Developing Prosocial Leadership in Primary School Students: Service-Learning and Older Adults in Physical Education

Abstract

Background: As population aging continues to accelerate, it is increasingly important to promote a positive perception of older adulthood from an early age. Service-Learning (SL), when integrated into Physical Education (PE), offers an opportunity to foster critical and prosocial awareness in primary school students, encouraging attitudes of respect and empathy toward older adults. Method: A qualitative study was conducted with 40 sixth-grade students who participated in an SL project at an adult day care center. Through weekly adapted PE sessions, the students engaged in direct interaction with older adults. Data were collected through reflective journals and analyzed using content analysis techniques. Results: The findings reveal a positive impact on students’ perceptions of older adults. Significant development of prosocial competencies, such as empathy, collaborative leadership, and communication skills, was observed. Furthermore, students expressed an enhanced sense of usefulness and social commitment. Conclusions: Intergenerational SL in PE is an effective strategy for improving academic learning, transforming attitudes, promoting civic values, and contributing to more inclusive education.

1. Introduction

1.1. The Phenomenon of Aging and Intergenerational Service-Learning in Primary Education

Aging is a biological, psychological, and social process that is inherent to human life. Since 2020, the global population of individuals over the age of 60 has surpassed that of children under 5, and projections estimate that by 2050, this age group will comprise 22% of the world’s population (Hassan et al., 2024). Advances in healthcare and overall well-being have extended life expectancy, leading to a demographic shift that impacts all societal structures, including education. However, this longevity is often overshadowed by persistent ageist stereotypes among younger generations (Mora, 2020). This demographic transformation calls for innovative and inclusive educational strategies that encourage younger students to develop a naturalized and empathetic understanding of aging. In this context, Service-Learning (SL), as an experiential educational methodology, emerges as a promising approach to raising awareness among primary school students about aging and older populations. SL enables meaningful interaction with older adults, challenging preconceived notions and promoting attitudes of respect (Burgman & Mulvaney, 2016; P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2020; Vives et al., 2021). Intergenerational SL thus contributes not only to academic and civic learning, but also to a formative experience that supports the development of a more inclusive society, one that values generational diversity and fosters social cohesion (E. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2024).

1.2. SL and Physical Education: Impact on Students’ Prosocial Attitudes and Civic Values

Prosociality, defined as voluntary behaviors aimed at enhancing the well-being of others (Badenes-Ribera et al., 2023; Caprara et al., 2006), is a foundational component of responsible and compassionate citizenship. Within educational contexts, fostering prosocial attitudes is closely linked to the broader goal of shaping active, empathetic individuals who are responsive to the needs of their communities and capable of contributing to social improvement. SL, particularly when integrated with Physical Education (PE), has emerged as an effective means to cultivate these dispositions from an early age. PE’s cooperative and social nature makes it ideal for fostering prosocial behaviors such as inclusion and respect (Pérez-Ordás et al., 2021; Santos-Pastor et al., 2021). When framed within an SL methodology, PE allows students to engage in authentic helping experiences, such as actively accompanying and supporting older adults, thus fostering a deeper understanding of community-oriented values. Research shows that combining SL and PE enhances both motor and civic competencies (Calvo Varela et al., 2019; P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2023). Furthermore, intergenerational SL in PE aligns with key educational goals outlined in European and national curricula (European Commission, 2018; Government of Spain, 2022). It supports core transversal competencies—such as civic engagement, social responsibility, and learning to learn—while reinforcing inclusive education and democratic values.

1.3. Prosocial Leadership Through Intergenerational SL in PE

Among the social competencies fostered through SL, prosocial leadership stands out as particularly significant. Prosocial leadership can be defined as the ability to positively influence others through ethical, empathetic behavior oriented toward the common good (Lorenzi, 2004). In school settings, this means organizing inclusive group activities that foster mutual respect. PE, due to its practical and cooperative nature, provides an ideal environment for developing such leadership skills, especially when integrated with SL projects involving diverse populations (Chiva-Bartoll et al., 2020a). During SL experiences with older adults, primary school students are given the opportunity to take on roles of responsibility, make decisions, lead group activities, and navigate real-life social situations. This type of experiential involvement not only enhances students’ self-esteem and self-confidence, but also reinforces their sense of belonging and commitment to democratic values (E. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2024). Such leadership is collaborative and rooted in service and inclusion (Cuji-Bunsi et al., 2024). As such, PE through SL holds the potential to nurture young leaders who are committed to building a more just, supportive, and socially cohesive society.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Participants and Research Design

