Revista de Educación,
Motricidad e Investigación
Emotional Education in Elementary Schools:
A systematic review from 2015 to 2017
La Educación Emocional en Primaria:
Una revisión sistemática desde 2015 hasta 2017
Nieves Ramírez Delgado
Universidad de Huelva
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3883-8063
Carlos Bermúdez-Torres
Facultad de Educación, Psicología y Ciencias del Deporte,
Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, España
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8855-4897
Cristina Conde
Facultad de Educación, Psicología y Ciencias del Deporte,
Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, España
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6306-1551
Juan Ramón Jiménez-Vicioso
Facultad de Educación, Psicología y Ciencias del Deporte,
Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, España
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7965-5605
VOL. 20 (2023)
ISSN 2341-1473 pp. 57-74
https://doi.org/10.33776/remo.vi20.7379
Resumen:
Este artículo presenta una revisión bibliográfica sobre la
educación emocional en primaria. Se considera de suma
importanciala temática en cuestión. Se han buscado los
artículos publicados en la Web of Science (2015-2017).
Treinta y siete artículos fueron seleccionados: 31 sobre
alumnado y 8 sobre docentes. Para los documentos de
los discentes, se clasificaron los artículos según el papel
que jugaba la educación emocional: como fin, 18 artícu-
los, como medio, 12, o en correlación con otras variables,
4 documentos. Los artículos dedicados a los docentes, se
centran en la formación inicial, así como en la formación
permanente, obteniéndose resultados de la experiencia
de estos y del desarrollo en el aula de la educación emo-
cional. En conclusión, la educación emocional en la eta-
pa primaria atañe tanto a docentes, como a alumnado,
como medio o como fin. Cada vez está más estudiada. Y
es una necesidad desarrollarla como eje transversal en
las escuelas para contribuir a aumentar el bienestar.
Palabras claves:
Emociones, inteligencia emocional, sistema educativo,
revisión bibliográfica, estado de la cuestión
Fecha de aceptación: 02 de junio de 2023
Abstract:
This article presents a literature review of emotional
education in elementary schools. The topic in question
is considered of utmost importance. To this end, articles
published on the Web of Science (WOS) during the years
2015, 2016 and 2017. The 37 selected articles,after cle-
aning up the data, were classified by subject for analysis
according to whether they addressed the students or the
teachers. Thirty-one of the earmarked documents inves-
tigated students and eight teachers. For the student do-
cuments, the articles were classified according to the role
that emotional education played: as an end in itself, 18
articles, as a means, 12, and together with other variables,
four documents. The articles intended for teachers focus
on the initial training, as well as on the ongoing training,
getting the results of the experience of these and of the
development of emotional education in the classroom.
Keywords:
Emotions, emotional intelligence, educational system, li-
terature review, state of the art
Fecha de recepción: 21 de octubre de 2022
Emotional Education in Elementary Schools:
A systematic review from 2015 to 2017
La Educación Emocional en Primaria: Una
revisión sistemática desde 2015 hasta 2017
Nieves Ramírez Delgado
Universidad de Huelva
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3883-8063
Carlos Bermúdez-Torres
Facultad de Educación, Psicología y Ciencias del Deporte,
Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, España
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8855-4897
Cristina Conde
Facultad de Educación, Psicología y Ciencias del Deporte,
Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, España
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6306-1551
Juan Ramón Jiménez-Vicioso
Facultad de Educación, Psicología y Ciencias del Deporte,
Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, España
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7965-5605
https://doi.org/10.33776/remo.vi20.7379
[ 59 ]
1. Introduction Emotions are a topic of research increasingly being addressed by research studies, given their impor-
tance to health, to general well-being, as well as in decision making and even in conceptual learning
(Casassus, 2006; Fernández-Berrocal and Ruiz, 2008). Many authors demand that the educational sys-
tem incorporate emotional education into the school curriculum (Gallego et al., 1999; Goleman, 1999;
Tapia, 1998; Sáenz-López y de las Heras, 2013). Although, the attention received to the develop of
educational curriculum has been scarce (Sáenz-López and Medina, 2021). Fortunately, the preamble
(Organic Law 3/2020, of December 29, by which Organic Law 2/2006 of May 3 on Education (LOMLOE)
is modified), reference emotional education and values, peace, non-violence and creativity that will be
worked on in all subjects. However, its development and especially its implementation is scarce since
this topic is absent in teacher training (Sáenz-López et al., 2019). Currently, much more importance is
given to the rational subjects (Mathematics and Language) than to other more procedural ones (Music,
Art or Physical Education). It is known, however, that emotions also affect the learning processes, the
mental and physical health, the quality of social relationships, as well as academic and work perfor-
mance (Brackett and Caruso, 2007). Most teachers are aware of this. In fact, teaching is considered one
of the most stressful professions, because it involves daily work based on social interactions in which
the teacher has to make a great effort to regulate their own emotions and those of their students, pa-
rents, classmates, etc. (Brotheridge and Grandey, 2002).
