Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an educational movement that is gaining ground throughout the world. We can define SEL as the capacity to recognize and manage emotions, solve problems effectively, and establish positive relationships with others. Research has demonstrated the significant role of SEL in promoting healthy student development and academic achievement. Extensive research confirms that SEL competencies: can be taught, that they promote positive development and reduce problem behaviors, and that they improve students' academic achievement and citizenship. At the international level, several rigorous studies have identified programs and practices that promote SEL. In Portugal, however, no review has yet been published regarding the implementation of SEL programs. Such a study would elucidate the current panorama of SEL programs in Portugal. This study aims to identify research on SEL programs implemented in Portuguese schools and the relationship of those programs with academic achievement. To this end, we have consulted the following databases: Scientific Repository of Open Access of Portugal (RCAAP), Online Knowledge Library (b-on), and Web of Science (WoS). The criteria were: (a) all time frames; (b) publications in either Portuguese or English; (c) programs that developed socio-emotional competencies in Portuguese schools; (d) academic levels including elementary, middle, and high school and (e) students of regular education. Few publications on SEL programs implemented in Portugal were found, although the recent decade has witnessed an upsurge of interest in the topic, principally that arising from academic research.

Emotional intelligence and self-efficacy are considered two of the most fundamental teachers' characteristics to create positive effects on students. Recent research on teacher efficacy has turned from a focus on mastery of content area and lesson plan development to the identification of teacher beliefs and the emotional self-regulation required for teaching and student learning. The purpose of this research was examined whether emotional intelligence abilities influence teacher efficacy. The relationship between teacher gender, length of teaching experience and academic formation with emotional intelligence abilities is also analyzed. The sample comprised 634 Portuguese school teachers. Data sources included the Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire for Teachers, and the Teacher Efficacy in Classroom Management and Discipline Scale. The findings, using structural equation modeling, showed that school teachers with greater skills at perceiving, understanding, expressing, classifying, managing and regulating emotions demonstrated greater levels of teacher efficacy. Therefore teachers' emotional intelligence abilities positively influence teacher efficacy. Having teachers who are apt to perceive and manage emotions will be salutary for the personal development of students, as well as for structuring a positive and self-regulating learning environment. So the results support the teachers' emotional intelligence ability to job performance, and add to literature suggesting that to succeed in the complex and demanding school setting, teachers must develop the necessary emotional skills for enhancing their efficacy. This research contributes to the importance of being created in the teachers' academic training, the emotional education discipline.

In recent decades, several authors have warned of the need to equip students with skills that include critical thinking, creativity, and emotional management. Emotions can facilitate or impede children's academic engagement, commitment, and ultimate school success since relationships and emotional processes affect how and what we learn. Teachers are the main emotional leaders of their students, and the foundation for promoting emotional balance within their groups is their ability to recognize, understand, and manage their emotions. The SEL approach defends that, as with academic skills, the development of social and emotional skills must be accomplished through explicit instruction. In the academic year 2014/2015, three schools in the Portuguese region of the Alentejo began an innovative 4-year project to promote change in learning. The main goal was to improve learning by promoting the acquisition of basic knowledge within the formal curriculum and to stimulate the development of analytical and practical reasoning skills, resilience and responsibility, as well as technological, emotional, social and creative skills. To this end, the research team created two programs to be developed in primary school, the Emotional Literacy Program (ELP) and the Creative Thinking Development Program (Flow) as well as a training program for teachers, Mediators for Well-Being Program. This article details a study analyzing the perceptions of primary school teachers who participated in the project. Data were collected by interviews and teachers' reflections were analyzed. Content analysis was chosen as the analytical technique as it is appropriate for treating qualitative data. The results show very positive impacts on the professional and personal development of teachers. Teachers reported improvements in student behavior, in the relationships between them and in the classroom environment. They further emphasized the need for teachers to receive more training in emotional education in their academic and in service education.

RESUMO O objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar os impactos decorrentes da componente tecnológica do projeto Promoção de Mudanças na Aprendizagem - Comunidades Escolares de Aprendizagem Gulbenkian XXI nos alunos, nos professores e nas práticas pedagógico-didáticas a partir do estudo das perceções de professores titulares de turma do primeiro ciclo do ensino básico que participaram no projeto. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com os professores. Os resultados sugerem melhorias no desenvolvimento profissional dos professores associados ao desenvolvimento das competências no uso da tecnologia, que referem que a utilização de tecnologia promove novas dinâmicas educativas que facilitam o processo de ensino-aprendizagem e promovem a melhoria nas aprendizagens dos alunos. A introdução de tecnologia na sala de aula requer aposta forte na formação de professores, empenho e dedicação por parte destes.

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