influence neural circuits, potentially consolidating or weakening new learning. This theoretical perspective underpins the need for an education that integrates cognitive, social, and emotional dimensions, as advocated for a culture of peace and integral development by documents such as those from the UNDP and the Jacques Delors Report (1998).

In the national context, the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) recognizes the affective dimension by establishing ten general competencies, including self-knowledge, self-care, empathy, cooperation, responsibility, and citizenship (Brasil, 2018; Cavalcanti, 2022). The Ministry of Education (MEC) also published the “School Implementation Manual – Socioemotional Development Strategy” in 2022, which guides socio-affective work based on the five axes of the CASEL organization (Brasil, 2022; CASEL, 2020). These national guidelines and the initiatives of private institutions, such as the Ayrton Senna Institute and the Unibanco Institute, provide a framework for the implementation of pedagogical practices focused on affective literacy.

The analysis of the Political Pedagogical Project of School 1, a private institution in Paulínia, São Paulo, published in 2017, revealed that the document aims for comprehensive and humanized education, focusing on affective, social, and cognitive development. However, no specific investigation or reading of the target audience was identified, nor an explicit conceptualization of socio-emotional skills in its theoretical foundations. Socio-emotional development does not appear among the project’s objectives, and there are no specific proposals for affective literacy or socio-emotional development in the curriculum, despite the mention of experiencing emotions in the Arts objectives.

In School 2, a private institution in Araguaína, Tocantins, whose PPP was published in 2017, a strong commitment to the social and educational context was observed, although without a detailed description of the community. “Socio-emotional strengthening” is pointed out as a central attribute in the students’ formation, and the general objectives revolve around the integral formation of the subject, preparing them for collective life and the development of skills beyond the cognitive. The idea of “affective literacy” is implicitly present, again as “socio-emotional strengthening”, but the document does not present an explicit definition of socio-emotional skills or concrete proposals for their development.

School 3’s PPP, a state public institution in Sumaré, São Paulo, published in 2024, presented a diagnostic reading of the community, addressing challenges such as social vulnerability, dropout, and learning. This document demonstrated an explicit concern with affective literacy as a factor for school retention and a basis for youth protagonism. Socioemotional development is mediated by public policies, incorporating guidelines from the Paulista Curriculum, the Inova Educação Program, and the Life Project, which indicates a more concrete and institutionalized approach compared to previous schools.

The objectives of School 3 are more operational and social, focused on student retention in school life. Socioemotional literacy appears implicitly through student retention projects and the general competencies of the BNCC. Socioemotional competencies are addressed from an instrumental and curricular perspective, linked to self-knowledge, autonomy, decision-making, responsibility, and the construction of a life project. The practical plan includes components of the Paulista curriculum, the Life Project, and Inova Educação, configuring a proposal more aligned with educational policies.

Escola 4, a public institution in Goiânia, Goiás, with a 2023 PPP, focuses on non-formal education, specifically on civic education and social behavior change in traffic. The document analyzes the environment to justify its educational practice. The institution understands the need for action on socio-emotional skills as a path to traffic education, although it does not use the exact terms. Empathy in traffic, individual and collective responsibility, conscious decision-making, and respect for others are considered urgent skills to be developed. Socio-emotional skills appear implicitly, associated with education focused on choices for the collective and the common good, without formal conceptualization.

The Escola 4 project designs proposals focused on the development of empathy, collective awareness, and self-regulation in traffic behavior, reflecting an ethical-behavioral perspective. However, there is no clear specification of how the project aims to achieve the development of these skills. In general, the curriculum is highly practical and applied, aiming for concrete social transformation and education for citizenship and behavior, aligned with the profile of a school operating in a non-formal education context.

Finally, School 5, a federal public institution in Recife, Pernambuco, with an PPP from 2016, functions as a laboratory school and presents a social, institutional, and pedagogical reading of the community. Although socioemotional competences do not appear as an explicit demand, they are cited implicitly and well-founded, with emphasis on critical formation and human development in multiple dimensions. The central objectives include integral formation, social relations, inclusive education, and critical development, but socioemotional development is not an explicit goal.

The School 5 PPP does not conceptualize socioemotional competencies in its theoretical foundations and does not present proposals centered on socioemotional development. However, the document addresses the development of some socioemotional competencies through interdisciplinary pedagogical practices, research projects, outreach activities, and inclusive education. This suggests an integrated approach, but without the formalization and intentionality that characterize an explicit socioaffective literacy proposal.