To address the study’s aims, a qualitative research design with a descriptive approach based on content analysis was employed. As noted by Barry et al. (2022) and Chiva-Bartoll et al. (2020a), the core objective of descriptive research is to gain an in-depth understanding of existing situations, customs, and prevailing attitudes by accurately documenting activities, processes, people, and their contexts, along with analyzing the resulting data. This qualitative approach enables deeper insight into both social and educational phenomena, while also contributing to the transformation of socio-educational practices and the development of reflective knowledge among student participants (Johnson et al., 2020).

This study was part of a regionally funded educational innovation project titled “Values education and intergenerational learning: A bridge between who we were, who we are, and who we want to become.” The project was implemented in a primary school and involved a total of 40 students (24 girls and 16 boys) in the final year of primary education during the 2022/2023 academic year. The intervention was coordinated by the lead PE teacher and supported by collaborators from the fields of physical activity and sport sciences, professionals working with older adults, physiotherapists, and psychologists. The service recipients were users of a local day center for dependent older adults, representing a socially disadvantaged group.

The subject selected for this intervention was sixth-grade PE. The PE sessions within the SL project focused on physical fitness components, including flexibility, upper- and lower-body strength, agility, and cardiorespiratory endurance, and were continuously supervised by the lead teacher in coordination with staff from the day center. The primary objective of the study was to analyze the impact of intergenerational SL in PE on primary students’ critical and prosocial awareness, as well as on their perceptions of older adults. PE oriented toward the well-being and social engagement of older adults, and the promotion of healthy aging, must ensure meaningful connection and active engagement with the surrounding social context (Campos-Rius et al., 2020).

The study received ethical approval from the institutional ethics committee (approval number: 3516/CEIH/2023), confirming that it met the standards for responsible research conduct. One of the research team members also served as the coordinator of the educational project and was directly responsible for the participating students. While potential bias could not be entirely excluded due to this dual role, several measures were implemented to mitigate it. For example, students completed reflective journals under the guidance of an external subject specialist, as P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al. (2023) suggest in their study with students of PE subjects. Moreover, to prevent possible bias from the coordinator of the educational project skewing interpretations of the participants’ responses, a member-checking process was carried out to ensure the researchers had correctly interpreted what the PE students meant (Chiva-Bartoll et al., 2021b). Informed consent was obtained from the families of all the student participants.

The intervention took place at a day center located near the students’ school. This facility specializes in the prevention and early-stage treatment (stage 0 and stage 1) of cognitive decline associated with aging. The center provided a dedicated and appropriately adapted space for the PE sessions, ensuring that regular users of the facility were not disturbed during the activities.

2.2. The Reflective Journal as a Data Collection Instrument

The reflective journal is situated within the qualitative paradigm of evaluative research. For an educational approach to align with a critical and transformative perspective, it is essential to employ assessment methods that foster conscious learning, raise students’ awareness of social realities, and enhance their capacity for collective action (Santos Pastor et al., 2024).

This technique was chosen to evaluate students’ SL experience due to its (a) flexibility in completion, (b) capacity to assess both learning processes and outcomes, and (c) suitability for gathering insights from both students and the lead teacher involved in the SL project.

Reflective journals were completed concurrently with the intervention and focused on participants’ observations during the SL experience, often incorporating personal narratives from the participating primary school students. In this study, students reflected on the challenges, unexpected events, and incidents that emerged during their engagement with older adults, as well as their own responses to these situations. SL inherently involves reflective practice, as reflection is considered fundamental to both academic and professional development (Deeley, 2015).

Students who take part in SL initiatives often develop competencies rooted in community engagement, which significantly influence their personal and professional growth, while also fostering a strong sense of ethics and social responsibility through direct interaction with the community (Berlanga-Fernández et al., 2021).

In this study, the reflective journal was introduced with an explanation of its importance and was structured around four open-ended questions that students were asked to answer:

• Describe a meaningful anecdote or relevant event that occurred during your SL experience with older adults.
• How did you respond to that situation?
• Why or how do you think that situation occurred?
• What did you learn from this event or anecdote that might help you in similar future situations?