According to Pérez-Escoda et al. (2012), emotional competencies can be both taught and learned.
This is corroborated in 2012 with the publication of an article describing the development of emo-
tional competence in 92 teachers, and 423 male and female students between 6 and 12 years of age
from various primary schools; in school context. This article details the evaluation of two training pro-
grams: one was aimed at teachers, and the other at students. The objective of these two programs
was the improvement of personal and social well-being through the development of emotional
competence, mentioned previously. Specifically, the interest was to improve: emotional awareness,
emotional regulation, emotional autonomy, ...). The effectiveness of these programs is evaluated
through emotional competence and its five dimensions. The study obtained as results a significant
improvement in the participants, in addition to the improvement in the school climate. On the other
hand, as Cury (2010) states, teachers and students coexist for years in the classrooms, but they are
really strangers to each other. This author considers that in school intelligence is obstructed through
the bad use of memory as a deposit for useless data. One learns to solve logical-mathematical pro-
blems, but nevertheless one does not know how to solve social or emotional problems. Instead of
fostering emotional-rational beings, we are educated as if we were machines that accumulate and
repeat information. In this regard, teachers recognize that the teaching activity involves the manage-
ment of certain social skills such as: assertiveness, active listening and stress management, for which
they have not been academically prepared (Pesquero et al., 2008).
As gathered by Collell and Escudé (2003), emotional education is the backbone of coexistence. In
the Delors Report (UNESCO, 1998), it is stated that emotional education is an indispensable comple-
ment in cognitive development and a fundamental tool of conflict prevention, since many problems
originate in emotional states. This report bases 21st century education on four themes: Learning to
know and learning to learn to take advantage of the lifelong possibilities offered by education. Lear-
ning to do in order to give oneself the skills to face up to many different situation. Learn to be, in or-
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der to act autonomously, with judgment and personal responsibility. Learning to coexist, to work on
common projects and to manage conflicts. Similarly, Romero-Iribas and Martínez-Priego (2017) con-
sider friendship as the means and the goal of the educational activity and divide the characteristics
of postmodern relationships into four categories: the questioning of the individual, the appearance
of the internet, the recovery of emotions, and the expansion of the feminine space.
This work focuses on elementary education, since, according to Kreppner and Learner (1989), it is a
stage in which emotional skills are learned and tested, through both direct and indirect influences
(cited in Parke et al., 1989). Direct influences consist of all the explicit and organized educational
activities whose purpose is the learning of those emotional skills and indirect influences are part of
the hidden curriculum (Fernández, 1998).
Having analyzed the contrast between the importance of emotions in learning and the lack of inte-
rest shown in them by the educational system, one needs to know the state of the scientific knowle-
dge of the subject. Day (2005) states that the descriptive review provides the reader with an update
on useful concepts in constantly evolving fields. Therefore, the objective of this work has been to
conduct a systematic review of the most current and relevant scientific articles on emotional educa-
tion in Primary education to analyze the topics being studied (Icart and Canela, 1994).
