Aspects of social and emotional intelligence in the context of the personal cultural competence of primary school students in the learning process

The modern educational environment requires primary school students to acquire not only academic knowledge, but also the ability to understand themselves and others, to cooperate, make decisions, and build successful relationships. The educational environment emphasizes the development of socio-emotional intelligence, but the context of its development—​​the cultural environment and culture—is not emphasized. Personal cultural competence is based on five emotional intelligence skills: mindfulness, empathy, goal-setting, self-regulation, and communication. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of social–emotional intelligence in the development of personal cultural competence of primary school students in the learning process. The case study used a quantitative survey method of 246 students and 8 teachers, comparing the results in one Latvian and one Lithuanian general education school. Students in grades 4, 6, and 8 were surveyed. The questionnaires assessed the students' ability to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses, understand their emotions, and cooperate in situations of cultural understanding and expression in the learning process. Interviews with teachers allowed us to analyze the impact of their pedagogical methods and choices on the development of students' emotional intelligence skills in the context of cultural competence. Two different education systems from different countries were selected. The Lithuanian education system includes general cultural competence, with its content developed in detail, but that of Latvia does not. The results revealed that students with a higher level of awareness and greater involvement in cultural processes at school and outside it are also more empathetic, able to communicate better, and take responsibility for their decisions in organizing their self-expression. The conclusions confirm that social and emotional intelligence is an integral part of the cultural competence of a person. Students who develop these five emotional intelligence skills are also able to show better assessed academic learning results.