Social-emotional learning and students' transition from kindergarten to primary school in Italy

The transition from kindergarten to primary school is a critical period in the development of children. Children who start primary school with good emotional and social skills have more friends, can easily establish new social relationships with peers and adults, and adjust better and achieve more at school. Although in the last couple of decades social-emotional learning programs have received considerable scientific attention in various countries, little is known about the implementation of such programs in the Italian context. This chapter describes a quasi-experimental study on the effectiveness of the implementation of a social-emotional program with Italian kindergarten children. Children's assessment by the researcher and reports from teachers and parents indicated that the program called "By Your Hand" had a positive impact on the social and emotional competence of children over time as they moved from kindergarten to primary school, with indications of enhanced emotional competence and reduced behaviour problems.