Social & Emotional Learning: the key to access all learning

Michael Kennedy
Masters of Education student, University of Melbourne

Introduction

In this paper, this think tank, I will explore the pivotal role that social and emotional learning has on all learning, and look at eight different articles which have explored the impacts on students’ wellbeing and success in schools. What is social emotional learning, how is it currently being used and why could this be such a vital element for the future of education? We will also explore what success is and what it looks like, what issues students are facing and how SEL allows us to reduce problem behaviour and improve academic performance. After unboxing what SEL is and why it is so important, we will explore some of the approaches that have been used, with a focus on the schoolhouse approach. Creating a vision for success we look at steps that can be taken for an SEL framework that could benefit the students, the staff and the greater community.

How is social and emotional learning defined or understood?

“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 reasonable decisions.” Elias et al., (2015)

Social and emotional learning enhances our capacity to engage with our students, to create an environment that reduces stress rather than magnifies it. When SEL is taught as a whole school approach it creates a culture of success and improves wellbeing. Studies have found that SEL programs have improved students’ academic performance as well as attitudes about themselves and others.

In all of the eight articles there is an agreement on the importance of social and emotional learning and the positive impact it has. There are also similarities in the types of outcomes achieved, despite research being done in different parts of the world, including the UK and the US. The objective and outcomes are very similar, however each has its own approach in how to incorporate SEL into the learning.

Researchers generally agree upon five key competencies of SEL. These 5 key competencies are: “Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.” Elias et al., (2015)

Students are asking: who am I, how do I work with others, what is my purpose, our purpose, where do I fit in..?

We need to help provide them with the skills to build their self-confidence and self-worth. Today students are facing a number of issues including bullying, disconnectedness, body image issues, mental health issues, experience of trauma, lack of self-confidence and self-worth.

It is vital, now more than ever, that our teaching includes teaching how to be compassionate and to empathise. Social Emotional Learning enables children to develop both empathy and compassion for others. It is important that we are teaching how to identify, understand and explain our emotions, as well as how to positively respond to those emotions. It is important that we also know how to do this ourselves. Students are faced with increasing societal risk factors and challenges, and stress can be highly toxic, leading to increased levels of cortisol negatively affecting the prefrontal cortex, which controls self-regulation and executive functioning. This results in being less effective in self-regulation and a reduced capacity to develop empathy for others. When we are involved in stressful environments, such as workplaces or schools that consist of 15 or more individuals who feel stressed, there is likely to be a compounded affect. Stress is like a cold, when in a stressful environment that stress is likely to spread. There is research indicating that there are links between teachers being stressed and students being affected, resulting in increased anxiety and depression.

“Our brains are malleable and research on neuroplasticity supports the notion that empathy and compassion can definitely be taught.” (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011.) The inclusion of social-emotional learning in the classroom can have a profound effect on the learning environment, resulting in students having an increase in social and emotional skills. Other benefits include a reduction in conduct problems such as aggressive behaviour, and an increase in academic progress. When students, teachers and parents have the ability to manage their emotions, they are able to think of ways to ask for help, to negotiate and find solutions. This is what SEL teaches.

We are highly influenced and impacted by our environment. Students spend approximately 35 hours a week at school. If students are going to learn about social and emotional learning as well as the academic it is vital not only that there is a framework in place for the learning, but also that the teachers are also taught the skills which they are meant to be teaching. Our ability to have self-awareness, show empathy, have compassion, as well as other components that are incorporated in social emotional learning, go beyond just being a skill. They are not just things we do but become a part of who we are.

I believe that social and emotional learning is the key to success, the key to reducing mental health issues and reducing the overwhelming increase of bullying. Social and emotional learning is the required skill-set for true success. Success that enables us to be happy, to connect, to understand and to be understood.

Social and emotional learning won’t just change a classroom or even a school, but can change and shape the country and the global community. Social and emotional learning has been shown to improve students’ academic scores, reduce violence, reduce truancy, boost student engagement, reduce anxiety, build a stronger sense of self and students’ connectedness to their community. It increases students’ ability to show compassion and empathy, to recognise similarities and appreciate differences and work collaboratively with others.

SEL programs that have been trialled in schools.

Current research in academic performance, progress and students’ overall well being is showing the importance of social and emotional learning. I have explored eight different articles that have studied and researched the impact of different approaches of social and emotional learning.

