Social and emotional learning impacts students’ success
THE TIME draws nigh when students and teachers may possibly return to the classroom despite the new challenges and with some of the old ones unresolved. They now must cope with additional issues with the same resources and little change to the physical landscape of the plant. Many are fearful of the possibility of contracting the virus and some of adjusting teaching styles from face-to-face to blended or online learning. With so many uncertainties, the inclusion of social and emotional learning (SEL) is important, whether explicitly taught or infused into subject-based teaching. It will ensure that our students develop the 21st-century skills needed for success.
Social and emotional learning is the process of helping stakeholders understand the emotions they are experiencing and become mindful of their impact on others. Additionally, it involves creating a positive environment where positive goals and relationships are promoted as emotional and social skills are developed. According to Maurice Elias, a psychology professor at Rutgers University and director of the university’s Social and Emotional Learning Lab, SEL is “the process through which we learn to recognise and manage emotions, care about others, make good decisions, behave ethically and responsibly, develop positive relationships, and avoid negative behaviours” (Edutopia, 2011). Research has revealed that there are many benefits to SEL, which include an increase in academic scores, reduced chances of school dropouts, and the development of fortitude. Once students can form good connections with each other, it will inevitably result in a positive school climate and change the culture of schools experiencing disciplinary challenges. It can only be beneficial to our schools and society if students are taught self-worth and how to make responsible decisions and are equipped with emotional-intelligence skills.
FOUR ELEMENTS
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) lists five core competencies – self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making skills — that are said to be embedding the four elements SAFE: sequenced, active, focused, and explicit.
‘Sequenced’ refers to corrected and coordinated activities to foster skills. ‘Active’ encompasses active forms of learning to help students master new skills and attitudes. ‘Focused’ refers to the components that emphasise the development of personal and social skills, and ‘explicit’ targets specific social and emotional skills (CASEL, 2020). If we adopt these four elements as we implement, then we will see the result and ease with which an SEL framework could be introduced and sustained.
This pandemic has caused much trauma among students, parents, teachers, and society in general. The introduction of remote learning has also contributed to much anxiety being experienced because of the inequity of resources. This pandemic has exposed a lot of our deficiencies and inequities in the education system, leaving many students struggling to achieve educational success. Our teachers have risen to the occasion and have tried, through various means, to ensure that some level of parity is established; however, this has not addressed the emotions experienced and still being experienced. In fact, it has unearthed the need to incorporate SEL into our curriculum. Karafotas (2020) proposed the use of ‘social stories’, which, when discussed, will allow students to examine issues and propose positive approaches with which they could be addressed. Other strategies such as gratitude exercises and attention-training exercises to alleviate negative mental chatter could also be explored.
HIGH-QUALITY FEEDBACK
Important to the process of SEL is high-quality feedback – from teachers to the students, from the administrators to the teachers and teachers to the parents. After attending one of the workshops at the ASCD Conference in 2018, I have adopted the 4Ps (praise, providing evidence, prose, proposition) to ensure feedback given is of high quality. Praise is highlighting the bright spots of students’ work or behaviour presented; evidence is provided from an objective position to support what is observed; prose involves asking questions to stimulate critical self-reflections of ‘missed opportunities’; and tools and strategies are proposed to help students navigate the challenges they are experiencing. These have served as parameters when giving feedback to students and allows students to feel a sense of care, which keeps the line of communication open while they are being guided to improve the quality of work submitted.
Additionally, with the use of the blended approach to facilitate learning, our students may face cyberbullying and slander. They will need to be taught that these and other forms of cyberattacks are unacceptable, as well as how to deal with this issue if it occurs. SEL will help students to reflect on how what they do impacts others (Jambor, 2020), thus eliminating or reducing the occurrence of issues of this nature.
Teaching SEL will provide students with the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century. In fact, the top five skills employers look for are critical thinking and problem solving, teamwork and collaboration, professionalism and strong work ethic, oral and written communications skills, and leadership (Campbell, 2020). All these skills are encapsulated in SEL skills. They are so crucial that some companies have designed courses to develop their employees in these areas. It simply means if we can infuse SEL into our curriculum, we could put our students in the seat to compete globally for top positions. In today’s society, it is not only one’s qualifications that are important. These skills can make the difference between employment or jobseeking. It is our goal, as educators, to ensure that our students are at an advantage and are set for future success, so let us make every effort to develop their social and emotional skills.