EDUCATING ALSO MEANS CARING: MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIOEMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES AT SCHOOL

Resumen

The mental health of children and adolescents has become an increasingly prominent issue in everyday school life, manifesting itself in relationships, learning processes, social interaction, and students’ forms of participation. In this context, schools can play an important role in promoting well-being, strengthening bonds, and developing socioemotional competencies without assuming clinical functions that exceed their educational responsibilities. This chapter aims to analyze the contributions and limitations of school practices focused on promoting mental health and developing socioemotional competencies, considering supportive care, prevention, pedagogical relationships, and the necessary coordination among Education, Health, families, and the protection network. Methodologically, this is a qualitative, analytical-interpretive bibliographic study grounded in authors from the fields of Education, Psychology, and Collective Health, as well as three selected academic studies: Oliveira et al. (2024), Brantes and Gondim (2025), and Aguiar (2025). The analysis is based on the understanding that emotional awareness, self-regulation, empathy, communication, and conflict resolution can contribute to learning and social interaction at school. It cautions, however, that these competencies should not be used to hold students individually responsible for suffering produced by inequalities, violence, or adverse institutional conditions. It concludes that educating also means caring when schools create environments of belonging, dialogue, and protection, recognize the limits of teachers’ professional roles, and establish intersectoral networks capable of appropriately addressing students’ needs.