The search was done in the Web of Science (WOS) database for the years 2015 to 2017. First, the
term “emotion” was entered, giving a total of 86,455 results. Secondly, the term “education” was
added, reducing it to 3,404 publications. The third search criterion was to limit it to the years 2015
to 2017 and add the term “primary school” or “elementary school”, giving a total of 67 documents.
These articles were analyzed one by one by the research team. The inclusion criteria were: articles or
conferences that met the specific objectives of the study. The final result was 37 manuscripts.
The next step was to classify the articles into categories. These categories were stipulated from the
first review of the articles, in order to analyze them correctly. Following a qualitative methodology
through observation, and quantitative through the accounting of articles. In conclusion, determining
the number of articles that dealt with one category or another. Thus, they defined first, they were
sorted according who the study addressed: students, teachers or both. At the same time, a second
level of categorization was carried out. The subcategories for “students” were: “Emotional education
as an end in itself”, “emotional education as a means to an end”, and “emotional education linked to
other variables”. In turn, these subcategories, led to another, more specific, classification. Thus, the
subcategory “emotional education as an end in itself” was broken down into the following codes:
“Interdisciplinary Emotional Education Programs”, “Specific Emotional Education Programs”, “Evalua-
tion of EI”, “Learning Difficulties”, and “Pet Therapy”. Finally, the subcategory “Emotional Education as
a means to an end” was broken down into: “academic performance”, “well-being of education” and
“learning difficulties”. The subcategories for the “teachers” category were: “training”, “experience”,
and “classroom development” (Table 1).
The research team classified every article and some were placed in two categories because of their
multiple links.
2. Method
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Firstly, who the articles addressed, 31 of the 37 articles were addressed students and 8 teachers.
Therefore, only 2 studies were included in both categories.
3. Results
T
Classification of the articles
To whom Categories Sub-categories Articles Synthesis
Students Emotional Education as an
end in itself
Interdisciplinary Emotion-
al Education Programs
Miralles et al. (2017). They study the effects of motor games from different domains of motor action on the intensity of positive, negative
and ambiguous emotions.
Hornstra (2017).
Students who attended high-ability programs full-time did not report more beneficial performance emotions com-
pared to similar students in regular education. Part-time program students experienced more positive and fewer nega-
tive emotions during the part-time program compared to the control group in regular education. No differences were
found in longitudinal developments during the school year between the groups.
Hambira et al. (2017). The use of ICT has emotional and cultural benefits in students.
Lorenzo et al. (2017). Four students (control group) and 9 students between 6 and 10 years old (experimental group). Depending on what
type of emotion is present, the differences between the control group and the experimental group are minor.
Méndez-Giménez et al.
(2017).
Effects of the sports education model on emotional intelligence. Ninety-four students (50 men, 44 women) 6th year
of primary education. The students in the sports education group obtained significant improvements in all the depen-
dent variables, surpassing the control group.
Johnson et al. (2016).
Determine the causal attribution of emotions in a physical condition development process in Physical Education and
Health classes. Thirty 6th grade children (11-13 years old). Students attribute their positive emotions to overcoming fa-
tigue, achieving goals, bodily benefits, and entertaining with session activities. Regarding negative emotions, they are
attributed to expectations, pessimism, ridicule, envy and health problems, physical inactivity, academic consequences
and failure to achieve goals in overcoming physical condition.
Lehot’akova and Pataiova
(2016).
Determine the nature and degree of emotional experience and rational thought of children (7-11 years) during art
classes. Search and application of new methods, forms and practices in artistic education in primary schools. Results of
new methods and ways of working on art lessons at the primary level of primary school.
Gil-Madrona and Marti-
nez-Lopez (2015).
Self-perceived emotions that predominate in students and teachers in Physical Education classes. Three hundred sev-
enty-six 6th grade students of Primary Education and 14 PE teachers.
Specific Emotional Educa-
tion Programs
Viguer et al. (2017). To assess the effectiveness of a two-year intervention program to promote emotional intelligence at school. Two hun-
dred twenty-eight primary school students between 10 and 11 years old.
Cejudo (2017). To improve the emotional intelligence and academic performance of students in the sixth year of primary education.
