Children’s Choral Singing as a Strategy for Social- Emotional Development in School Settings: A SEL- and SECD-Based Approach
Abstract
School-based choral singing has been proposed as a pedagogical context that may foster social-emotional competencies aligned with SEL and SECD frameworks, particularly those related to classroom climate and group dynamics. This paper reports a quantitative quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a non-equivalent control group. Participants were 3rd–6th grade students from a public primary school in Culiacán, Sinaloa (Mexico), within the VAM School Choir Network (Vida y Arte para México) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Culture (SEPyC). Social-emotional and character competencies were assessed using the Social-Emotional and Character Development Scale (SECDS). Due to anonymous data collection, pre–post comparisons were treated as unpaired; nonparametric Mann–Whitney U tests were conducted and effect sizes (r) were reported. The experimental group showed significant increases in prosocial behavior, personal development, self-control, and respect for rules at school and at home, with small effect sizes. Posttest comparisons yielded significant between-group differences favoring the experimental group in prosociality and, more markedly, personal development. The findings suggest a favorable association, albeit modest, between choral participation and certain socio-emotional competencies. In conclusion, the results provide preliminary evidence on the socio-educational relevance of school choral singing in vulnerable contexts, although they should be interpreted with caution, given the design limitations, the absence of individual matching, and the impossibility of directly estimating the time and group interaction.
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