Students completed their reflective journals on a weekly basis (though not exhaustively) and submitted them to their teacher via their institutional email accounts. The procedure used to transcribe the reflective journal and to protect the anonymity of the participants was to assign a code to each student, taking the first name and second surname (all students have two surnames) of each student and their number and grade level (6.1. or 6.2.). If the student’s name were Claudia Pérez Fernández (fictitious name) and her grade level were 6.1., the code would be CF6.1. In total, 40 individual journals were collected during the study, resulting in 70 pages of transcription, which were used to assess students’ development of prosocial competencies and their perceptions of older adults. All journals were originally written in Spanish and later translated into English for inclusion in this research. To transcribe the journals while preserving participants’ anonymity, each student was assigned a pseudonym that reflected their gender.

2.3. SL Methodology and Implementation Procedure

The SL intervention program was structured around two weekly PE sessions, each lasting 45–50 min, over a period of 10 weeks spanning the second and third trimesters of the 2022/2023 academic year. The intervention sessions were designed by the class teacher and carefully explained to the participating primary school students, ensuring they clearly understood the activities they were to carry out with older adults at the day center. The session content focused on improving physical fitness and was adapted to meet both the students’ capabilities and the specific needs of the service recipients. On the day of each SL session, and prior to visiting the day center, the teacher distributed exercise worksheets detailing the activities to be performed. This ensured that the students were fully prepared and knew exactly what to work on during their interaction with the older adults. At the center, each student was paired with one older adult, maintaining a 1:1 student-to-user ratio, and all activities were conducted under the close supervision of the teacher and staff from the day center. The intergenerational SL intervention, targeting older adults aged 55 and above, was also designed to address the social inequalities and everyday barriers faced by this population. As the sessions progressed, the relationships between the students and the older participants deepened, fostered by shared activities such as exercises and games, which increased engagement and enjoyment for both students and service recipients.

2.4. Data Analysis Procedure

This study employed a qualitative content analysis, emphasizing the presence or absence of specific features within segments of student responses (Souza et al., 2017). Qualitative content analysis is a technique that allows for rich interpretation of collected data and enhances understanding of the social phenomena under study (Salvador-García et al., 2022). Through this approach, we examined the students’ reflective journals to identify evidence of prosocial leadership and their perceptions of older adults during the SL intervention. To preserve participants’ anonymity, each student was assigned a code used to label their journal entries. These identifiers appear in the citations of student comments presented throughout the study.

The analysis of narrative material followed a three-stage process: discovery, coding, and relativization of data (Flick, 2014). In the discovery phase, emerging themes were identified and the text was segmented into smaller content units for descriptive analysis (Flick, 2014; P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2023). This process, known as condensation, involved generating shortened versions of the original responses while preserving the core meaning of each unit. In some instances, student responses were already so concise that condensation was not necessary (Figure 1).

The second phase involved the categorization and coding of data using NVivo qualitative analysis software (version 14), which facilitated the organization, exploration, and visualization of the qualitative data extracted from the students’ reflective journals. NVivo has proven to be a highly effective tool for qualitative content analysis due to its ability to quantify the presence of codes and efficiently illustrate the interconnections among categories (Allsop et al., 2022).

This coding and categorization process of textual fragments followed both deductive and inductive approaches. It was conducted through interpretations and consensus among three experienced qualitative researchers (L.F.M.-M., O.C.-B., and J.J.L.-O.) from different Spanish universities to the one responsible for this study, based on established criteria of inter-rater reliability of coherence through a clear and shared coding guide, relevance and clarity of the independent evaluation of the three experienced qualitative researchers, and interpretive significance by a collaborative discussion among the three experts to address potential discrepancies or adjust the coding framework as needed (Todres et al., 2009). Therefore, credibility was guaranteed during the analysis process. In addition, the obtention of results through the selection of textual fragments were accompanied by the interpretations of these three experts in qualitative research. The four main categories were developed deductively, drawing primarily on the reviewed literature in the field (Figure 2). Simultaneously, the students’ narratives served as a second source of input, from which emerging subcategories were inductively generated.

Finally, in the third phase, the data were interpreted to draw conclusions, capturing the richness of the information and transforming the researchers’ multiple interpretations into concrete findings. These phases were iterative and often overlapped until the final category system was established. This final framework consisted of four main categories and their corresponding subcategories, all related to prosocial competencies (Figure 3).