In summary, the analysis of the five PPPs revealed that, although there is a common desire for the integral development and global formation of students, none of the documents explicitly use the terms “socioemotional development” or “socioaffective skills.” The selected schools touch upon the theme through proposals for integral learning or by incorporating part of the socioemotional skills into the general objectives. Affective literacy, in particular, was not found as an explicit proposal in any of the analyzed documents, despite the advances in neuroscience and the existence of guiding documents in the Brazilian educational scenario.

The research, therefore, points to a gap between the recognition of the importance of socio-emotional skills in educational discourse and their effective incorporation and explicitation in school guiding documents. Institutions demonstrate to be on a path of effective integral formation, but they need academic and practical deepening to expand and create new socio-affective learning opportunities. This finding reinforces the need for knowledge from the fields of neuroscience and learning to be more widely disseminated and applied in pedagogical practices.

Given this scenario, the research proposes a path for the construction of a PPP that guarantees affective literacy practices, structured in three steps. The first step, “Analysis of reality”, suggests the study of the student body, the identification of latent challenges in the classroom, and the investigation of students’ socio-emotional competencies, including coexistence in school environments. This initial diagnosis is fundamental to understanding the specific needs and demands of the school community.

The second step, “Projection of purposes”, proposes the theoretical design of the concept of socio-emotional competence for the institution, defining what is understood by affective literacy. Furthermore, it seeks to delimit clear objectives, monitoring, and evaluation for the development of these competences, establishing what is expected to be developed in students and how this progress will be monitored. This stage aims at the formalization and intentionality of pedagogical actions.

The third step, “Action Plan”, focuses on fostering continuous training for teachers on socio-emotional skills, on the development of interdisciplinary proposals that encompass socio-emotional development in the curriculum, and on the construction of a welcoming space project. The latter aims to ensure that school environments are designed to accommodate emotions and feelings, promoting emotional regulation and overall emotional health, according to Goleman’s (2012) perspective on the influence of emotional disturbances on learning.

Complementarily, the research presents a proposal for a four-lesson didactic sequence, designed to be taught by different teachers and disciplines, with weekly frequency, aiming for collective and interdisciplinary work. The first lesson, “Listening Circles,” proposes group conversation dynamics for children to share experiences, observations, and suggestions about school situations, with a scribe recording the themes and the teacher guiding the selection of a topic for sharing with the class. The conclusion includes the expression of feelings and learnings.

The second class, “Situation of the moral dilemma,” suggests that the teacher choose a relevant theme for collective discussion, using a trigger material (presentation, book, video, or image) to propose reflections and solve the dilemma. The conclusion invites children to complete the sentence “My dear diary, today I…”, sharing something relevant from the dynamic. This approach aims to develop critical analysis skills and responsible decision-making in situations involving values and ethics.

The third class, “Socio-emotional Games”, proposes the use of playful resources such as games, cards, or trails to discuss feelings, respect, and coexistence. An example of a game is “Empathy for children and adolescents”, where students are divided into groups and receive sets of cards with themes such as Family, Kindness, Positive Attitudes, School, and Respect. Each group reflects and orally expresses their thoughts on the cards, with the teacher mediating to broaden the discussion and bring in other points of view.

The fourth class, “Assembly”, is structured in stages of organization and presentation of points. The initial stage involves the division of functions (mediator, guardian of agreements, secretary, and presenter) to ensure active student participation. The presentation of points revisits themes from previous classes, using the “Wow, Cool, Let’s try” dynamic to reflect on how a point affects colleagues and learning, identify what already works well, and think about solutions. The conclusion of the assembly focuses on the future, seeking improvements and evaluating progress in subsequent assemblies.

In summary, the research demonstrated that, although Brazilian schools are attentive to the need for comprehensive education, the explicit and systematic incorporation of socio-emotional skills in the PPPs is still incipient. The analyzed documents, despite touching upon the theme, do not formalize it as a central axis of development. The proposals for elaborating a PPP and a didactic sequence presented in this study offer practical pathways for school institutions to deepen their approach, promoting a welcoming and safe environment for the socio-affective development of students and, thus, responding more effectively to the central objective of the research.

