Promoting and sustaining social and emotional learning in educational contexts

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) now forms a key component in most school policies and programming.  Educators and administrators are becoming increasingly aware of the new to reinforce emotional wellbeing in order to promote social cohesion. This unit focuses on five key SEL competencies introduced and reinforced in this unit include: self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making, self-management and relationship skills. It uses a four-pronged teaching and learning approach.  At the outset, the unit focuses on developing an understanding for the importance of teachers knowing their own SEL. It examines existing theories on emotional intelligence and how teachers can identify their own strengths, limitations and attitudes towards teaching and student learning. Additionally, it looks at students and the importance for the teacher to recognize each individual student in their charge and the student’s personal SEL. It looks at key understandings that teachers should know and apply as they work on being more effective in their teaching and learning processes. Building on this, the unit considers how schools can successfully embed and expand SEL by understanding issues and constraints and addressing them proactively at the institutional level through decision-making models that use a strong research-based evidence, policy and practice nexus. Finally, it will explore how parents, families and communities through viable partnerships and relationships can provide contextual clarity to SEL in schools especially for the individual student.