One hundred twenty-three participating students.
Fernández and Fernández
(2016).
Development of emotional competencies-skills from the communicative-dramatic act. Primary education. Project: (lan-
guage and literature learning environment).
Korpershoek et al. (2016).
Classroom management strategies and programs improved academic, behavioral, social-emotional, and motivational
outcomes. Fifty-four randomized and non-randomized controlled intervention studies published in the last decade
(2003-2013).
Pizza (2016). Self-management skills a natural emotional condition. Primary education. Practical exercises.
Evaluation of EI
Vivas et al. (2017). Provide Physical Education teachers with tools that allow them to rigorously assess the result of their work in the so-
cio-emotional field. First cycle (1st and 2nd year) Primary Education. Ninety-six subjects.
Valbusa and Camerella
(2016). Education and understanding of one’s own emotions. 4th grade of 3 schools. Journal of emotional life.
Learning difficulties
Martínez et al. (2017). Development of social and emotional skills in students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Six TEA students from
9-17 years old. Two sessions per week for more than one academic year.
Breeman et al. (2016).
Game of Good Behavior, in children with psychiatric disorders and their teachers in special education. Three hundred
eighty-nine children and their 58 teachers in 11 schools for special primary education. Positive behavior support strat-
egies.
Pet therapy Dice et al. (2017). Animal-assisted education to recognize emotions. Twenty-one 3rd grade students (8 years old). Guidelines proposed
in the Federico II Model of Pet Therapy.
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Students
Emotional Education as a
means to an end
Academic performance
Morilla-García (2017). Application of emotional intelligence in the process of acquiring oral skills in a foreign language at an early age. 1st
Year of Primary Education (3 centers).
Cejudo (2017). (Described above)
Kinkead-Clark (2017). Social-emotional skills that teachers believe Caribbean children need to be successful in primary school. Intervention-
qualitative. Seventeen first grade teachers from 3 Caribbean islands.
García and Sánchez
(2017).
Relationship between emotional intelligence and aptitudes in academic performance. Focused on gender and the
area of mathematics. Thirty-four students (38% girls and 62% boys) with an average age of 11.5 years.
Filella et al. (2016).
Emotional competencies of students to resolve conflicts assertively. Five hundred seventy-four students of 5th and 6th
grade of primary education. Three hundred one were boys (52.4%) and 273 were girls (47.6%). The average age was
10.53.
Mateu et al. (2016). To know if there is a correlation between the instrumental areas, the Spanish language and mathematics, and emotion-
al intelligence. Twenty-six third grade students.
Yang et al. (2015). Social and emotional achievements of children with Special Educational Needs compared to their academic perfor-
mance. Five hundred fifteen students (from 106 schools) with SEN in grades 1-6 in Hong Kong primary schools.
Wellbeing of education
(conflicts)
Bisquerra and Hernández
(2017).
Work on positive education, to improve the welfare of education. Practical activities and intervention strategies are
presented. Designed for children and young people in preschool, primary and secondary education. GROP (happy
classrooms). Practical activities and intervention strategies.
Filella et al. (2016). (Above described)
López et al. (2015). Cross-sectional case study. Twenty-five students of 4th grade.
Learning difficulties Moralo and Rivera (2017). Environmental and emotional education through reading. Project (traditional tales).
Yang et al. (2015). (See above)
Emotional Education
linked to other variables
Salavera et al. (2017). Emotional intelligence and creativity in primary school students. Six hundred thirty-one schoolchildren (313 boys and
318 girls) from 6 to 7 years old.
Aras et al. (2016). Variables related to emotional and physical violence to which students are exposed in the school environment. Four
hundred thirty-four fifth grade students.
Cejudo (2016). Impact of a program to improve emotional intelligence and academic performance of students in the sixth year of
primary education. One hundred twenty-three participating students.
Herrera et al. (2015). Emotional intelligence in relation to the experienced environment. One thousand four hundred and fifty-one fourth
and fifth grade students of Primary Education.
Teachers
Training
Cejudo and López-Delgado (2017).
