Social-Emotional Learning in Educational Spaces

Defining Social-Emotional Learning

Social-emotional learning, or SEL, is a process in which children and adults learn to foster children’s emotional and social competence (Ng & Bull, 2018). According to Saarni (1999), emotional competence is “demonstrating one’s self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting transactions” (p. 2). For instance, if someone is upset by something another person said, the individual may tell the other person how their words hurt them, expressing their feelings of frustration and sadness. In comparison, social competence refers to “social behaviors that are most appropriate for that given context” (American Psychological Association, 2018). In the example above, the person who is frustrated or saddened may walk away from the emotionally heightened situation and take deep breaths to calm themselves. Emotional and social competence are interconnected.

SEL skills are developed throughout the lifespan to help individuals recognize and label emotions, learn how to respond appropriately to emotions, and understand how to apply those responses across social settings to maintain relationships (Ng & Bull, 2018). However, no one is born with social and emotional competency skills. While these skills are developed throughout a person’s life, as with any skill, they must first be introduced and taught. In fact, many children pick up many social-emotional skills through observational learning (i.e., watching adults model these skills and watching peers). Once a child is exposed to these skills, they must be continuously practiced across many situations for progress to occur.

Why Social-Emotional Learning is Important in Educational Spaces

SEL has a place in the field of education because of its ripple effect on students. For example, people with strong SEL skills can communicate their wants, desires, and feelings more easily than someone who does not have these skills. Additionally, students with strong SEL skills can usually create and sustain relationships in the classroom due to their emotional intelligence. SEL also may assist students academically, as students with strong SEL skills are better equipped to work through feelings of frustration and stress and seek help from teachers and peers when needed.

According to Schonert-Reichl (2017), “extensive research evidence confirms that SEL skills promote positive development, improve academic performance, and health-related behaviors” (p. 138). When students are taught SEL skills at an early age, they gain more experience developing and fostering social-emotional competence. Additionally, early exposure provides students with more opportunities to generalize these competencies to other areas of their lives, such as relationships, in the home, and throughout adulthood (Schonert-Reichl, 2017). Educational spaces offer students a variety of social settings and learning opportunities across domains where social-emotional skills can be practiced almost daily. For example, students in a small math group setting may practice SEL skills by problem-solving with peers and building social relationships. Also, students in a language arts setting can write independently in journals to practice skills related to emotional expression and social awareness. These experiences make educational spaces an opportune place to introduce SEL.

How to Implement Social-Emotional Learning in Educational Spaces

To promote SEL skills, education professionals can utilize direct and indirect teaching practices, as listed in the examples below.

• Setting the tone of the classroom (indirect instruction). According to Schonert-Reichl (2017), “Children who feel comfortable with their teachers and peers are more willing to grapple with challenging material and persist at difficult learning tasks” (p. 139). One way an education professional can help set a positive tone is by greeting students at the door each day with a smile. Other ways an education professional can set the tone for a classroom is by encouraging students to work through challenges and by honoring children’s emotions. For example, a professional may give students the space to problem-solve and practice their SEL skills prior to interfering when students experience conflict (e.g., when children struggle to share toys; Schonert-Reichl, 2017). If a conflict is not resolved after some time, an adult may join the students and talk through their feelings, brainstorming strategies they can use. Importantly, this interaction would include teaching children to express their emotions in ways that are appropriate while not expecting children to suppress their emotions (i.e., feeling frustrated, mad, and angry).
• Small group instruction (direct and indirect teaching). According to Ng and Bull (2018), small-group instruction contains smaller teacher-to-student ratios, which “increases opportunities for learning, individualized attention, and better responsiveness” (pp. 8 and 17). In small groups, a professional might directly teach SEL skills by reading a social story about emotions, asking the students to think about times they experienced these emotions, and then discussing how the students felt during those experiences. During the interactive reading, the adult might ask students what ways they can respond when they feel certain emotions. For example, the students might suggest that they could ask a friend if it is okay to hug them when they feel happy or they might go to the calm down corner in the classroom when they feel frustrated. Professionals also can indirectly teach SEL skills to small groups of students during spontaneous play interactions. For instance, if the adult notices a small group of students not including another student in play, the adult might say, “I wonder how Axel is feeling when he is not included in this game. What do you think? How could we change the game so that everyone can play?”
• Whole group instruction (direct teaching). During whole-group instruction, a professional might explicitly teach social-emotional skills through role play (Ashdown & Bernard, 2012). For example, the adult could act out a scenario using puppets. The puppet might say, “I didn’t like it when my friend didn’t let me have a turn on the slide, so I pushed him because I was really, really mad.” The adult might then pause and ask the class to think about what the puppet said and then talk about ways to express feelings safely. Then, the scenario could be acted out again, with the adult implementing the suggestions the class offered. The puppet might say, “I didn’t like when my friend didn’t let me have a turn on the slide, so I told him, ‘It makes me mad when you don’t let me have a turn. Can we take turns on the slide so we can have fun together?’” This provides students with a visual example of SEL skills in action, including the words to use.

Emotions and feelings can be complex, even for adults. Children need guidance in expressing their emotions and feelings in safe, appropriate ways. Education professionals must provide opportunities for students to learn and practice SEL skills. When students have more opportunities to practice and grow, they develop social-emotional competence, which will help them now and in years to come.

References

American Psychological Association. (2018). APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/social-competence

Ashdown, D.M. & Bernard, M.E. (2012). Can explicit instruction in social and emotional learning skills benefit the social-emotional development, well-being, and academic achievement of young children? Early Childhood Education Journal, 39, 397–405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-011-0481-x

Ng, S.C. & Bull, R. (2018). Facilitating social-emotional learning in kindergarten classrooms: Situational factors and teachers’ strategies. International Journal of Early Childhood, 50, 335–352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-018-0225-9

Saarni, C. (1999). The Development of Emotional Competence. The Guilford Press.

Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2017). Social and emotional learning and teachers. The Future of Children, 27(1), 137–155. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44219025

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