The first principle indicates that there is little cognitive learning for children without social and emotional readiness and wellbeing. I use the term social and emotional readiness and wellbeing instead of the usual social-emotional learning because the former term is more delimited than the latter. According to Weissberg, Durlak, Domitrovich, and Gullotta (2015, p. 6), social and emotional learning formally includes “competencies to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show caring and concern for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions” (p. 6). However, Weissberg et al.’s use of the noun “learning” is too broad in scope given their definition. Learning can, technically, include the acquisition of positive and negative knowledge and skills. For example, children can learn to become excessively anxious during exam time. However, this is not a positive social and emotional learning outcome for many children. The substantive content of Weissberg et al.’s definition is intended to be positive and so is better aligned with the term “readiness and wellbeing” rather than “learning;” and, in fact, their definition is generally focused on helping the child become ready and well enough to learn.

At this juncture, a digression is needed. It involves acknowledging two legitimate concerns raised by Hoffman (2009) in her review of trends in social and emotional ‘learning’ in the United States. Both have an impact on the definition of children’s social and emotional readiness and wellbeing. The first concern involves the emphasis on the measurability of social and emotional competencies. Emphasis on measurability involves issues of whether feasible and psychometrically reliable and valid tools can be developed to measure aspects of the intended competencies, for example, social collaboration or emotional regulation. Although measurability of constructs is typically considered a desirable feature to evaluate potential pedagogical interventions and their outcomes, the focus on measurability can eclipse some social and emotional competencies that are difficult to measure. For example, consider the experience of trust between teachers and students. Trust between students and teachers is a central experience in the creation of a nurturing learning environment, but it is difficult to measure. Indeed, some teachers may even eschew its measurement because of worries that students’ evaluations may be unflattering (Leighton, 2021). The second concern of Hoffman (2009) involves a universalist assumption that certain social and emotional competencies are preferable over others. For example, competencies involving the management of emotions to keep calm and high levels of expression to show care for others may be preferred in North American cultures, but these may not be preferred in other cultures. Hence, the concern is that tools and criteria used to assess children’s social and emotional competencies will not consider a breadth of culturally appropriate competencies for children. To this end, Hoffman (2009) has specifically critiqued the term social and emotional “learning” for its ambiguity and raised the question of what competencies or attributes¹ should fall under the scope of this type of “learning.” Hoffman’s (2009) critique is germane and consequential to the present discussion. Thus, I will come back to it repeatedly throughout the book. Notwithstanding Hoffman’s critique, emphasizing ways to create caring and nurturing learning environments for children and exploring culturally appropriate measures of social and emotional competencies are desirable goals in my view.

Considering Weissberg et al.’s definition (2015) again, the competencies they delineate (i.e., understanding and managing emotions, setting and achieving positive goals, feeling and showing caring and concern for others, establishing and maintaining positive relationships, and making responsible decisions) should not be considered exhaustive or necessarily appropriate for all children. Other competencies could be added with varying levels of specificity given the children with which a teacher is working; for example, competencies to deescalate conflict, feel comfortable showing emotion, reflect on personal biases and express anger in constructive ways may be appropriate for some or all children.

Definitions are obviously useful to achieve a shared sense of understanding. However, the challenge with definitions is that the process of defining terms can create artificial boundaries. There is little doubt that we need to be precise about the social and emotional competencies being measured at any given time, but we must also acknowledge that specific social and emotional competencies are likely to be selected and specified for particular purposes. In other words, context is key in the teaching and assessment of these competencies.² A definition that is assumed to be applicable in all situations is not realistic or helpful to teachers or students. Depending on the needs of the student, the situation and the availability of specific tools, only then can particular social and emotional competencies be identified, defined, assessed and addressed specifically. Not everything that potentially falls under the umbrella term of social and emotional readiness and wellbeing may be measured nor relevant at one time. Thus, for the purpose of this book, I use the following conceptual definition of social and emotional readiness and wellbeing:

Coming back to the first principle, then, the substance of it requires us to recognize that productive social and emotional competencies are not going to be the same for all students. Moreover, these competencies serve as a foundation for helping students find their own state of wellness and readiness to engage with classroom instruction and assessment. This first principle also implies that even the best content and curricular frameworks are not sufficient to enhance student academic performance if students lack the social and emotional readiness and wellness to interact with the instruction...