To know the opinion of Primary Education teachers about the importance of some of the dimensions that make up the
sample domain of emotional intelligence (EI) to be a highly competent teacher. One hundred ninety-six preschool and
primary education teachers.
Hernández-Amoros and Urrea-Solano (2017). Emotional education and teacher training. One hundred twenty-two participants from the 1st year of the degree of pri-
mary education at the University of Alicante.
Pop and Giurgiulescu (2015). Emotional-formative competence of future teachers. One hundred fifty-three university students.
Experience
Zikhali and Perumal (2016). Emotional stress. Twelve Zimbabwean female heads of households leading socio-economically disadvantaged
schools.
Rayner and Espinoza (2016). It explores the impact of aspects of the new public management reform on the nature and differences in the emotion-
al labor experienced by teachers. Case study. Sixteen teachers.
Gil-Madrona and Martínez-López (2015). (Summarized above)
Classroom development
Bisquerra and Hernández (2017). (Summarized above)
Navarro et al. (2016). Examine how primary education classrooms deal with emotional education and what teacher training is developed to
directly and indirectly help the development of emotional competencies. Thirty-eight teachers from 4 schools.
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Focusing on articles addressing students, 18 of the 31 were classified in the “emotional education
as an end in itself” category, 12 in “emotional education as a means to an end” and 4 in “emotional
education linked to other variables”. Of these 31 articles, 2 have been classified in more than one
subcategory.
The 18 documents in the subcategory “emotional education as an end in itself” were classified into
five codes: interdisciplinary emotional education programs (8), specific emotional education pro-
grams (5), evaluation of emotional intelligence (2), learning difficulties of the students (2) and throu-
gh pet therapy (1).
The 12 articles in the subcategory “emotional education as a means to an end” were classified into
three codes: academic performance (7), well-being of education (3) and learning difficulties (2).
Lastly, within the “students” category, 4 articles were classified in the subcategory “emotional educa-
tion linked to other variables” with topics such as creativity, emotional and physical violence, mental
health and the environment.
On the other hand, in the “teachers” category the 8 articles were classified into 3 subcategories:
“training” (3), “experience” (3) and “classroom development” (2). The 3 “training” articles deal with
topics such as initial training and ongoing training.
As for the number of articles per year, Figure 1 shows the quantitative evolution of this number,
going from 5 in 2015 to 14 in 2016 and 18 in 2017.
FIGURE 1
Number of articles published per year
Number of articles / Years
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For the keywords that appeared in the articles analyzed, Figure 2 shows that the most frequent is
“education”, with 28 occurrences, followed, at some distance, by “emotional intelligence” (14) and
“teacher” (10). It should be noted that the most frequently occurring theme is Physical Education,
with four articles.
FIGURE 2
Number of occurrences of the Keywords
The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the most recent and relevant scientific
articles on emotional education in Primary education, in order to analyze the main results. No results
have been found on systematic reviews prior to its date in order to compare or analyze it.
For the number of articles published per year, an increase is observed: from 5 articles published
in 2015, to 18 articles published in 2018. Authors such as Delos (1996) or Imbernón (2007) state
4. Discussion
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that current education is being transformed, developing areas of the individual other than just the
cognitive, emotional education is one of the variables that will increase in importance in the future
(Bisquerra, 2005).
Problems in classrooms such as violence, academic failure, consumption and abuse of tobacco and
drugs, or high rates of anxiety and depression, require the consideration of responses which will
allow the educational centers to become meeting and development spaces for a healthy life. In this
sense, the various educational agents (teachers and families) must not focus only on the mere trans-
mission of knowledge, but also on the promotion and development of basic skills and abilities for
life. To develop this requirement, emotional education arises to give meaning to a truly integrated,
high quality education for the educational community (Fernández-Berrocal and Ruiz, 2000).
This study has proven that in 31 of the reviewed articles there is an interest in the students having
good emotional education abilities (Table 1). Students must be provided with emotional regulation
strategies for all areas of their lives, because if they feel anxious, angry or depressed, they have a
harder time learning and assimilating information effectively, nor do they learn to manage it well
(López-Cassà, 2003).