3. Results and Discussion

This section summarizes the students’ experiences and perceptions regarding the development of prosocial competencies, as well as their views on PE and older adults, following the implementation of the SL methodology. Following the intervention, all participating students reported improvements in their social skills and a noticeable positive shift in their attitudes and perceptions toward the older adults at the day center.

To present the findings in an organized and accessible manner, four key thematic areas have been defined, corresponding to the main categories associated with prosocial competencies. These categories and their corresponding subcategories help to clarify the specific prosocial skills and perceptions developed by the primary school students during and after the SL program.

The confirmed positive impact of participatory methodologies on prosocial behaviors highlights their dual function—not only fostering such behaviors, but also enhancing students’ sense of responsibility in their own teaching–learning process during PE classes (Navarro-Patón et al., 2019a). Several studies highlight this trend from a multipurpose perspective in PE contexts for primary school students (Navarro-Patón et al., 2019b).

3.1. Category: Service Development

The service development category comprises three subcategories: acceptance of reality, experiential learning, and interaction during activities. This category describes the process of implementing and evaluating the SL program by combining academic learning with community service; this same process has been used in studies by Calvo Varela et al. (2019) and Moreno (2022). It enabled the primary education students to apply their PE knowledge while contributing meaningfully to the well-being of older adults. This process involved multiple stages in the planning and delivery of the community-based intervention (P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2020).

The SL experience was structured around three key phases (González-Valencia et al., 2025), following the general framework for SL projects in PE by Santos-Pastor et al. (2021) (https://digibug.ugr.es/handle/10481/72547) (accessed on 1 February 2023):

(a)

Contextualization and planning of the setting and the target population;

(b)

Implementation of the SL intervention and data collection from the students;

(c)

Evaluation of students’ participation in the program.

Service development involves a values-based, experience-rich methodology that enhances the assimilation of PE curricular content through structured reflection, grounded in real interactions with older adults (E. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2024), although with certain limitations in the role they play during their intervention in the learning situation, such as lack of confidence and shyness (Calero et al., 2025).

The subcategory acceptance of reality refers to students’ ability to recognize and adapt to the actual conditions and challenges presented by older adults during PE sessions. This subcategory is essential for designing meaningful and effective services, as it reflects how students gain insight into the real needs and limitations of the service recipients; the presence and help of the PE teacher to provide greater security is indispensable in this type of context, even though it is necessary to give the students an increased level of autonomy (Mohamed, 2025). For school-aged children, understanding these realities can be difficult. Direct exposure to unfamiliar or emotionally challenging situations can serve as a powerful catalyst for learning and acceptance (Parker et al., 2022). However, in order to fulfill this premise, it is necessary to propose a balanced intervention appropriate to the age of the students (Valenzuela et al., 2025).

AS-6.1: “That you need a lot of patience and love for older people.”

IO-6.2: “That it’s hard to work with older people because they don’t always cooperate.”

The experiential learning subcategory, which registered the highest number of coded references (n = 40), describes the learning process that occurs through direct experience with unfamiliar populations, settings, or causes (Kolb & Kolb, 2017). Students applied their knowledge in real-life contexts, promoting deeper and more meaningful learning, although with certain limitations as it was a novel learning situation. This approach aligns with experiential learning theory, which emphasizes reflection as a key step in consolidating knowledge (Cruz, 2025).

CC-6.2: “I learned that no matter what problem they have, an older person needs to feel loved and cared for because they are a person just like me, but with their differences.”

NL-6.2: “ I understand that, as they start losing their memory, they get sad.”

Previous SL experiences with primary school students have shown that learning is enhanced when curricular content is applied in settings that differ from traditional classroom environments (Billig, 2022). The teaching–learning process is especially effective in intergenerational contexts, as students connect the acquisition of knowledge with a practical, emotionally resonant sense of being useful by supporting older adults (Kolb & Kolb, 2017). This is a similar trend to that proposed by Sánchez et al. (2025).

The final subcategory, interaction during activities, highlights the essential role of continuous, reciprocal interaction between students and older adults throughout the SL intervention. Collaboration and open dialogue, maintained during the entirety of the service, are key to improving and adapting the experience to ensure that both the educational goals and the needs of older adults are met (Arriaga-Sanz et al., 2021). Studies such as that by Sánchez et al. (2025) show the importance of interaction during SL activities.

CC-6.2: “This time they responded better to the physical exercises. I barely had to help them. Last time I had to help a bit more. I think they were more eager to participate today, and also seemed a bit happier than before.”

