Emotional and mental health competences in Spanish textbooks in Primary Education

Abstract

Introduction: the development of competencies in compulsory education, specifically those concerned with the emotions, constitutes an opportunity to include those learnings considered to be essential. Textbooks are excellent pedagogical material, which give a glimpse of the content which is presented in the classroom. The aim of this work was to evaluate the treatment of the competencies in mental and emotional health in natural science textbooks in Primary Education in Spain. Methodology:  the sample was made up of texts for Primary Education from the three publishers with the highest distribution in Spain. A descriptive analysis was carried out of the competency-related contents necessary for the development of the aforementioned competencies. Results: results evidence a predominant presence of informative and preventive contents, followed by those related to personal development. A smaller presence of contents related to the environment and social development was also found. This research has focused on conceptual contents. In this sense, those related to the protection of mental health and to the most frequent problems associated with it, as well as its risk factors, have received special attention. Attitudinal and procedural contents were approached in a much more limited way, despite the fact that some of the texts dealt with empathy, self-esteem, conflict resolution and the ability to communicate and to establish interpersonal relationships. Discussion and conclusions: the absence of contents aimed at promoting stress-management skills, assertiveness and the application of self-control strategies evidenced insufficiencies to develop mental and emotional heath competences. The omission of these contents within the textbooks could potentially represent a limitation for the teacher who uses exclusively these resources. However, given the ultimate goal of this educational area, it should be noted that its health focus stands out positively insofar it goes beyond its biological meaning. It would be advisable to design complementary materials that approach the procedural and attitudinal dimensions required to acquire the cited competences.