What Is Social Emotional Learning?
According to the CASEL framework, there are five interrelated areas of competence that make up SEL:
Self-awareness: The ability to identify and recognize one’s own emotions and thoughts and understand how they impact behavior.
Social awareness: Having empathy and respect for others and the ability to take on different perspectives.
Responsible decision-making: The ability to make ethical, constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions.
Self-management: Being able to manage one’s emotions and impulses, manage stress, and set personal goals.
Relationship skills: Having the capacity to establish and maintain healthy, supportive relationships.
Why is SEL beneficial for children?
It’s been shown that SEL can help children feel more confident and happy in the classroom and in life in general. Research shows that SEL consistently has positive effects on students’ success — from their academic performance and behavior to their ability to manage stress.
Other research has shown that these long-term benefits are consistent across demographic groups — meaning that SEL instruction can support the positive development of children from diverse backgrounds and geographies.
There is also evidence that SEL supports educational equity and classroom inclusivity. “When I talk to parents and school leaders,” Hoffman adds, “it’s clear that another benefit they see from students engaging in SEL is a sense of belonging.”
What does SEL look like in the classroom?
Educators usually integrate SEL into their curricula through both explicit instruction on the competencies and, equally importantly, through ongoing reinforcement of these skills.
Explicit SEL instruction might include lessons on how to identify and label your feelings, build your emotional vocabulary, consider other people’s perspectives and experiences, and brainstorm solutions to problems.
But then, the key to effectively teaching SEL competencies is reinforcing these lessons every day in the classroom. “It’s not about a standalone activity,” explains Dr. Mendel. “It’s about having a school culture that’s committed to engaging in social-emotional learning — where it’s infused into every day, with repetition of the lessons and skills.”
For example, while teaching children a lesson on conflict resolution is important, so is coaching them through conflicts when they happen in real time — reinforcing those skills and giving them a place to practice them.
“It’s not always activity-based,” Hoffman says. “It’s thinking about what skills they need to know and how to engage in conversations about them. When they’re doing things that cause harm to other people, you’re practicing, ‘How did that make someone else feel?’ to build empathy. It’s taking the times that they don’t do things right as teaching moments.”
SEL programs in schools are often structured across three tiers based on children’s needs. Tier one is the standard program, taught to all students, with the aim of helping them develop the competencies and prevent behavioral or emotional problems from developing. Tier two is for children who haven’t responded to tier one and show some signs of risk, such as behavioral issues, social difficulties, or academic struggles. Tier three is for students who require more intensive support, potentially through individualized counseling or a behavior intervention plan.
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