Intergenerational interaction not only fosters students’ personal growth and learning, but also contributes meaningfully to enhancing the quality of life of older adults, especially in institutional settings that differ from their homes (Jones & Abes, 2020). Moreover, the ability to reflect and recognize mistakes during an SL intervention strengthens experiential learning and supports the development of skills such as observation, information processing, and the formulation of coherent future responses (Billig, 2022). However, the lack of preparation of students sometimes makes it difficult to develop this subcategory.

3.2. Category: Prosocial Leadership

Prosocial leadership is categorized into three subcategories: communication skills; initiative, organization, and activity planning; and confidence in challenging situations. To contextualize this concept, it is important to note that social competence is defined as the ability of individuals to interact within a given interpersonal context, while prosocial behavior is considered a dimension of social competence and is associated with positively valued actions (Duarte-Cruz, 2021).

Prosocial behavior refers to actions intended to benefit one or more people before oneself. These actions are varied and include helping, cooperating, comforting, sharing, working in teams, considering others’ perspectives, exchanging emotional expressions, and also promoting reciprocity and solidarity (Duarte-Cruz, 2021).

The category of prosocial leadership in primary education students participating in SL can be defined as those behaviors aimed at benefiting others without expecting any kind of reward in return, whether external or extrinsic, while fostering interpersonal and social relationships, as well as the construction of personal identity (Chiva-Bartoll et al., 2020a).

From an operational perspective, a person who displays prosocial behavior is someone who acts cooperatively, supportively, and altruistically, and who expresses attitudes of closeness, attentiveness, listening, empathy, and willingness to serve and/or help (Pérez-Ordás et al., 2021).

The practice of prosocial behavior involves cognitive, affective, emotional, behavioral, and social dimensions, all of which influence individual, family, professional, and community contexts, such as in interventions involving older adults. For this reason, prosocial leadership is considered a multidimensional construct (Cuji-Bunsi et al., 2024).

In this regard, developing and strengthening prosocial leadership in PE students through SL in motor activities contributes to better academic performance, improved social adjustment, a greater sense of achievement and self-efficacy, promotion of social cohesion, development of empathy, and positive social functioning (Resch & Schrittesser, 2023); future research will aim to expand the number of dimensions.

The subcategory communication skills refers to the set of abilities that enable appropriate participation in specific communicative situations. It also includes the ability to listen, ask questions, express concepts and ideas effectively, highlight positive aspects, and know when and whom to ask, or how to locate information sources, in order to achieve a particular goal (Lucero-Sarmiento & Jarrín-Navas, 2021).

In the context of this study, communication skills in PE students interacting with older adults through SL in PE are understood to involve a process of addressing a series of fundamental challenges. These include approaching motor-related expressions, integrating responsible attitudes, and developing the decision-making processes involved in various learning situations (Martinek & Hellison, 2016). These elements contribute to students becoming competent individuals, thus supporting their holistic development, since communication skills are an essential and inseparable component of learning itself. It should be noted that the communication skills to be used in this type of context could be limited by the lack of maturity that students show in their expressions (Javier-Ríos, 2025).

SB-6.2: “I have learned to listen to others and express myself better when speaking with older adults, because in my opinion, you need to speak to them more formally than to anyone else.”

EB-6.2: “After explaining to her that I wouldn’t be visiting anymore because the service was ending, I felt sad because I wouldn’t see them again. But what really mattered was that we had been helping each other for many weeks, talking a lot, and that really helped me boost my self-esteem.”

The communication process in educational settings enables the development of self-regulation and interaction within the framework of motor practice, with an empathetic and inclusive attitude. It involves the use of social skills and values such as cooperation, respect, teamwork, and sportsmanship, regardless of social, gender, or ability differences among participants (Bores-García et al., 2020).

The students involved in this study contributed to coexistence and ethical engagement with older adults through meaningful and direct communication during the SL intervention. Furthermore, when students communicated with older adults in the context of PE, various positive emotions were observed in both groups, allowing researchers to assess how these emotions were managed (Cebolla-Baldoví & García-Raga, 2021). This forms a basis for the analysis of possible new dimensions through new observation procedures in future situations.

