Neoliberalism and socio-emotional competencies:

links to the mental health of adolescents at school

Abstract

This paper presents an outline of the development of socio-emotional skills, as well as their central interests, and their relationship with the mental health of adolescents in the school context, since the adopted focus on skills is an educational policy aggregated especially in teaching and learning. The general objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between socio-emotional skills and their contribution to the promotion of mental health of adolescents in the Brazilian educational system. Methodologically, this is a documentary research, in which documents that deal with the topic at hand were selected. Such documents emphasize legal guidelines such as the National Common Curricular Base in line with the main ally of the implementation of Socio-emotional Skills in Brazil, the Ayrton Senna Institute (IAS), and the National School Health Survey (PeNSE). Furthermore, an educational model developed especially for individuals to adapt to the neoliberal logic was analyzed, which, instead of promoting the mental health of adolescents, aggravates psychological illnesses of subjects immersed in different forms of socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Finally, the reductionist model of Socioemotional Skills is criticized, in view of a market model of neoliberal interest, as individualized skills separated from the historical cultural context of individuals and the school structure that tends to develop such an approach