Developing emotional competencies in the educational space

The ability to experience emotions is a key aspect of broadly understood social maturity of a person. With age, this need becomes more and more conscious and important. Children and young people, through the experience they gain and the educational process - understood both as the acquisition of knowledge and the development of interpersonal competences - systematically expand their skills in the field of emotional regulation and social functioning. Contemporary educational reality emphasizes the importance of the polarization of emotions, covering the spectrum from joy to sadness, especially in the context of preventing difficult and risky behaviors among young people. Upbringing is a socio-cultural process and is one of the fundamental tasks of man towards other people - both in the individual and social dimension. For this reason, this issue arouses interest in many scientific disciplines, in particular pedagogy, sociology and psychology. Upbringing plays a key role in the development of an individual, directing him/her to acquire competences characteristic of a human being, which enable him/her to fully participate in social life and maintain autonomy. This article is a theoretical introduction to issues related to the process of experiencing and recognizing emotions. The issues analyzed will be placed in the context of data from the Educational Informa- tion System, collected by the District Psychological and Pedagogical Counseling Center in Tarnów, which covers children and youth from the Tarnów district, who use various forms of support. The aim of the analysis is to show the role of education in shaping the ability to recognize key emotional states of young people and to identify their developmental needs.