Our aim should not be to prepare students for a life of tests, but rather to have them capable to overcome the challenges that they will face in their lives. SEL is an essential component of changing our perspective from viewing success as simply our ability to perform academically, get into university and have a high paying job, to include many other perspectives, as well as having a greater understanding of who we are and who we want to be. For this to happen, schoolhouses cannot afford to be jumbled, they must be structured to meet the challenge of preparing students with the full array of skills and perspectives needed for college and career success, and a life of contribution and caring.

Elias et al., (2015) have used literature and their combined experience of implementation of schools around the world of an unjumbling of schoolhouse approach. (p.36) They use a synchronised approach using seven interrelated activities. They discuss that there is a common characteristic that they have faced in the process of unjumbling school houses, this being the presence of already existing different forms of social and emotional related approaches or programs. Elias et al., (2015) The authors highlight the use of social and emotional learning in other countries such as SEAL in England and KidsMatter in Australia. The SEAL perspective first noted by Joseph Z Zins cited in Greenburg et al., (2003) asserted that the research linking social, emotional and academic factors are sufficiently strong to advance, and the new term social, emotional and academic learning. “The SEAL perspective offers an explicit framework for school-based prevention that broadly encourages a promotion of the students wellbeing to improve academic performance” Greenberg et al., (2003)

 The inclusion of Social and Emotional Learning results in improved academic performance in a variety of ways including the students becoming more confident in their learning abilities and efforts to work harder. They also found that that students can self-motivate, set goals, manage their stress, and become more organised. Additionally, students use problem-solving and relationship skills to overcome obstacles that they face.

Wang et al. (as cited in Greenberg et al., 2003) concluded that “direct intervention in the psychological determinants of learning promise the most effective avenues of reform.”

The emotional experience of students can impede or facilitate their ability to engage and ultimately their school success. Many students struggle to develop social-emotional competencies, resulting in a disconnection from school as they progress through each year of school. The lack of connection hinders their ability to perform academically, also affecting their behaviour and wellbeing.  
“Because relationships and emotional processes affect how and what we learn, schools and families must effectively address these aspects of the educational process for the benefits of all students.” (Elias et al., 1997 cited in Durlak et al., 2011)

(Durlak et al., 2011) used a national sample made up of 148,189 sixth to twelfth graders from across the US. They were surveyed and reported that only 29-45% of students stated that they had the social competencies such as empathy, decision making and conflict resolution. Also only 29% indicated that their school provided a caring and encouraging environment.

By high school as many as 40-60% of students become chronically disengaged from school. They also discovered that “approximately 30% of high school students engage in multiple high-risk behaviours (eg., substance abuse, sex, violence, depression, attempted suicide) that interfere with school performance and jeopardise their potential for life success” (Dryfoos, 1997 as cited in Durlak et al., 2011)

Modern childhood and adolescence experience has seen a rise of poor and educational outcomes across many societies. “This includes the escalation of mental health disorders, with a prevalence rate of between 20% and 25% in developed countries.” (Patel et al., 2007 as cited in Evans et al., 2015)

Schools are highly influential institutions of social and emotional learning, in particular in the early phases of life, both in pedagogical practice and formal intervention approaches. Programs include three key intervention approaches.
Targeted programs such as the ‘Change Approach’ focus on the students who exhibit risk factors. “Universal, classroom-based programmes often involve the systematic teaching of skills sets, with notable examples including the PATHS curriculum (Greenberg et al., 1995), FRIENDS (Stallard et al., 2007), and Incredible Years (Webster-Stratton et al., 2007). Complex, multi-dimensional approaches aim to transform the educational context. Although often a nebulous construct, contextual restructuring predominantly entails: enhancement of learning opportunities; improved school ethos; and weakening of boundaries between schools, parents and the community. (Kidger et al., 2010).

Another approach is the use of Positive Youth Development (PYD) which focuses on enhancing the strengths that the students already have, optimising their development progress. It uses a five C model of: competence, confidence, connection, character and caring. It focuses on building their positive social skills, attitudes and personal competencies. Through increased positive relationships, social supports and opportunities that strengthen assets and help them flourish within their environments.
A review of 25 PYD program evaluations indicated that PYD interventions operating in family, school, and community settings are indeed effective in promoting positive development.

Positive outcomes from the PYD interventions included an improvement in problem solving, the quality of their relationships, academic achievement, problem solving, interpersonal skills and a commitment to their schooling. Some interventions have also decreased substance use, risk taking, and problem behaviours.

