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mornar et al. ■ students’ social, emotional and intercultural competencies ...
prevention, positive youth development and integration of LGBT youth.
Meanwhile, programmes focused on intercultural competencies target
the development of intercultural values, constructive conflict resolution,
perspective-taking, openness to other cultures, acceptance of students
with different religious and ethnic backgrounds, prejudice reduction and
the development of a multicultural school environment.
It may be argued that these disparate competencies (i.e. social and
emotional, and intercultural) go hand in hand – it is difficult to imagine
intercultural competencies without social and emotional competen-
cies and, in certain contexts, vice versa. For example, perspective-taking,
which is taught as part of intercultural competencies, is an integral part of
empathy – its cognitive component. Yet, empathy and understanding of
how others feel is taught as a key aspect of social and emotional competen-
cies. There are many examples of such overlaps between approaches aimed
at developing either social and emotional or intercultural competencies.
For this reason, we propose that these two approaches should be integrat-
ed while developing new programmes or adapting existing ones, and that
the activities included in these programmes reflect their SEI nature.
Teaching SEI competencies: Methodological and organisational
aspects
In this section, we describe some of the primary organisational and meth-
odological aspects of the existing programmes and interventions. We
were interested in who the participants were, their age, how the pro-
grammes were structured, who the actors involved in the programme
were, the methods and duration of the programme interventions, as well
as the type of lesson materials used during programmes in schools. Our
literature review of programmes which aim to develop and enhance stu-
dents’ SEI competencies indicates that children and young people of all
ages are target populations for the interventions. Programmes start as
early as kindergarten (e.g. McCormick et al., 2015), but most are imple-
mented in lower and upper secondary education (e.g. Berger, Brenick and
Tarrasch, 2018; Berry et al., 2016; Schonert-Reichl and Stewart Lawlor,
2010). Aboud et al. (2012, p. 308) emphasise that, for intercultural compe-
tence programmes, “there is still debate as to whether programs should be
targeted at an early age when prejudice is quickly developing or in middle
childhood when prejudice diverges due to environmental input” (Raabe
and Beelmann, 2011).
The programmes were generally set as randomised controlled trials,
thus enabling testing of the intervention’s effectiveness. The programme’s
structure usually includes self-report questionnaires completed by the
123
prevention, positive youth development and integration of LGBT youth.
Meanwhile, programmes focused on intercultural competencies target
the development of intercultural values, constructive conflict resolution,
perspective-taking, openness to other cultures, acceptance of students
with different religious and ethnic backgrounds, prejudice reduction and
the development of a multicultural school environment.
It may be argued that these disparate competencies (i.e. social and
emotional, and intercultural) go hand in hand – it is difficult to imagine
intercultural competencies without social and emotional competen-
cies and, in certain contexts, vice versa. For example, perspective-taking,
which is taught as part of intercultural competencies, is an integral part of
empathy – its cognitive component. Yet, empathy and understanding of
how others feel is taught as a key aspect of social and emotional competen-
cies. There are many examples of such overlaps between approaches aimed
at developing either social and emotional or intercultural competencies.
For this reason, we propose that these two approaches should be integrat-
ed while developing new programmes or adapting existing ones, and that
the activities included in these programmes reflect their SEI nature.
Teaching SEI competencies: Methodological and organisational
aspects
In this section, we describe some of the primary organisational and meth-
odological aspects of the existing programmes and interventions. We
were interested in who the participants were, their age, how the pro-
grammes were structured, who the actors involved in the programme
were, the methods and duration of the programme interventions, as well
as the type of lesson materials used during programmes in schools. Our
literature review of programmes which aim to develop and enhance stu-
dents’ SEI competencies indicates that children and young people of all
ages are target populations for the interventions. Programmes start as
early as kindergarten (e.g. McCormick et al., 2015), but most are imple-
mented in lower and upper secondary education (e.g. Berger, Brenick and
Tarrasch, 2018; Berry et al., 2016; Schonert-Reichl and Stewart Lawlor,
2010). Aboud et al. (2012, p. 308) emphasise that, for intercultural compe-
tence programmes, “there is still debate as to whether programs should be
targeted at an early age when prejudice is quickly developing or in middle
childhood when prejudice diverges due to environmental input” (Raabe
and Beelmann, 2011).
The programmes were generally set as randomised controlled trials,
thus enabling testing of the intervention’s effectiveness. The programme’s
structure usually includes self-report questionnaires completed by the
123