These articles were coded into three themes: emotional education as an end in itself, emotional
education as a means to an end and emotional education linked to other variables. Within the the-
me of “emotional education as an end in itself”, most have developed interdisciplinary emotional
education programs. Specifically, in the field of Physical Education, in the field of high abilities and
in ICTs. For Physical Education, for example, it has been observed that cooperative games with no
competition provoke more intense positive emotions, which helps teachers to make sound and we-
ll-founded decisions, in order to know which games or tasks are most appropriate when program-
ming their educational activity (Miralles et al., 2017). For their part, Méndez-Giménez et al. (2017)
studied the effects of the Sports Education model (SE) on students’ emotional intelligence (attention,
clarity and remediation) and the motivational mediators (relationship, autonomy and perceived abi-
lity). Likewise, Johnson et al. (2016) state that students attribute their positive emotions to the over-
coming of fatigue, to the achievement of the aims, to the bodily benefits and to the entertainment
of the session’s activities. As for negative emotions, these are attributed to expectations, pessimism,
ridicule, envy and health problems, physical inactivity, academic consequences and failure to achie-
ve goals in overcoming one’s physical condition. In articles dedicated to high intellectual abilities,
Hornstra (2017) showed that students who attended full-time high-capacity programs did not show
better performance emotions compared to the similar students in normal education of the control
group. Conversely, students in part-time programs experienced more positive and less negative
emotions compared to the control group in normal education. In the articles dealing with the field of
technologies, Hambira et al. (2017) comment that the use of ICT has emotional and cultural benefits
for students, and suggest that careful planning of the ICT curriculum would be beneficial for disad-
vantaged and marginalized students. Lorenzo et al. (2017) conclude that the differences between
the control group and the experimental group are lower as a function of what kind of emotion is
presented to autistic students in an Ipad program. For example, the expression of joy is easy to re-
cognize, but pride is difficult.
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With regard to studies in which emotional education is the end in itself or is the means to an end, authors such
as Viguer et al. (2017) stand out, they evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention program to promote emo-
tional intelligence (EI) in 228 primary school students and the result was an increase in EI in all dimensions
(intra-personal, inter-personal, stress management, adaptability and general mood). Cejudo (2017) states
that emotional intelligence programs can be effective in promoting psychosocial adjustment and improving
the academic performance of elementary students, through a program to improve the emotional intelligence
of 123 students. Korpershoek et al. (2016) examined strategies and classroom management programs that
improved the academic, behavioral, socio-emotional and motivational outcomes of elementary students.
As for the emotional education programs addressed to the students, articles dealing the evaluation of Emo-
tional Intelligence were found. Authors such as Vivas et al. (2017) validate an observational instrument to be
used in the field of Physical Education. Their result is that the observation instrument measures the develop-
ment of socio-emotional ability through the detection of attitudes and behaviors in a real educational context.
Valbusa and Camerella (2016), carried out a study that allows some elements in the way children develop
their affective self-understanding to be identified. Further, they show that the act of narration, using the “emo-
tional life diary” and the process of analysis, using the “garden of the emotions” metaphor, can be effective
tools for students’ self-esteem.
Fifthly, the articles dealing with students’ learning difficulties are coded. Among these, Martínez et al. (2017)
present the results of a study of an intervention program for the development of emotional and social skills in
students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), based on the collaboration of family, school and university.
After the educational intervention, the participating students improved their performance in emotional and
social skills. They also showed that the development of collaborative methods is positive. For their part, Bre-
eman et al. (2016), examine the impact of the “Good Behavior Game” on children with psychiatric disorders
and their special education teachers. An increase in emotional and behavioral problems was found in the
control group, while no changes were observed in the intervention group, indicating that the intervention had
a modest effect. They found no effect on the children’s relationships with teachers or classmates. The game
affected teachers’ sense of self-efficacy by involving the students in the academic work, but no effects were
found on teachers’ self-efficacy in classroom management or the symptoms of burnout in teachers.
The last code in emotional education as a student’s means is that of pet therapy. Thus, Dice et al. (2017) aimed
to promote a contact with the primary emotions (joy, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise). The proposed
activities, using a playful approach, helped the children to recognize and understand these emotions and to
develop their relationship skills.
As for emotional education as a means to an end, it occurs more often in the articles advanced to
intensify the benefits for academic results. For example, Morilla-García (2017) produced a result
showing that students who have been exposed to a methodology that includes techniques for the
application of emotional intelligence, get better grades in oral production. Likewise, they found
that these students were more motivated in oral communication, and showed better self-esteem
and self-control in interactions in the classroom. Cejudo (2017) states that emotional education pro-
grams stimulate a significant improvement in psycho-social adjustment and academic performance
in general in the experimental groups. This author suggests that EI programs can be effective in
promoting psycho-social adjustment, as well as improving the academic performance of elemen-
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tary students. Along the same lines, Filella et al. (2016) give the results of a program of emotions:
significantly improved emotional abilities, reduced levels of anxiety, improved social atmosphere in
the classroom and in the yard, reduced number of conflicts between equals and increased acade-
mic performance. Educating the management of emotions shows that it improves the well-being of
students and acts as a strategy for the prevention of serious disruptive behavior, including bullying,
greatly improving coexistence in the educational centers. For their part, Yang et al. (2015) show that
the social and emotional abilities of children with special educational needs (SEN) are significant
predictors of their academic performance and that emotional ability has a greater impact. Among
the articles focused on the well-being of education and the resolution of conflicts, Bisquerra and
Hernández (2017) stands out, they, with their “Aulas Felices” (Happy Classrooms) program aimed
at students in early childhood, elementary and secondary education, focus their applications on
personal strengths and mindfulness Likewise López et al. (2015), who correlate the existence of a
significant, positive and balanced relationship between attention to emotions and to bullying. On
the other hand, to solve learning difficulties, Moralo and Rivera (2017) advise the use of traditional
stories as a helpful resource. In addition, they consider that it is necessary to create suitable environ-
ments for reading and teaching.
In the linking of emotional education with other variables, creativity appears as an example, with au-
thors such as Salavera et al. (2017), stating that emotional intelligence does not influence the creati-
vity of our students. In the field of mental health, Cejudo (2016) shows that the existing relationships
between Emotional Intelligence (EI) as a trait and mental health are greater than those between EI
as an ability and mental health. Significantly higher scores are also recorded for the mental health
variable of teachers in Primary Education. Similarly, significantly higher scores are also recorded for
women on their emotional intelligence as a capacity of emotional regulation, and scores are sig-
nificantly higher on the emotional intelligence as a personality trait for men. Therefore, emotional
intelligence is identified as a predictive variable for mental health. In the field of violence, Aras et al.
(2016) determined that the risk factors identified in this study may guide us in planning interventions
aimed at protection against violence.
On the other hand, there were 8 documents addressing teachers, so there is a clear imbalance, sin-
ce, as underlined by Fernández-Berrocal and Extremera (2002), educators are the main emotional
leaders for their students. The skills of the teacher to pick up, understand and regulate the emotions
of their students, is the best index of the emotional balance of a class.
Thus, specific studies on teacher training in emotional education have been found (Cejudo and
López-Delgado, 2017, Hernández-Amoros and Urrea-Solano, 2017; Pop and Giurgiulescu, 2015).
Another group of articles deals with the teaching experience (Gil-Madrona and Martínez-López,
2015; Rayner and Espinoza, 2016; Zikhali and Perumal, 2016) and, to a lesser extent, others related
to the development in the classroom of the teaching of emotional skills. (Bisquerra and Hernández,
2017; Navarro et al. 2016).