It is vital that schools have an awareness and understanding of the extent and nature of mental health problems in young people, including the role and responsibility that schools have, as half of lifetime mental health illness starts by the age of 14. The statistics on mental health problems in young people are alarming. In the UK 1 in 10 children have a clinically diagnosed mental health disorder. Suicide is one of the three most common causes of death in youth and is rising. Social media and cyberbullying are increasingly suggested as part of the cause for the rise in these emotional disorders. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15-44.
The advice in the Taylor et al., (2017) article sets out a series of framing principles designed to support school leaders and staff to deliver well designed and implemented interventions and approaches. It deals with two overlapping areas of central importance in schools, which need to be integrated to be effective: social and emotional wellbeing, and ‘mental health problems’.

The use of mobile phones and access to the internet has dramatically increased in the last decade, especially among those aged 9-15. The creation of the smartphone and Apple's first iPhone in 2007 has certainly played a role. “Young people now rely on information and communication technologies for a considerable proportion of their social interaction, which can potentially have both positive and negative effects on their social and emotional well-being.” Cross, D., Barnes, A. (2015).

Bullying is on the rise and is no longer restricted to the school yard. Bullying is pervasive and for some there is no escape. We talk about building resilience, self-confidence and saying no. This isn’t enough, it hasn’t been enough. What about the perpetrator and bystanders? Social and emotional learning has a pivotal role to play in reducing bullying and the culture we are seeing in and out of schools.  One of the largest concerns is the extent to which ICT provides opportunities for cyber bullying. “The most effective, non stigmatizing means of enhancing social and emotional competence, and reducing bullying behaviour among children and adolescents, is the implementation of a multicomponent whole-school program that includes both prevention and intervention element (Cross et al. 2011; Payton et al 2008; Rigby and Slee 2008; Vreeman and Carroll 2007). Within a socio-ecological framework, these interventions include strategies at the school level and individual level.

Domitrovich et al., (2017) have identified what they believe to be critical to the development of social-emotional competence. To reduce risks in children’s social-emotional competence the promotion of SEL is an essential aspect.  “Social-emotional competence is a critical factor to target with universal preventive interventions that are conducted in schools because the construct (a) associates with social, behavioural, and academic outcomes that are important for healthy development; (b) predicts important life outcomes in adulthood; (c) can be improved with feasible and cost-effective interventions; and (d) plays a critical role in the behaviour change process.”

Incorporating SEL into your school

These articles present compelling examples of how Social and Emotional Learning has impacted different schools around the world. I believe Social and Emotional Learning is the key to unlocking our potential to learn and to teach. For students to be successful they need a strong understanding of self. A strong relationship with self will help build all the required skills to enable them to succeed in the classroom and beyond. As a school, it is important that we all have the same vision and work together to achieve that vision. By utilising and embedding Social and Emotional Learning in the ethos of a school we provide an environment which enables the students to explore their full potential that they have within them, and the skills that they will learn to enhance their ability to succeed in all that they strive to achieve.  

What does success look like? For each student success can look very different. As an institution for education how then do we view success? Are we an institution that provides young souls with the required skills to fulfil their own view of success? An institution that prepares students to be lifelong learners, who have the social and emotional skills and resilience to cope with the challenges they will each individually face in their lives? Are we an institution that provides an environment which enables them to see the good in themselves as well as in others? An institution that helps them to develop their social emotional skills as well as the academic?

Are our schools a place where students feel at home? At home amongst peers who support them, with teachers who they respect by the behaviours and values they model, at home with who they are because they can see the good in themselves and the good in others? A place that encourages them to explore their creativity? A place that allows them to see that the only person they need to be is themselves, a place that teaches them that they define success? A space which ignites their thirst for learning, seeking knowledge that goes beyond the walls of the classroom and beyond the point of a high school certificate?

Conclusion and recommendations: Translating theory into practice

Moving forward, I recommend creating a clear vision of ‘what success looks like’ as a school, and how Social Emotional Learning is a vital element of that success. Many approaches have been discussed, and each school will need to decide what framework best supports its vision. My suggestion is choosing one framework and being committed to that moving forward. Personally, I would recommend either Kidsmatter or the Schoolhouse approach. Both provide a clear, structured approach where all parties understand the need for academic and SEL competencies to accomplish valued goals and a greater feeling of success.
 
