SEL Grows as a Hot Topic in Schools

by Tina Manzer

and public health to identify the key skills and competencies students need to be successful in school and in life.

Since 2013, all 50 states have had standards for teaching SEL in preschools, and more than half have had standards for kindergarten through 12th grade.

But if SEL sounds new to you, you might recognize it by another name. Over the years it has been known as character education, 21st-century skills, noncognitive skills and – in the business world – soft skills.

No matter what the concept is called, SEL is a hot topic right now. School districts across the country are opening SEL offices, they’re hiring SE coaches and SEL is being incorporated into teacher preparation programs. CASEL, whose mission is to make evidence-based SEL an integral part of education from preschool through high school, reports that multiple national and state initiatives have been developed to support SEL.

Healthline, a news website that covers physical and mental wellness, noted that “schools have always taken on responsibilities that go beyond teaching history, English or math. They are an important part of the communities they serve and an integral part of the lives of the students they teach. That’s part of why schools have historically taught kids everyday life skills alongside important academic skills.”

What life skills, specifically?

SEL focuses on what kids need to both understand themselves and communicate well with others. Among those skills are

• self-awareness;

• social awareness;

• emotion management;

• building constructive relationships and

• responsible decision making.

Some of the benefits of honing those skills include increased empathy and improvements in problem-solving and communications skills, improved relationships with friends and family and better self-control. Combined, these skills help students to increase achievement and develop workplace readiness skills.

“So often, social and emotional learning gets put on the back burner while other important skills like reading, writing, math, history and science are taught,” wrote Kristina

Scully, a special educator turned curriculum specialist, on her website thepathway2success.com. “While these skills are certainly important, I would argue that it’s even more important that kids develop their emotional intelligence through social emotional learning activities. Simply put, if kids are mentally and emotionally healthy, they are better equipped to face the challenges life brings.”

She offered teachers a wealth of different ideas for easily integrating SEL instruction and activities into what they are already teaching during the school day. Her suggestions included daily journal writing with prompts like, “Name a time you used self-control. What was the outcome?”; using readalouds with discussions about how the characters think and feel; giving kids responsibilities and jobs to help build their sense of self-worth; and helping kids learn breathing strategies, how to focus on just one thing at a time and relaxing their bodies to teach mindfulness.

Instructional materials and toy manufacturers provide a wide variety of tools that help teach SEL. Scholastic offers the new “Sticky Situation” card sets that provide discussion prompts, and a line of storybooks with titles like The Way I Feel, Too Loud Lilly and It’s Okay to Make Mistakes. Creative Teaching Press offers motivational posters with themes that include “Everyone Is Welcome,” “Be Kind and Be A Friend,” and “Think Before You Speak.” Wikki Stix, as a craft activity, can be used to express emotions nonverbally and PlayMonster just introduced the new, licensed Playskool Glo Friends line of toys. PlayMonster research indicates that parents are actively looking for toys that teach SEL.

SEL’s role at this moment

The pandemic was a major stressor for people around the world, but children were impacted the most, noted Healthline. Without school, they lost structure, daily peer interaction, group athletics and group music and art activities – all keys to alleviating stress.

The #1 Manufacturer of Gym Bleacher Boards in North America

Grows as a Hot Topic in Schools

In addition, some kids were isolated in unsafe and unstable homes and could not escape to the safety of school, and others who relied on free school lunch programs faced increased food insecurity.

Children were also stressed by the virus itself, said Healthline. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 140,000 children in the U.S. had lost a parent, grandparent or caregiver to death from COVID-19 as of June 2021. In October that year, a national state of emergency was declared in child and adolescent mental health by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children’s Hospital Association. The three groups pointed to the additional stressors of mass violence, natural disasters, climate change and political polarization, said Healthline.

Today, even as political activists make SEL the latest target in the education “culture wars,” parents overwhelmingly support teaching it in schools, said the National Education Association (NEA) in January. It sited key findings from a poll released by the Committee for Children last May. They revealed that among the 54 percent of parents who believe SEL is being taught at their child’s school, 52 percent think schools should continue teaching SEL and nearly 30 percent want schools to do more with SEL. Among parents who didn’t think SEL was being taught at their children’s schools or were unsure, 86 percent would support the school teaching SEL.

Finally, more than 75 percent of parents said that the reason they support SEL is because they see how teaching SEL creates a positive classroom environment where children learn the skills they need to succeed – in school and for their future.

“We know that families already play a huge role in developing these competencies, but their kids spend a lot of time in schools,” Tia Kim from the Committee for Children told the NEA. “It’s just an extension of that learning.”