Our society is developing rapidly and often in unforeseen directions. Schools – and other educational establishments – are seen as central places where young people – in addition to professional skills – should be taught social and emotional skills in order to prepare them for foreseeable or unpredictable challenges in life and particularly in the world of work. Career guidance and preparation are important occasions to promote or use such skills. For this reason, social-emotional learning (SEL) is viewed as an increasingly important contribution to the development of competencies for a successful life and for the professional development of adolescents. Our goal is to use the perspective of consultants, coaches or teachers to develop a professional approach that can be used in Germany as well as across cultures to harness and promote socio-emotional skills in school, education and career guidance and counselling. We assume that counsellors or teachers themselves need social-emotional skills. This paper will present the theoretical concepts behind the study, the results of the qualitative analysis from the first sub-sample and will analyze these results within the context of the practitioners training in Germany.