Finally, in relation to this subcategory, it is essential to highlight the importance of considering appropriate forms of dialogue, debate, or agreement to resolve situations, as well as expressing proposals, thoughts and emotions, engaging in active listening, and acting assertively (Gaviria-Cortés et al., 2023). By addressing these factors, in subsequent studies, we will be able to foster a greater understanding of the communication skills that are demonstrated. These types of interactions require a degree of empathy and prosocial behavior, with actions aimed at promoting the well-being of others, while recognizing the reality linked to motor practice and engaging with it through principles of freedom exercised with responsibility, equity, inclusion, respect, solidarity, and cooperation (Zueck Enríquez et al., 2020).

Initiative, organization, and activity planning, as a subcategory of prosocial leadership, was the most frequently referenced, with 30 coded excerpts. It can be defined as a group dynamic process involving interaction between individuals in real-life situations to achieve a specific goal. This type of process is often used as a learning tool across different educational stages within the field of PE, particularly through innovative methodologies such as SL (P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2023); other studies are based on traditional methodologies (Sánchez et al., 2025).

This subcategory enables PE students to reflect on organizational and social issues that arise during the PE practice itself, thereby complementing the didactic action. It promotes emotional awareness and regulation, constructive social interaction, and ethical conduct within the PE classroom (Mohamed, 2025). It should be noted that a small number of students had certain difficulties in the didactic application of this subcategory.

CG-6.1: “I learned that even if my older adult doesn’t attend one day, I can still help others. It was a very fun experience to support people I wasn’t as familiar with.”

The subcategory initiative, organization, and activity planning with older adults reflects how PE students in primary education are encouraged to adapt physical fitness content during an SL intervention, applying processes of perception, decision-making, and execution to various everyday situations and activities relevant to this population (Calvo Varela et al., 2019). Studies such as those by Chiva-Bartoll et al. (2020a) and Chiva-Bartoll et al. (2021a) support this type of trend.

This subcategory also involves making decisions, setting goals, creating simple plans, sequencing actions, carrying out those plans, analyzing what happens during the process, modifying strategies if necessary, and ultimately evaluating the outcomes. For this reason, implementing SL in PE at the primary education level is essential for fostering early forms of cooperation and organization, facilitating coordinated actions toward shared goals, and supporting the contextualized exploration of prosocial behavior (Duarte-Cruz, 2021); these elements are of vital importance in this subcategory, but require some prior preparation of the students by the teacher (Castrejón & Palacios, 2025).

Another subcategory is confidence in challenging situations, which refers to the ability of PE students to cope with adversity during PE classes. This is considered a fundamental part of building resilience, as it promotes a positive approach to obstacles encountered in various motor learning situations.

By engaging in exercises, activities, tasks, and games designed to explore real-life learning situations, primary students learn to manage uncertainty and face adversity with increased confidence (González et al., 2019); however, they require some time to consolidate this subcategory through practice.

PE at the primary level prepares students to tackle key challenges by developing the decision-making processes involved in solving motor-based situations. This capacity for decision-making contributes to their overall competence and holistic development, as facing diverse situations becomes an essential and inseparable part of the learning experience (Chiva-Bartoll et al., 2020b).

IP-6.1: “…when we were doing the stick exercise, he kept saying it was really hard for him, that he was tired, and he kept checking the time.”

AS-6.1: “Instead of doing physical education, he sat down. And thanks to that, I realized that with some people, you need to be more patient.”

Several studies have shown that SL provides students with a learning context that supports the development of self-efficacy and self-esteem while encouraging them to reflect and solve problems more effectively (Hooli et al., 2023; P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2023); however, these results are not always achieved, and are conditional upon the degree of maturity of the students.

Engaging with diverse learning situations through SL in primary education is essential for shaping well-rounded individuals who are capable of maintaining meaningful and fulfilling relationships with others. The way in which we affectively treat others, and are treated in return, is fundamental for establishing appropriate, harmonious, and constructive social relationships, as well as for developing one’s own self-esteem. This, in turn, leads to improved attitudes and aptitudes in PE classes (Capella-Peris et al., 2020), attitudes that constitute a significant curricular concept and are used for triadic evaluation during the teaching–learning process (Santos-Pastor et al., 2025).

For this reason, the present study aimed to provide participating students with the cognitive tools, observational habits, and analytical skills necessary to identify, manage, and assertively express their own emotions and feelings in challenging situations, while also promoting emotional and empathetic connections with others.

3.3. Category: Perception of Positive Aging

The category perception of positive aging consists of two subcategories: empathy and recognition and respect. These were the two most frequently referenced subcategories in the entire study, with 42 and 41 coded segments, respectively.

