How Social Emotional Learning Can Improve Your Life

School is revered as an institution for knowledge. When we think of school, we think about learning our numbers and letters and other brainy facts. Seldom are the words social and emotional associated to it. When we try to consider what “other” learnings we get outside the instructions of the classrooms, however, there are always the social interactions and skills that need to be fostered and emotional strengths and weaknesses that can make or break a person.

There are now many educators and schools that advocate social and emotional learning programs in order to provide a holistic approach in learning. As practical as it is to develop a child’s emotional and social skills are, SEL is actually a pretty new thing. Curriculums have often focused on building up children who are college eligible, filled with the knowledge necessary to pass tests and exams and get into college, and often miss out on having children be college ready— those that have the skill-sets necessary not only in passing college, but are ready to take on the adjustments and changes that college life brings.

SEL, which is also called whole child education is a system that teaches children to build character. It is evidence based and focuses on how to reach goals, understand and manage relationships, emotions, decisions, and empathy. It identifies five core competencies, which are:

• self-awareness, described as how a child understands his strengths and weaknesses;
• self-management, that is shown in how well a child can control his emotions and behaviors, and how well he can complete or manage a task or situation;
• responsible decision making, or how well a child can make responsible and well informed decisions based on his problem solving skills that are developed from his personal experiences and values, and on how he takes responsibility for his decisions;
• relationship skills, which describes how the child can consistently maintain positive relationships and make socially sociable actions; and
• social awareness or how a child can interact with respect and tolerance to ideas, behaviors and situations.

SEL is most effective when it is given importance and recognition in schools, and when it involves families, communities, and even districts.

Studies have confirmed the value of social and emotional learning in developing character in students. And there are plenty of testimonies from schools, teachers, and students that speak of how this approach has changed behaviors and characters, and how it had made students perform better in their academics. Many of these stories come from underprivileged children who never had the family and community background and support needed to develop their social and emotional wellbeing. They often start out as low performers and can even be problem students who have been changed by the program and have turned their lives around. They have become top students and leaders and have been admitted in top universities.

Schools with the SEL program often have special classes where children are coached in handling conflict resolution where they learn how to negotiate, while be accepting of other people’s opinion without seeing it as an attack to their own. It also provides relevant discussions on harassment and bullying and how it takes the cooperation of everyone to stand up and stop these. Children are taught empathy, and how it is vital in establishing trust and respect. They are also taught how to work together in order to come up with strategies for cooperative learning. While these may be a separate class, everything learned in the SEL program is used in all subject areas and have shown to improve the dynamics and productivity of any class, regardless of subject. Incorporating social and emotional learning in the standard curriculum is vital in the overall development of children. When we recognise that we need to develop more than head knowledge, and see the importance of working on building up mature, well-adjusted, and emotionally stable children, then we can be certain to see an improvement in their lives and in their futures.

While not all children are privileged to grow up with doting parents, we still need to note the value of how a family can provide social and emotional learning in the home. With the home being the first social circle, the foundation of our social emotional learning is established there. It is our family values and culture that initially mold our attitudes, beliefs, characters. Parents are the first teachers on impulse control, persistence, and empathy, and how we are taught of these things in the home is often who we are when we grow up.

Social and emotional learning are not just knowledge skills that we acquire and build in order to succeed in our careers, or in order to improve our status. These are actually essential in building up our characters and our behaviors towards ourselves and to others. It makes or breaks our decision making and our goal setting. In essence, it is a vital key in understanding and developing ourselves to become better, and more rounded individuals.

 

 

Sarah Jacobs is an experienced writer who loves creating articles that can benefit others. She has worked as a freelance writer in the past making informative articles and fascinating stories. She has extensive knowledge in a variety of fields such as technology, business, finance, marketing, personal development, and more.

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