4. Conclusion

This study sought to understand how the promotion of socioemotional skills is presented in the educational proposals of the Political Pedagogical Project (PPP) of Brazilian schools. It was found that the analyzed PPPs demonstrate a concern with the integral development of students, encompassing the cognitive, affective, and social dimensions. However, it was observed that the documents do not explicitly use the terms “socioemotional development” or “socioaffective skills,” touching upon the theme through broader educational objectives. Affective literacy, in particular, was not identified as an explicit proposal in any of the examined documents, indicating a gap between the recognition of the importance of these skills in educational discourse and their formalization in pedagogical plans. This finding suggests that educational institutions, although on the path to achieving integral formation, need theoretical and practical deepening to expand and create socioaffective learning opportunities.

As a practical and academic contribution, the research developed a structured path for the construction of PPPs (Public-Private Partnerships) that incorporate affective literacy, outlining steps for reality analysis, purpose projection, and action plan. Additionally, a four-lesson didactic sequence proposal was developed, designed to be applied interdisciplinarily, aiming to foster students’ socio-emotional development in real-world scenarios. This study, although limited by the analysis of only five PPPs, offers an initial snapshot of the Brazilian reality and points to the urgency of integrating neuroscience and education knowledge into pedagogical practices. It is suggested that future investigations broaden the scope to other school realities and develop new didactic sequence proposals, in order to enrich the repertoire of pedagogical practices and ensure effective affective literacy.

Bibliographic References

Araújo, G.S.; Alencar, C.N.P.; Leandro, S.S.C.; Milhomem, A.S.; Kehl, S.T. 2025. A importância do desenvolvimento socioemocional na jornada educacional. Revista Aracê, São José dos Pinhais, PR, Brasil.

Bento, E.G.; Júnior, G.R.S.; Rossi, C.M.S. 2022. O desenvolvimento das competências socioemocionais no ensino médio em tempos de pandemia da Covid-19. Revista de Ensino, Educação e Ciências Humanas 23(1): 103-110. Londrina, PR, Brasil. Disponível em: https://revistaensinoeeducacao.pgsscogna.com.br/ensino/article/view/9637. Acesso em: 02 out. 2025.

Brasil. 2018. Base Nacional Comum Curricular: educação infantil e ensino fundamental. Ministério da Educação, Secretaria de Educação Básica, Brasília, DF, Brasil. Disponível em: https://basenacionalcomum.mec.gov.br. Acesso em: 10 out. 2025.

Brasil. 2021. Manual de Implementação Escolar – Estratégia de Desenvolvimento Socioemocional. Ministério da Educação, Brasília, DF, Brasil. Disponível em: https://basenacionalcomum.mec.gov.br/images/implementacao/Manual_de_Implementacao_Escolar_Estrategia_de_Desenvolvimento_Socioemocional.pdf. Acesso em: 18 out. 2025.

CASEL. 2020. CASEL’s SEL framework: what are the core competence areas? CASEL, Chicago, IL, Estados Unidos. Disponível em: https://casel.org/casel-sel-framework-11-2020/. Acesso em: 10 nov. 2025.

Cavalcanti, C.C. 2022. Aprendizagem socioemocional com metodologias ativas: um guia para educadores. Saraiva Uni, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Chaves, Pinheiro e Haiashida, 2022 [Referência completa não encontrada no documento original]

D’Auria-Tardeli, D. 2022. Base nacional comum curricular (BNCC) e as competências socioemocionais. Revista de Psicologia Escolar e Educacional, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Damásio, A. 1995. O erro de Descartes: emoção, razão e cérebro humano. Europa-América, Lisboa, Portugal.

Goleman, D. 2012. Inteligência emocional: por que pode importar mais do que o QI. 2ed. Objetiva, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.

Pucci, R. H. P.; Silva, R. F.; Antunes-Souza, T. 2025. Competências socioemocionais na BNCC: por que estão propostas no currículo? Revista Docência e Cibercultura – Redoc, Rio de Janeiro, v.9, n.2, p.1 — 16, maio/ago.

Relatório Jacques Delors, 1998 [Referência completa não encontrada no documento original]

Simões, R.P. 2025. Uma sequência didática para o desenvolvimento de habilidades e competências socioemocionais na escola. Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil.

Vasconcellos, C.S. 2002. Coordenação do trabalho pedagógico: do projeto político-pedagógico ao cotidiano da sala de aula. Cortez Editora, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Article originating from a Final Coursework on Neuroscience and Learning in Education

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