What is Social and Emotional Learning?

Teacher Professional Development

Building Resilience in Children and Young People

What is Social and Emotional Learning?

• Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, attitudes and skills associated with the core areas of social and emotional competency

• SEL programs set out to explicitly teach a range of skills, including those necessary to:

understand and manage emotions

set and achieve positive goals

feel and show empathy for others

establish and maintain positive relationships

make responsible decisions 

• These skills are dynamic and inter-related and underpin both personal resilience and healthy relationships

Durlak et al. 2011, CASEL, 2013; Frydenberg, 2010; Hromek & Roffey, 2009 

What works in Social and Emotional Learning?

Multi-modal programs that integrate social problem solving, social, and emotional understanding work better than traditional prevention models based on single skills

)

Matthews, Zeidner & Roberts (2004)

Social and Emotional Competencies

CASEL 5 Key Areas

1. Self-Awareness: Identifying and recognising emotions; accurate self-perception;recognising strengths, needs, and values; self-efficacy

2. Self-Management: Impulse control and stress management; self-motivationand discipline; goal setting and organizational skills

3. Social Awareness: Perspective taking; empathy; difference recognition;respect for others

4. Relationship Skills: Communication, social engagement, and relationshipbuilding; working cooperatively; negotiation, refusal, and conflict

management;Help-seeking

5. Responsible Decision-making: Problem identification and situationanalysis; problem solving; evaluation and reflection; personal, social, andethical responsibility

http://www.casel.org

Social and Emotional Learning Across the

AusVELS Curriculum

SEL skills are emphasised in particular in the AusVELS Personal and Social General Capabilities, but are also relevant across the Critical and Creative Thinking General Capabilities, and the Health and Physical Education (HPE) and English Learning Areas.

The following table outlines how the Building Resilience lesson materials explicitly address skills in these areas of the Curriculum*

*Note that the HPE and General Capabilities curriculum are currently aligned to the Australian Curriculum and will be updated in line with the Victorian AusVELS when it is released. For further information see: www.acara.edu.au

Social and Emotional Learning

Lesson Materials available across all year levels:

Primary

FoundationLevel 1-2Level 3-4Level 5-6

Secondary

Level 7-8Level 9-10Year 11-12(VCE/VCAL)

Social and Emotional Learning

GENERAL CAPABILITIES LEARNING AREAS

Personal and Social Critical and Creative Thinking

Health and Physical Education

English

• Self-awareness• Self-management• Social awareness• Social management

• Inquiring – identifying, exploring and clarifying information and ideas

• Generating ideas, possibilities and actions

• Reflecting on thinking and processes

• Analysing, synthesising and evaluating reasoning and procedures

• Being Healthy Safe and Active

• Communicating and Interacting for health and wellbeing

• Speaking and Listening

• Reading and viewing

Social and Emotional Learning in the Post

Compulsory Years

The Building Resilience SEL lesson materials designed for the post-compulsory years can be used in a variety of ways:

• specific VCE study or orientation camps• programs designed to help VCE students manage exam stress and learn

relaxation techniques• daily or weekly 20-60 minute home group or pastoral sessions• careers education programs• part of the school wellbeing team’s response to specific VCE/VCAL issues

or events• as source material for creative writing• as a regular or one off element of the English classroom• lunchtime or after school activities• special ‘days’ or events held for post-compulsory students• as an integral part of the VCAL curriculum

Reflect

What does your school do to promote the general personal and social capabilities of:

• self-awareness?• social awareness?• self-management?• social management?

?

Social and Emotional Learning

Key Ideas

• Social and emotional capabilities are teachable• All students benefit from being taught SEL• Student mental health and engagement in learning

improves when they are taught SEL• Evidence-based programs work best

Social and Emotional Learning

Research Shows the Benefits of SEL Programs

A meta-analysis of over 200 primary and secondary SEL programs where participants participated in rigorously designed and well-taught SEL programs (as compared with students in control schools) showed :

• More positive social behaviour

• Less risky and disruptive behaviour

• Improvements in academic performance with an average 11% gain in academic achievement

Durlak et al. 2011

Social and Emotional Learning

Effective SEL Programs:

• Address a broad range of risk and protective factors

• Use strengths-based approaches

• Utilise collaborative teaching strategies

• Engage students in problem-solving and critical thinking

• Assist students to relate their learning to real life situations

• Incorporate messages which support development of healthy societal norms

• Are delivered in a longitudinal fashion

• Are age-appropriate and culturally attuned

• Are augmented by a broad and on-going health and wellbeing curriculum

• Target specific behaviours as well as general life-skills

• Are located within a positive, inclusive and participatory school environment

• Make effective use of games as a method to enhance peer relations

• Teach critical thinking and problem-solving skills

• Teach self-calming strategies

Social and Emotional Learning

Collaborative learning strategies are central to effective SEL programs

• Collaborative learning strategies include: role-play and simulation; small group problem-solving discussions; critical-thinking tasks; skills-development exercises; themed games

• These strategies help students to think about the challenges that they may encounter in their lives and develop life-skills to cope with challenges/stressors

• Good programs give students an opportunity to learn and apply their skills and to rehearse for future situations

Social and Emotional Learning

What do teachers need to be able to deliver SEL programs well?Use of collaborative or participatory teaching strategies is not the

norm for some teachers

To deliver SEL curriculum confidently and well, teachers need to:

• Understand the educational rationale for the approach

• Be prepared to use collaborative learning tasks

• Have good engagement with their students

• Use effective and positive classroom management practices

• Have adequate time to prepare for the lesson

Social and Emotional Learning

When are well-designed evidence-based SEL programs not effective?

When fidelity is lost in implementation • Programs are not effective or are less effective when poorly delivered

sections omitted or not taught in the spirit of the program). Breakdown is most common in the loss of the interactive or participatory components of the program

When programs are not supported during implementation by effective:• system policies• school leadership • professional training for teachers

Research shows that the fidelity breakdown is so common that we should anticipate it and plan for it by supporting teachers to use collaborative learning strategies

(Payton, J., Weissberg, R.P., Durlak, J.A., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., Schellinger, K.B., & Pachan, M. (2008)

Social and Emotional Learning

Building Resilience Lesson Materials

The Building Resilience SEL materials are informed by a strong evidence base that highlights the elements of effective SEL curricula

These lessons use a range of collaborative learning activities such as: •paired sharing•small group problem-solving discussions•scenario-based discussions•skills-development exercises•role-plays•storytelling•games•experiential activities •class discussions

Social and Emotional Learning Building Resilience SEL materials: Topics Covered

Topic 1: Emotional literacy

Topic 2: Personal strengths

Topic 3: Positive coping

Topic 4: Problem-solving

Topic 5: Stress management

Topic 6: Help-seeking

Social and Emotional Learning Teaching SEL Improves Teacher’s SEL

Interview findings suggest that use of the SEL program had a

positive influence on the teachers' overall teaching techniques and their broader social behaviour.

Most of the teachers reported that they felt they had become more

democratic and student-centered in their teaching more socially skilled and

more aware of individuals' needs and problems

Reflect

What practices do you use to enhance your own:

•Self-awareness?•Self-management?•Social awareness?•Social management?

?

Social and Emotional Learning Useful Links

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) leads research and innovation in the area of social and emotional learning (SEL).

http://www.casel.org/

Social and Emotional LearningReferences • Durlak, J.A., Weissberg, R.P., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., & Schellinger, K.B. (2011). The

Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432.

• Frydenberg, E. (2010). Think positively! A course for developing coping skills in adolescents. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

• Hromek, R., & Roffey, S. (2009). Promoting Social and Emotional Learning With Games: ''It's Fun and We Learn Things''. Simulation & Gaming, 40, 626-644.

• Larsen, T. and Samdal, O. (2012) The Importance of Teachers' Feelings of Self Efficacy in Developing Their Pupils' Social and Emotional Learning: A Norwegian Study of Teachers' Reactions to the Second Step Program. School Psychology International, 33(6), p. 631-645

• Payton, J., Weissberg, R.P., Durlak, J.A., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., Schellinger, K.B., & Pachan, M. (2008). The positive impact of social and emotional learning for kindergarten to eighth-grade students: Findings from three scientific re- views. Chicago, IL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning