In the Plenary Session of the Parliament of the Canary Islands on February 23, 2022, a PNL was approved in which the Government of the Canary Islands is urged to continue teaching the area "Emotional Education and Creativity", extending it to 5th and 6th grade of Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education. This subject was established in the 2014-2015 academic year in the Canarian curriculum, in the courses from 1st to 4th grade of Primary School, as a compulsory and evaluable subject, "in a hurry, with little information and without the necessary training for all the teachers who should teach it, a training that would allow a rigorous, serious and safe approach to emotional education in schools" (School Council of the Canary Islands, 2014).
After eight years of developing this subject in Canarian classrooms, no evaluation of its implementation or its impact has been made public, acquiring, at this time, an undeniable importance, given the change in educational law (from LOMCE to LOMLOE, in which the Royal Decrees of Minimum Teachings set, by virtue of the provisions of this Law, 50% of the school hours in the Autonomous Communities).
Emotional education, at the service of what and whom?
Historically, the education system has been subject to enormous pressure to adapt it to the needs of the economic world. In recent decades, it is quite striking that, with this objective, companies have turned emotional work into an essential resource to increase productivity and performance, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development highlights that socio-emotional skills have a specific role to address unforeseen situations, control emotions and meet job expectations (OECD, 2016) or the Botín Foundation produces a report on the international situation of emotional and social education. The truth is that emotional education has become a cornerstone of the new forms of individualism promoted by neoliberalism, promoting a training whose objective is to prepare the new generations "for the relentless competition of life." An emotional education that takes care of the perception, understanding and regulation of emotions, without a critical analysis, without being accompanied by an ethical education, running the risk of promoting an emotional hyper-individualism, thus contributing to forming people more "adaptable" to precariousness and who resign themselves to any situation, and even worried only about themselves, reinforcing one of the great problems of our society, the presence of people who have fun or enjoy the suffering of others.
An education for the society we want
It is urgent to build societies that put life at the center, articulated around the basic conditions of existence for all people, which have as a priority the sustenance of lives worthy of being lived. This requires, among other conditions, that a true Integral Education be developed in our educational centers. An education that accompanies our students so that they are able to define their personal biography, analyze the reality we live in, have skills for dialogue, conflict resolution and consensus, as well as promote an ethic based on solidarity, socio-environmental responsibility, respect and love.
We are beings for contact, bonding and social life, deeply interdependent, and our emotional wealth goes beyond emotions, as we build feelings, live social affections (attachment, friendship, care system, altruism...) and sexual affections (desire, attraction, infatuation) and establish bonds, which must be satisfied to meet our basic needs and our well-being.
Knowing the characteristics of this emotional and social dimension, the needs that derive from it, the ways to manage and satisfy them, is fundamental to promote personal and social well-being. And we must do it understanding this complex emotional world as a cultural construction, which must be placed next to ethics, in favor of freedom and human dignity.
We need learning in good treatment, in respect, in humanity, we need an Emotional, Affective and Sexual Education framed in the field of self-care and personal, relational and environmental care, as substantial elements for the sustenance of life. We need to integrate "citizenship" in the classrooms.
How do we specify this educational proposal?
It is essential that the classroom is a safe, trustworthy place, and the educational center, a learning space for life, a place of coexistence. This demands that these themes be incorporated, explicitly and systematically, in the curriculum, restructuring it so that formal education really develops the necessary skills to live fully and happily in this difficult time.
Therefore, a reflection is unavoidable to enrich the demand for a compulsory subject in the Canarian curriculum of the different educational stages, which is not only linked to the knowledge and "effective" regulation of emotions, but also gives way to the inclusion of quality of life, affective, sexual and emotional co-education.
A subject with sufficient hours, with adequate ratios, with trained teachers and with time for coordination, reflection and collaborative work with the rest of the teachers and families. A subject that promotes a real mainstreaming of its contents, permeating both the different areas and subjects, as well as the various spaces of formal education. The complexity and multiplicity of the aspects that are questioned, involves addressing them in a comprehensive way. It is not very significant to work its contents as just another subject, while the system of routines and attitudes that are developed throughout the day contradict the possible work we intend to do.
It is necessary to rethink the structure and functions of the educational system itself. This change requires a transcendental change, which makes the recognition of a new teaching profile essential. In addition to the attention to the students, there are other functions inherent to the educational task, which must involve fewer hours of teaching, in order for the teachers to be able to investigate, reflect on the practice, share and contrast with their colleagues, coordinate with families and other social agents... This change must be linked to the training of teachers, without forgetting the accompaniment that must be given to them, to ensure that these changes reach all our classrooms, preventing them from being the heritage of the most innovative sectors.
We must be aware that it is not only important what is written in a law and/or in the curriculum, but its transcendence will be determined by the conditions that are created to make them a reality in the classrooms and educational centers. We must manage to tip the social balance towards the achievement of personal and social well-being, towards shared care, towards lives worthy of being lived. We still trust that there will be personal, professional, trade union, and above all political will, not to miss this opportunity!
