eCIRCUS will develop a new approach in the use of ICT to support social and emotional learning within Personal and Social Education (PSE). This will be achieved through virtual role-play with synthetic characters that establish credible and empathic relations with the learners. To attain this, eCIRCUS investigates educational role-play using autonomous synthetic characters and involving the child through affective engagement, including the use of standard and highly innovative interaction mechanisms.