For teacher training in emotional education, Cejudo and López-Delgado (2017), and Hernández-Amo-
ros and Urrea-Solano (2017) agree on the importance of training in emotional education for teachers,
and confirm that they know the emotional education and recognize that they lack the tools and re-
https://doi.org/10.33776/remo.vi20.7379
[ 68 ]
sources to handle the students’ emotions. Regarding teaching experiences in emotional education,
authors such as Zikhali and Perumal (2016) describe the teachers experiencing anxiety, pain, sadness,
sympathy, frustration, sadness and worry, and were happy in leadership positions. The sources of their
emotional stress were related to the difficult situation of the children, the stereotypical gender expec-
tations, the lack of cooperation from the parents, and unrealistic professional and social expectations.
Similarly, Rayner and Espinoza (2016) describe the teachers who were evaluated differing in terms
of emotional work because of their origins, the severity and the impact on educational and personal
goals, and also said that the prescriptive teaching and expected bureaucracy frustrated the teachers.
On the other hand, Gil-Madrona and Martínez-López (2015) described in their results that there did
not seem to be any particularly intense or extreme emotions among the teachers, for neither positive
nor negative emotions, which leads the teacher to settle into some “emotional neutrality”. As for the
articles devoted to the development of emotional abilities in the classroom, Bisquerra and Hernán-
dez (2017) show how the development of well-being should be one of the purposes of education,
which would have a positive effect on teachers, students, families and, by extension, to society in ge-
neral. “Aulas Felices” (Happy classrooms) is a program aimed at students in early childhood, primary
and secondary education, which focuses its applications on personal strengths and mindfulness. In
addition, they argue about the importance of promoting well-being in education, presenting practi-
cal activities and intervention strategies, with special reference to teacher training. Along these lines,
Navarro et al. (2016) aimed to review how emotional education is addressed in primary education
classrooms and what training teachers have to directly and indirectly address the development of the
emotional abilities of their students. The results indicated that the group of respondents expressed
an interest in dealing with the emotional abilities of their students.
Authors such as Decker and Roberts (2015), Ford-Connors et al. (2015), or López-Gómez (2015)
state that currently, in most cases, teaching is focused only on the cognitive. However, the articles
found in this review confirm that the only way to successful experiences is the combination of cog-
nition with emotion, something that is rare in current school curricula (Winians, 2012). It is essential
that proposals are made that target the students’ thinking, their emotional self-control, freedom of
expression, sharing of moods, finding of solutions to problems, learning relaxation techniques, etc.
(Zembylas, 2012). In this sense, Brown (2015) finds a greater satisfaction in new teachers towards
their work when they have received training in empathy and interpersonal relationships. Primary tea-
chers, unlike teachers at other educational stages, relate emotions with education and the desire to
learn, aspects so necessary to the teacher’s ongoing training (Hortigüela et al., 2016). In the articles
directed at emotional education of teachers, it is noted that it has been investigated in both training
and in experience, as well as in the development in the classroom of the emotional abilities of the
teachers as such.
The emotional education in the primary educational stage concerns both teachers and students, and
can be used as a means to develop it or as an end for other objectives or positive consequences. It
is a topic being increasingly investigated due to the impact the scientific evidence is having. There
is a need to develop emotional education as a transversal axis in schools to contribute to increasing
well-being, academic performance and to reducing problematic situations, as well as learning to
5. Conclusions
https://doi.org/10.33776/remo.vi20.7379
[ 69 ]
manage aspects such as relationship problems among peers, isolation, lack of empathy, aggression
and fights that result in demotivation, reluctance, and academic failure (Collel and Escudé, 2003).
For this, it is necessary to improve teacher training in this field.
With regard to perspectives on the future, issues have been detected that have not been addressed
in the scientific literature, such as the importance of families in the emotional education of students,
as Cervantes and González (2017) remind us, it is necessary to develop emotional abilities from
an early age, both at school and in the family, to provide students with tools that help them to
intelligently manage all kinds of situations. It is also necessary to increase the number of studies
aimed at teaching emotional education because they are responsible for the emotional atmosphere
of the classroom.
Our thanks to the Center Researh in Contemporary Thought and Innovation for Social Develpment (COIDESO)
of the University of Huelva for their preparation of this article and to the University of Huelva in general for
facilitating this review.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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