Social and Emotional Literacy (SEL) emerged in the early 1990s as the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). It brought together all kinds of educators and researchers to expand the term and create school and community curricula.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
Collaborative for Academic, Social,
and Emotional Learning (CASEL ā https://casel.org/)
During this time Daniel Golemanās ground-breaking work, āEmotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQā, was released and brought a welcome awareness to researchers, parents, allied health professionals and educators (Goleman, 1996). CASEL remains the leader in the field of SEL and has identified five competencies that nurture these key domains:
1 Self-awareness: identifies emotions, self-perception, strengths, values and self-efficacy.
2 Self-management: the quest to improve impulse control, stress management, self-motivation, goal-setting and organisational skills.
3 Social awareness: encourages perspective taking, empathy and respect.
4 Relationship skills: highlights positive problem-solving communication, relationship building and maintenance, cooperation and conflict management.
5 Responsible decision-making: skills to analyse a problem and solve it responsibly, socially and ethically.
Not so long ago, our educational curriculum was celebrated for being packed with the āhard skillsā: reading, writing, mathematics, sciences, languages, accounting, digital technologies, data analysis and so on. Today a new set of skills, the āsoft skillsā, have gained traction under the banner of āSocial and Emotional Literacyā and āEmotional intelligenceā. Why has the uptake of the āsoft skillsā (well-being and resiliency programs, positive education, positive mindsets and social and emotional education) by schools across the globe become so widespread in very recent times? Essentially, extensive research from the last two decades has validated the benefits of SEL which range from better academic performance and lower stress rates in students, to reductions in negative behaviours and a greater awareness about how to handle emotions. These skills are at the very heart of what it is to be a human being (Gutman and Schoon, 2013). They determine how we feel, think and approach all facets of our life. In 2017, Seth Godin published an article called, āLetās stop calling them soft skillsā. He explained these skills should be called āessential human skillsā because they are literally so hard for many to acquire (Godin, 2017). These āessential human skillsā can deliver many positive solutions to issues such as racism, sexism, intolerance, deadlocks, threats, dysfunctional relationships as well as global and community conflicts.
SEL, which is the heart of this chapter, is an invitation to create, reorganise or inspire a school or classroom culture that immerses young people to become the best they can be for themselves, and for others. What adds great value to using a visible SEL framework is that we know it brings at least a 10% gain in academic achievement for students (Durlak et al., 2011).
Key assumptions concerning our efforts to build SEL
The assumptions are as follows:
Social and emotional capabilities are completely teachable. They can be taught and learnt.
All human beings, no matter their age, benefit from being taught SEL skills within a SEL framework.
Student mental health and engagement in learning improves when they are taught SEL skills.
The research is clear; the impact of attaching to peers is significant.
Without it children are more likely to be at risk from emotional and mental health difficulties later, and we see a greater tendency for future antisocial behaviour.
Evidence-based programs ALWAYS work best.
But, can anyone teach SEL?
Even though SEL can be effortlessly taught and integrated into a classroom schoolās culture, it is not always a comfortable fit for every educator. The shift in emphasis to support young people to find a broader definition of success remains a stretch too far for some. Those who do best interpret their role as someone who:
brings their own experience, individuality, warmth, humour and joy to a group of young people.
can encourage and guide students rather than seek tight control over them.
understands that children and adolescents often display imperfect behaviours because they are young, inexperienced and finding their way.
subscribes to the concept that models kindness, inclusion and resolution.
appreciates that children who have suffered trauma, disadvantage and disability will take longer to learn to manage their own emotion and the emotions of others. The legacy of these difficulties interferes with a personās ability to self-regulate their behaviour, to learn to read and write and to play with peers and form relationships with authority figures such as educators.
How do I go about delivering SEL?
If weāre truly committed to coaching young people to develop self-awareness and to manage themselves better socially and emotionally, this means deliberately creating a space, an atmosphere and time we discuss the links between emotion and behaviour, not once, but over and over and long term. SEL offers scope to normalise, refine and embed these skills.
Broadly speaking, there are two roads that can be travelled when developing a socially and emotionally literate environment. One road follows a more informal, or ad hoc approach, and is sometimes referred to as āGuided Social Interactionsā (Spendlove, 2008). The other road is more reliant on programs that have been purpose-built, and as you can see below, there are many choices. It is critical to understand that SEL programs do not compete. Most overlap and comple...
