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Educators value social and emotional skills. Here’s how to build them
By Suzanne Bouffard
October 2022
Most educators believe that social and emotional learning (SEL) skills are a fundamental part of good teaching and learning (Education Week, n.d.; Hamilton et al., 2019) because they help children and adults set and reach goals, navigate their environments, and thrive in community. SEL includes skills such as paying attention, waiting for one’s turn to talk, managing frustration, maintaining a growth mindset, demonstrating empathy, and getting along with others. Long before the pandemic, surveys showed that teachers believed these skills were essential for students to learn at school (Bridgeland et al., 2013), and research confirmed that they are linked with measures of academic success (Jones & Kahn, 2017). But there’s reason to believe those skills have become even more important as students and teachers recover
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References
Bridgeland, J., Bruce, M., & Hariharan, A. (2013). The missing piece: A national teacher survey on how social and emotional learning can empower children and transform schools. CASEL.
Christianson, K., Gomez, C.J., Augustine, C.H., & Schwartz, H.L. (2022). Learning to focus on adult social and emotional learning first in Tulsa. RAND Corporation.
Education Week. (n.d.). Data: How district leaders, principals, and teachers view social-emotional learning. Author. www.edweek.org/leadership/data-how-district-leaders-principals-and-teachers-view-social-emotional-learning
Hamilton, L.S. & Doss, C.J. (2020, November 12). Supports for social and emotional learning in American schools and classrooms: Findings from the American Teacher Panel. RAND Corporation.
Hamilton, L.S., Doss, C.J., & Steiner, E.D. (2019). Teacher and principal perspectives on social and emotional learning in America’s schools. RAND Corporation.
Held, L. (2022, February 8). Let’s talk social and emotional learning (No. 1) [Audio podcast episode]. Wallace. www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/what-is-sel-and-how-has-it-evolved-episode-1-.aspx
Jones, S.M. & Kahn, J. (2017). The evidence base for how we learn: Supporting students’ social, emotional, and academic development. Aspen Institute.
Schwartz, H.L., Bongard, M., Bogan, E.D., Boyle, A.E., Meyers, D.C., & Jagers, R.J. (2022). Social and emotional learning in schools nationally and in the Collaborating Districts Initiative. RAND Corporation.
Tosh, K., Schwartz H.L., & Augustine, C.H. (2022). Strengthening students’ social and emotional skills. RAND Corporation.
Suzanne Bouffard is senior vice president of communications and publications at Learning Forward. She is the editor of The Learning Professional, Learning Forward’s flagship publication. She also contributes to the Learning Forward blog and webinars. With a background in child development, she has a passion for making research and best practices accessible to educators, policymakers, and families. She has written for many national publications including The New York Times and the Atlantic, and previously worked as a writer and researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Duke University and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She loves working with authors to help them develop their ideas and voices for publication.
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