site.btaThink Equal Initiative to Support Sofia Kindergartens in Social-Emotional Learning

The Mayor of Sofia, Vasil Terziev, and Leslee Udwin, Director of the international programme for early social-emotional competencies Think Equal, held a meeting focused on the development of early social-emotional skills in preschool education, Sofia Municipality said in a press release on Friday.

The programme, developed by experts from around the world, was presented during the meeting. It is aimed at fostering social-emotional skills and empathy in children aged between 3 and 6 years. The programme includes activities, books, gamified tasks, and more, all designed to promote emotional regulation, empathy, prosocial behaviour, and social and universal ethical values. Developed by psychologists and neuroscientists from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, it is used in 38 countries worldwide, and in some of these, it has been integrated into national education curricula. The methods used in the Think Equal programme have proven effectiveness, supported by scientific studies across three continents.

Terziev and Udwin agreed on the shared goal of reducing inequalities in social-emotional development, which would improve the school environment and, in the longer term, reduce economic inequalities and aggression in society. The mayor expressed his readiness to partner in the initiative and work towards introducing the programme in kindergartens across the municipality that wish to receive the developed materials and train their teams in the new approach.