Emotional education in adolescents during the secondary school years

Emotional education in adolescents is a fundamental part of their education. During the adolescent years, a pupil begins to make decisions autonomously, it is essential that at this stage, they learn to manage their own emotions and to understand those of others. 

International school Almeria we include activities related to emotional education for teenagers, during the secondary school years. For us it is important that our pupils go beyond this stage, being able to make the right emotional decisions, which will enable them to become emotionally healthy adults. 

What is emotional education during adolescence?

Emotional education refers to a learning process that focuses on emotional responses. It is during our early years that we learn to identify basic emotions, however, in childhood our responses do not yet have the autonomy that they will have in the future. The secondary school years, from approximately 11 to 16 years of age, are the phase from which we begin to make emotional decisions that involve both ourselves and others. 

The adolescent years generate continuous emotional changes, and it is important that at this age we learn to put into practice behaviours related to self-control, empathy, courage and frustration management. 

School is the right place to encourage emotional education in adolescents. The best way to assimilate the management of emotions is by doing so in natural environments, which allow us to put what we have learned into practice. School is a space for socialisation, which allows us to coexist with other people on the basis of our feelings. 

Emotional competences during adolescence

During the first years of our lives, we learn to identify basic feelings in ourselves and in others. Adolescence marks the beginning of a more complex understanding of emotions. 

The emotional competences that we assimilate during the secondary school years are the following.

• Emotional awareness: This is the ability to identify complex emotions in ourselves and others and to act accordingly.
• Emotional regulation: This is about measuring levels of emotional response according to each situation.
• Autonomy: In these years we stop depending on others to express our emotions and make our own decisions. 
• Social competence: We develop lasting and complex social relationships with others.
• Well-being: The range of emotions we experience allows us to develop states of happiness and well-being.  

Self-knowledge and empathy, two key factors

When we talk about emotional education in adolescence, we include all kinds of emotions, however, there are two key concepts that we must learn during these years: self-knowledge and empathy.

Self-awareness refers to the way in which we learn to recognise and express our own emotions. Emotions are not absolute, each person has a way of facing and responding to emotional situations, and it is during adolescence when we learn to perceive all the emotional factors that we generate, and act on the basis of our own feelings. 

The concept of empathy is also very present during these years. In this case we refer to the emotions in others, how we are able to grasp them, understand them and act accordingly. The emotional responses of other people are very present during our teenage years, improving our levels of empathy during this stage will allow us to understand others in the future. 

The teenage years may seem problematic, however these years are key emotional learning years for the future. Although we sometimes perceive adolescents as having a low emotional intelligence, in reality they are constantly experiencing and assimilating experiences related to their own feelings and those of others.  

Emotional learning for adulthood

Emotional intelligence will be very useful during their adolescence, but above all, it will be an apprenticeship for their later years. 

Emotional skills are based on a continuous learning process that lasts a lifetime, but the years from 11 to 16 are a fundamental support for the future. 

School is the most appropriate place to understand the importance of emotional intelligence, our behaviour in the academic environment will be an appropriate testing ground, which will allow us to learn from real emotional experiences and assimilate their consequences. 

The British School of Almeria, the best place to learn

At The British School of Almeria we have created an academic experience based on language learning, which also includes the multiple intelligences that we develop throughout our lives, including the emotional one. 

Our teachers instil values that will be decisive for their future, through real activities and experiences in which they begin to become aware of the importance of their emotional responses, both for themselves and for others. 

If you want your children to be educated in a suitable environment, based on a bilingual education system which gives importance to all aspects of their education, at The British School of Almeria we offer you the best academic alternative.