School coexistence in lower and upper secondary education: conceptual clarification and a pedagogical proposal based on social laboratories

This article examines school coexistence in elementary and middle school as an everyday reality that influences classroom climate, student participation, and learning. Its purpose is to clarify the concept from a pedagogical perspective, identify trends and gaps in recent intervention strategies, and propose an applicable model for strengthening it. Methodologically, a theoretical review of recent academic literature in widely used repositories and databases was conducted, organized through thematic synthesis. The findings show that social interaction is often addressed with broad definitions and, in practice, many initiatives are implemented as one-off actions or modalities (workshops, recreational activities, ICT) without a comprehensive pedagogical framework that integrates situational diagnosis, learning objectives, pedagogical sequencing, and evidence-based assessment. As a contribution, we propose the pedagogical model of Social Laboratories for Coexistence, structured into components and phases that integrate co-design with students, teacher mediation, systematization, and formative assessment, aimed at intervening in real classroom situations with continuous feedback. We conclude that the model requires empirical validation in diverse school contexts, using simple and consistent instruments to document progress.