“The cornerstone of SEL efforts is the delivery of essential skills and competencies to students, without which children are at a distinct disadvantage when navigating classrooms, school, workplace, civic, and even family settings.” Elias et al, (2015)
Evidence is showing that the lack of positive experiences at school, home and communities can result in students struggling academically and socially, leading down a path of problem behaviour and academic underachievement.  The aim is to provide regular positive experiences where students develop SEL skills to the point it becomes a part of who they are. For this to happen these skills need to be valued in a variety of settings. The outcome when a school is one of those settings is that they create an environment that “articulates specific themes, character elements, or values, such as respect, responsibility, fairness, and honesty, and conveys an overall sense of purpose for attending school”. Elias et al, (2015)

With a clear vision, the next step is to unjumble the schoolhouse and then put in place the infrastructure that can integrate and support SEL and all the complements that are linked, including the school culture, strategies and initiatives. One of the most common problems in the unjumbling is the presence of pre-existing and/or different SEL related approaches or programs. It is about looking at how to integrate SEL with related programs, if they are in alignment with the school’s vision. A program like Positive Youth Development has been shown to have beneficial results in supporting SEL.
 
There must be some form of team that takes the responsibility for the long term implementation of all the SEL-related approaches. This should not be about adding another program to an already busy one. This should result in creating a more positive work and learning environment for everyone. Assessing the school’s culture can be challenging but important in making progress. Tools such as student, staff and parental surveys could be used to create data in order to understand the current climate and creating a more harmonious culture moving forward. In doing so it is important to know as a school what you stand for. The next step should involve clearly knowing the values of the school and how it is a part of the school culture. The values are far more than a slogan or motto. These values should be incorporated and bring into alignment all facets of the school, creating a positive learning environment where students and teachers are inspired. Success requires a set of core beliefs and linked actions. “The best way to make a more just and caring world is to make more just and caring people. For schools to optimally impact the development of student character (both moral and civic), they must be moral and democratic institutions, and this requires leaders who understand, prioritise, and have the leadership competencies to nurture such institutional growth” Elias et al., (2015) We can not simply talk about self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making, we must embody it and demonstrate the behaviours we are teaching and trying to instil in our students.
 
Finally, time must be invested in showing how using SEL-related approaches align with the roles and responsibilities that staff already have. While ensuring all staff have the skill set to implement SEL approaches, schools should connect regularly with schools further into the process, and see the success of SEL implementation.  

References

Cross, D., Barnes, A. (2015) Protecting and promoting young people’s social and emotional health in online and offline contexts. In Wyn , J. & Cahill, H. (Eds.). Handbook of Children and Youth Studies (pp. 115-126): Springer Singapore

Domitrovich, C. E., Staley, K. C., Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P. (2017) Social-emotional competence: an essential factor for promoting positive adjustment and reducing risk in school children. Child Development Vol 99 Issue 2, P408-416.

Durlak, J. A., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., Weissberg, R. P., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, (1),405-432.         

Elias, M.J., Leverett, L., Duffell, J.C., Humphrey, N., Stepney, C., & Ferrito, J. (2015). Integrating SEL with related prevention and youth development approaches.  In J.A. Durlak, C.E. Domitrovich, R.P. Weissberg, T.P. Gullotta (Eds) Handbook of social and emotional learning: Research and practice. New York, NJ: Guilford Press.

Elias, M. J., Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P., Frey, K. S., Greenberg, M. T., Haynes, N. M., . . . Shriver, T. P. (1997). Promoting Social and Emotional Learning. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/197157e4/chapters/The-Need-for-Social-and-Emotional-Learning.aspx

Evans, R., Scourfield, J., & Murphy, S. (2015).  The unintended consequences of targeting: Young people’s lived experiences of social and emotional learning interventions.  British Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 381-397.

Greenberg, M., Weissberg, R., O'Brien, M., Zins, J., Fredericks, L., Resnick, H., & Elias, M. (2003). Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning. American Psychologist, 58(6/7), 466.

Taylor, R. D., Durlak, J. A., Oberle, E., Weissberg, R. P. (1017). Promoting positive youth development through school-based social and emotional learning interventions: A meta-analysis of follow-ups effects. Child development Vol 88 number 4, P1156-1171

Weare, K. (2015). What works in promoting social emotional well-being and responding to mental health problems in schools?. Partnership for well-being and mental health in schools.

Linke, P. (n.d.). Social and emotional learning as a basis for curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/every-child-magazine/every-child-index/every-child-vol-17-1-2011/social-emotional-learning-basis-curriculum-free-article/

C. (2017). Social and Emotional Learning. Retrieved from https://www.positivepieces.com.au/social-emotional-learning