SEL
A changing society
enrolled in much smaller schools
1
, they can they assume that policy makers and 3. Integrate SEL into academic curricula,
worked with, or at least alongside, older school leaders will support their efforts particularly English and math. Holistic
and younger children, often functioning as when pressures intensify to boost exam educators may argue that SEL is a worthy
mentors for younger students, and benefi ting results. Below are three suggestions for educational goal in itself. They will point
from the maturity and advanced skills of dealing with these challenges. to the long-term benefi ts for both students
older students. They also had ongoing and society, and will argue against viewing
relationships with their teachers, whereas 1. Actively cultivate adult-child and cross- SEL as merely a means of achieving better
today students typically move from one age relationships. Adult–child, cross-age, exam results. But in the current policy
teacher to another every year, and often and peer relationships meet students’ basic environment, the reality is that SEL will be
rotate among teachers during the school day. psychological need for “belonging,” and taken more seriously and implemented
Because of these changes, SEL educators they constitute the primary medium through more conscientiously if fully integrated into
cannot assume effective support from which SEL can be practiced and applied. the academic curriculum, especially into
nuclear and extended families, or even Relationships can be deliberately cultivated the tested subjects of English and math.
the social milieu of the school itself. And in various ways: In effect, integrating SEL with academic
so they must help their schools attend to
●
Unity-building activities in the classroom; teaching is a way to protect it against the
children’s most basic socialization needs,
●
Class meetings for purposes of current accountability pressures.
as well as their learning of socio-emotional collaborative planning, decision making, In addition, this integration can produce a
dispositions and skills. problem solving, refl ection; powerful form of synergy: teaching is likely
to be more effective if it incorporates SEL
Relative to previous generations, contemporary children
skills that promote harmonious, productive
lack stable, complex networks of relationships with caring
collaborations among students, teaching
skills such as how to take turns, ask
adults, and they lack opportunities to observe those adults clarifying questions, disagree respectfully,
and build on another’s ideas. Conversely,
The narrowing mission of public
●
Cooperative learning pedagogies; these SEL skills and the values that underlie
schooling
●
Cross-age tutoring, cross-age buddies, them (e.g., respect, tactfulness) are likely to
The privileging of test score gains occurred as cross-age service learning; be learned more fully if students use them
the authority to shape what happens in public
●
Teachers “looping”: staying with the same routinely in classroom interaction.
schooling shifted dramatically. Before 1990, group of students for two or more years;
educational decisions were mostly made by
●
Secondary school advisories, including About the author
school boards and central offi ce leaders. Or multi-year advisories; Eric Schaps is the founder and President
those decisions were made by school principals.
●
Home visits by teachers; of the Developmental Studies Center in
But beginning in a few states such as Texas
●
Parent involvement in classroom and Oakland, California.
and Kentucky, and culminating at the national school life;
level with the passage of No Child Left Behind,
●
Ongoing community service that creates
state and federal governments established sustained relationships with those being
References
accountability systems that effectively served (e.g., senior citizens).
disempower local boards and administrators. Many empirical studies have shown that
1. In 1990, the average enrollment in an
Having a centralized accountability system supportive in-school relationships are
American school was 518 students. In
imposes relentless pressures with cascading not only central to social and emotional
1900, the average school enrollment was
effects. These systems marginalize the learning, they are key to students’ academic
36 students.
teaching of non-tested subjects and increase engagement and achievement, and to their
the time required for exam preparation. They healthy overall development and avoidance
Further reading
channel funds, staff time, teaching time, and of problem behaviors. Why such a range of
Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader’s
professional development activity towards highly desirable effects? One explanation is
Guide to SEL Programs (2003). Chicago:
teaching the specifi c content and skills that relationship building promotes “school
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and
that are tested. They make “educating the bonding” – students becoming committed
Emotional Learning. Downloadable at
whole child” – that is, attending to children’s and motivated to live up to their school’s
www.casel.org/pub/safeandsound.php
social, emotional, ethical, aesthetic, and ideals and goals.
physical development as well as their Schaps E (2005), The Role of Supportive
academic development – a secondary if 2. Teach/practice interpersonal and School Environments in Promoting
not tertiary consideration. Local initiatives intrapersonal competencies early. Students Academic Success. Getting Results,
notwithstanding, making SEL a genuine often lack the self-awareness and self-control Developing Safe and Healthy Kids,
priority, and maintaining that priority over skills, or the communication, collaboration, Update 5: Student Health, Supportive
time, is now a continuous uphill climb. and confl ict resolution skills, necessary to Schools, and Academic Success. California
succeed in school. Rather than leave students Department of Education, 39–56. www.
Three suggestions for SEL policy and to learn those skills through trial and error, gettingresults.org
practice with the attendant risk of their being labeled
SEL educators must address both challenges as “diffi cult,” it makes sense to proactively
Schaps E (2007), Community in School:
– of age segregation and of narrowly focused and systematically teach them. One side
The Heart of the Matter. In Houston P,
accountability systems. They cannot take for benefi t of teaching SEL skills early is that it
Blankstein A, & Cole R (eds), Spirituality in
granted that students are being effectively makes relationship-building easier, thereby
Educational Leadership. Thousand Oaks
socialized through traditional means, nor creating a virtuous circle of a sort.
CA: Corwin Press, 73–87.
winter 2010 Better: Evidence-based Education 21
Better(US)Win10 pp20-21 Society.indd 21 4/3/10 10:32:42
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