Equipping children for a brighter future: Exploring sustainability considerations of socio-emotional well-being promotion initiatives in primary schools

Abstract

Background:

Socio-emotional well-being promotion for children is a significant part of education in lower primary schools. It plays a crucial role in ensuring health outcomes in children, along with preparing them to be socially and ecologically responsible individuals in the future. This study explored primary schools’ efforts to incorporate sustainability considerations of environmental learning, community engagement and local knowledge into initiatives to respond to the socio-emotional needs of child learners.

Methods:

The study employed an exploratory qualitative research design. Data were collected from 18 lower primary schools in central Kerala, India through interviews with 52 teachers and 9 head teachers conducted between November 2024 and January 2025. A thematic analysis of the data revealed three key themes.

Findings:

The themes of integrated socio-emotional well-being approach, student-centred green initiatives and engaged learning provide important insight into sustainability considerations in the explored initiatives. Evidence revealed, however, that the integration of sustainability components into the socio-emotional well-being initiatives of primary schools was the consequence of the everyday practices of stakeholders such as school heads, teachers, administrators and policy makers based on their lay understandings, rather than being due to the delivery of structured socio-emotional well-being frameworks in schools.

Conclusion:

The study emphasises the need for a more structured approach to incorporating sustainability goals into school initiatives addressing the socio-emotional well-being of child learners. This integration will help school stakeholders to achieve planned and intended outcomes along with already achieved organic and incidental sustainable outcomes related to student support.