The perception of positive aging among primary education students, from an inclusive perspective, refers to how students understand and value the aging process in a positive and non-prejudiced way. This perception is shaped through education and direct interaction with older adults, promoting a view that emphasizes their abilities and contributions rather than focusing on their limitations.

According to P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al. (2020), it is crucial for educational programs to include activities that foster respect and empathy toward older adults, helping to students develop a more balanced and positive understanding of aging. From an inclusive standpoint, this also involves acknowledging and valuing the diversity within the older adult population, including individuals with disabilities.

Burgman and Mulvaney (2016) emphasize the importance of addressing the intersection between aging and disability in order to combat the double discrimination that older adults with disabilities may face. Promoting a positive view of aging in primary education not only improves students’ perceptions of this population, but also contributes to building a more inclusive and respectful society across all stages of life. The lack of maturity of some students until they reach post-adolescence could hinder their reception and interpretation of abstract information, which are necessary for achieving greater enrichment in this category.

It is worth highlighting that empathy is the most prominent subcategory in the students’ reflective journals. Empathy is understood as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, to put oneself in their position, and to respond in an emotionally appropriate way. In educational contexts, fostering empathy in primary school students is essential for their socioemotional development.

According to Arango Tobón et al. (2014), empathy is cultivated in students when they participate in community service activities with older adults. These experiences allow them to interact directly with people from different generations, understand their stories and challenges, and develop a greater sensitivity to their needs and emotions; a similar situation could be seen in interactions with students with specific educational support needs in specific centers for this type of population (Sáez-Gallego et al., 2025).

Such interaction not only enriches students’ learning, but also strengthens intergenerational bonds, promoting positive intergenerational education and, as a result, a more inclusive and compassionate society; however, it will be conditioned by the values that the students will acquire in the pre-adolescent stage, both in the formative and informal spheres.

AS-6.1: “ My older adult is very funny, kind, and cheerful. She likes to talk a lot and share stories about her life, but she gets sad when she talks about her husband and how he died.”

AS-6.2: “I’ve learned that we need to take care of older people because sometimes they can be like children.”

Previous studies have shown that direct interaction with older adults allows students to develop greater sensitivity and understanding toward the needs and experiences of this segment of society. Capella-Peris et al. (2020) found that SL in PE not only improves students’ physical abilities, but also promotes ethical–civic values and social skills, such as empathy, by involving students in activities that require cooperation and mutual support, especially when working with older adults (P. J. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2020).

Other studies, such as those by Aramburuzabala et al. (2019) and Santos-Pastor et al. (2021), have highlighted the transformative potential of SL in developing students’ emotional competencies. Interaction with older adults in an SL context allows students to experience and reflect on realities that are different from their own, thereby increasing their empathetic capacity; however, not all students reach the level of empathy expected in a PE context (Sánchez et al., 2025).

SL in PE with older adults not only contributes to students’ physical and academic development, but also plays a crucial role in shaping their character and promoting empathy (E. Ruiz-Montero et al., 2024). Evidence suggests that such integrative educational experiences are essential to preparing students to become responsible and empathetic citizens in an increasingly diverse and changing society. The need to promote these dimensions is sometimes limited by the timing of interventions (Mohamed, 2025).

Regarding the subcategory recognition and respect, the aim is for students to value and appreciate the contributions and experiences of older adults, and to understand their importance in society (Calvo Varela et al., 2019). Through SL, participating students have the opportunity to engage directly with older adults, which allows them to gain a deeper understanding of their lives and challenges, which is especially important in regard to their grandparents.

This direct contact fosters respect, as students learn to appreciate the wisdom and life experiences of older individuals, promoting attitudes of empathy and solidarity. Moreover, these interactions help students to internalize values of respect and appreciation for all stages of life, contributing to a more inclusive and positive view of aging (Calvo Varela et al., 2019); this is maximized when the interaction occurs through PE and at an early age (Chiva-Bartoll & Fernández-Rio, 2021).

AD-6.2: “That I want to keep helping people, and that when you do something kind, the world will give it back to you.”

NL-6.2: “That we should always be kind to everyone, especially to older people.”

JS-6.2: “Honestly, I felt like crying, and I speak for myself, but I think the whole class felt the same, that over these months we’ve built a special bond and we’ve all changed a lot for the better.”

