Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy最新文献

Impact statement

Universal school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs have been shown to have a range of benefits for students. However, these programs tend to focus on students, not involving parents, which may limit their impact outside the school context. We conducted focus groups and interviews with 118 parents, 58 teachers, and 6 school administrators at six public elementary schools across the United States implementing the Second Step SEL program to determine (a) what parents want to know about SEL in their children’s schools and why, (b) what parents actually know about SEL in their children’s schools, and (c) educators’ perspectives on SEL communication with parents. The findings suggest that school staff underestimate parents’ interest in knowing what their children are learning in SEL at school and perceive logistical barriers to SEL communication with parents. Accordingly, many parents report lacking knowledge about SEL despite valuing that knowledge and wishing to support their children’s SEL development. These findings point to ways SEL programs can be designed to better communicate with parents, and importantly, to facilitate parental engagement in the development of their children’s SEL skills.

A rapidly growing body of research is examining the social and emotional competencies (SEC) educators need to effectively fulfill their professional roles (see Lozano-Peña et al., 2021 for a recent review). The prosocial classroom model highlights the importance of educators' SECs as they relate to their capacity to maintain well-being by successfully coping with the challenges of emotion-laden social interactions in the classroom, building positive relationships with students, managing classrooms effectively, and providing proficient social-emotional learning (SEL) instruction (see Figure 1; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). These elements foster a classroom environment that supports social-emotional growth and optimal student learning outcomes. Since the publication of the Jennings and Greenberg (2009) article, research has been expanding to identify specific SECs and how they relate to educators' well-being and job performance. In this paper, we situate the construct of emotional schemas as one construct related to educators’ SEC and relevant to understanding classrooms as developmental contexts for educators and students.

The benefits of social and emotional learning (SEL) are well-documented in the literature, leading to increased advocacy in school settings. In fact, it has been suggested that SEL should be integrated into all aspects of the students’ life–in every classroom, after-school activity, summer program, and beyond. Therefore, contemporary SEL programming must be flexible to meet the specific needs of the school community and be accomplished with diverse resources without imposing additional burdens on educators or schools. Furthermore, a global perspective is essential, with joint ventures among international educational communities to share teaching approaches, cultural values, and resources. We argue for the necessity of a global community-based approach to create a flexible SEL delivery model. We present two distinct SEL programs, bringing multiple international institutions together to provide enriching learning experiences for all. Through continuous communication and feedback gathered from community members, each SEL program focuses directly on what matters and what is needed for each school community at the time of the collaboration. Actively involving all relevant groups (e.g., students, educators, parents, school districts, university faculty, undergraduates, and pre-service teachers), we demonstrate how a global community-based approach can be applied to bring SEL into mainstream educational practice across the world.

Despite recent emphasis of accomplished scholars on the significant role of teachers' social-emotional skills in imparting these skills to their students, there is limited empirical research on this issue. The present study addressed this gap by examining the associations between teachers’ social-emotional skills (mindfulness, empathy, and prosocial orientation) and their students' social-emotional skills. We surveyed 45 primary classroom teachers (all teachers were women) and their 852 fourth- and fifth-grade students (54 % girls), from 12 public schools in Israel (serving students from SES ranging from the third to the eighth decile). All the study’s participants completed self-report measures of their social-emotional skills. HLM analyses indicated that teachers' mindfulness was associated with students' social-emotional skills (mindfulness, empathic concern, and prosocial orientation), and teachers' empathic concern was associated with students' prosocial orientation. These findings provide initial support for the potential significance of teachers' social-emotional skills, particularly mindfulness and empathy, in scaffolding these skills in their students. Implications for teachers' training and professional development in contemporary education are discussed.

Social and emotional learning is crucial for healthy development. Prior work has demonstrated that linguistic input (including emotion and mental state language) is beneficial for early social and emotional learning. In this Perspectives article, we build on existing research and consider the diverse ways in which emotion and mental state language can influence social and emotional learning. Namely, we discuss the importance of considering the content of language, the context in which language occurs, and the broader sociocultural factors of children’s early environments. By taking a more nuanced approach to understanding the influence of emotion and mental state language in social and emotional learning, this article aims to more comprehensively characterize how we can support social and emotional learning through everyday conversations with children. Ultimately, this will allow for advancements in research, practice, and policy to better help parents and educators guide social and emotional development through the linguistic input that they provide to children.