According to Jones and Abes (2020), direct interaction with older adults helps students involved in intergenerational interventions to internalize values of respect and appreciation, thereby fostering attitudes of empathy and solidarity. Moreover, engaging in physical activities within an SL context not only improves students’ motor skills, but also strengthens their socioemotional competencies, contributing to more holistic and meaningful learning, aspects that allow us to address the functions of PE in primary education from a flexible perspective (Sánchez et al., 2025).

Recent studies have shown that SL in PE not only benefits students’ physical and academic development, but also shapes their character. According to Aramburuzabala et al. (2019), participation in SL programs involving older adults fosters an inclusive learning environment where students learn to value diversity and work in heterogeneous teams; however, sometimes this learning is conditioned by challenges that are somewhat difficult for both students and older adults. This inclusive approach is essential to preparing students to become responsible and empathetic citizens in a diverse and constantly changing society, both physically and psychosocially.

Evidence suggests that such integrative educational experiences are fundamental for the development of key competencies such as empathy, respect, and cooperation, which are crucial for building harmonious and respectful coexistence.

The results of this study can be linked to the statements made by Meyers (2009), who argued that SL is an opportunity for students to develop personally and socially, fostering greater critical awareness and empathy. Although the students in his study were university students who carried out their services in disadvantaged contexts, the results can be related to those obtained with our primary school students in PE in an intergenerational setting. However, it is necessary to avoid generalization to other school contexts, because students’ autonomy and behaviors during an SL intervention might be different if they are higher education students or students in other school contexts (García-Rico et al., 2021).

The implementation of the SL methodology in the context of intergenerational education posed a series of significant challenges that deserve to be detailed in a separate section. In order to carry out this study and the services provided by the primary school students, it was necessary for the researcher to coordinate with the professionals at the day center, because careful planning was required so as not to disrupt the routines of the older adults and greater sensitivity was needed in the organization. On the other hand, the teaching staff at the educational center received training on the SL methodology, and the students received training at the educational center by the day center psychologist together with students from the Faculty of Psychology, who explained the need to develop communication skills and an understanding of aging when carrying out the services. All of the limitations mentioned, in addition to the scarce literature on this subject with students of this age, posed additional difficulties.

These challenges were overcome during the course of the research, paving the way for future centers to design intergenerational education projects using experiential methodologies such as SL.

4. Conclusions

Based on the aforementioned background, the main conclusions of the study are that SL allows primary school students in PE to contribute significantly to the well-being of older adults, and this study provides an understanding of the real needs and limitations of the service. This experiential learning situation has demonstrated improvements when curricular content is applied in environments other than traditional ones, allowing for an effective interactive teaching–learning process in an intergenerational context that significantly contributes to improving the quality of life of older adults.

Prosocial leadership through SL among primary school students in PE fosters interpersonal and social relationships, facilitating the construction of personal identity and improving academic performance, self-efficacy, and self-esteem, as well as the development of empathy and inclusivity. It also promotes the development of emotional self-regulation and interaction in motor practice through a process of meaningful communication that contributes to coexistence and an ethical commitment to older adults. Through this process, students reflect on cooperative organizational and social issues during their practice, promoting awareness and constructive social interaction with older adults. They also apply processes of perception, decision-making, and execution to foster prosocial behavior through resilience and greater confidence.

SL with primary school students fosters improvements in social skills, promoting a more positive perception of aging that contributes to building a more inclusive and respectful society. Through empathy, students improve their socioemotional competencies toward older adults, fostering positive intergenerational education as responsible citizens. These interactions help students to internalize values of respect and appreciation for aging, achieving more holistic learning through diversity and heterogeneous teamwork to achieve key competencies.

Finally, it is necessary to explain the explicit connection of SL methodology with official curricular frameworks. The SL methodology provides students with a direct connection to the real world through the content of the curriculum, in this case, PE. The pedagogical justification for this study lies in the promotion of the development of competencies established by current education law, in accordance with the principles of the Organic Law 3/2020 of Education (Government of Spain, 2020), which promotes inclusive, equitable education geared towards the development of students’ competencies through active pedagogy, which implies social commitment. Andalusia is the autonomous community where the manuscript under study was developed, and its regulations highlight, through Decree 101/2023 of 9 May and the Order of 30 May, 2023, the development of the PE curriculum, emphasizing the importance of active methodologies and competency-based work, such as SL.