SEL, short for Social-Emotional Learning, has been defined and used in schools for over thirty years. Prior to 2018, however, I had heard the letters, but never really saw anything about SEL in the first twenty years of my teaching career. This was also true of nearly all of my colleagues I had asked about it. My introduction to what SEL is began on Valentine’s Day, 2018, after the horrific Parkland, Florida, school shooting that killed 17 and wounded 18 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The day after Parkland happened, I was on the phone with Joe Fatheree, a dear friend and fellow teacher from central Illinois, talking about teachers not having much say about school safety, or seeing any real progress to reduce the number of school shootings and other violent acts, for decades. We were wondering what could be done to try and produce real results in helping our youth maintain control of their emotions, and generally creating safer schools and environments where kids could learn and grow more while not worrying about so much actual and potential violence too many of our students see with high frequency. As we talked with more colleagues, safety personnel, administrators, school counselors, psychologists, and social workers, and other experts who had interests in this topic, we began to hear and learn about this SEL topic in detail. I was intrigued.
Two years later, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the world began to shut down for nearly one year. The school I worked at did remote learning and some hybrid learning during that time. Once the world began to come out of the shutdown, something became very apparent about the health of many of our students, as well as adults - the state of our mental health was largely in peril. Rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal tendencies, violent actions, and other mental health issues rose dramatically in the U.S. and around the world. Now, there was a substantial rise in mental health issues prior to COVID for nearly a decade, but post-COVID it accelerated to the point where districts all around the country began to take an interest in SEL. In my own school district, SEL became one of our four district goals.
But something both interesting and worrisome began to happen over the last several years regarding SEL - it became politicised. Some politicians began to use language like SEL is part of the Left’s drive towards ‘wokeness’, and that SEL was a way to indoctrinate America’s youth towards a Leftist-Communist political agenda that was destroying the country (Harvard, Kansas, National Review). By 2024, at least eight state legislatures have introduced bills that would limit or ban SEL from the state’s public schools (APA, EdWeek). SEL has now become associated with wokeness, critical race theory (CRT), progressive and Leftist indoctrination programs, and so on. I wonder, though, how many of those who are making claims on either side of the issue actually understand what the core SEL ideas are when it was developed back in 1994, by those who formed the leading organization that drives SEL, CASEL - the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
Traditional SEL is built around five competencies, which are Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making. In order to attain any level of competency within one of these competencies, certain skills must be learned, practiced, and applied. One list showing skills associated with each competency is:
Self-awareness
The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. The ability to accurately assess one’s strengths and limitations, with a well-grounded sense of confidence, optimism, and a growth mindset.
Identifying emotions
Accurate self-perception
Recognizing strengths
Self-confidence
Self-efficacy
Self-management
The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. The ability to set and work toward personal and academic goals.
Impulse control
Stress management
Self-discipline
Self-motivation
Goal-setting
Organizational skills
Social awareness
The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The ability to understand social and ethical norms for behavior and to recognize family, school, and community resources and support systems.
Perspective-taking
Empathy
Appreciating diversity
Respect for others
Relationship skills
The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed.
Communication
Social engagement
Relationship-building
Teamwork
Collaboration
Responsible decision-making
The ability to make constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on ethical standards, safety concerns, and social norms. The realistic evaluation of consequences of various actions, and a consideration of the well-being of oneself and others. How is the content being taught applied in a student’s life and in society?
Identifying problems
Analyzing situations
Solving problems
Evaluating & Reflecting
Ethical responsibility
On the surface, when people see these skills for the first time, it is often eye-opening to learn these skills are fundamentally what SEL is meant to expose and teach to students. Not many parents have a problem with such a skills list when they see it, and tend to insist they, of course, want their children to be strong with each skill, because these are skills necessary to navigate and thrive in life.
I am at the point where I think we need to re-brand SEL. In fact, I’d like to rename it. We have the letters in the wrong order - let us change SEL to ELS, and call SEL what it really is and should mean: Essential Life Skills. As part of the brand, it helps to have a mascot and visual, so I’m thinking of EELS: Everyday Essential Life Skills.
When students have exposure to and practice with applying these types of skills in everyday situations both in and out of the classroom, the benefits are impressive - and long-lived into adulthood. Studies over the last few decades have shown the following:
Improve academic growth and achievement; on average, 11% improvement for students who went through these types of programs;
Significantly improves a variety of student outcomes: societal skills, academics, social behavior, ability to handle emotional stresses, attitudes towards school and everyday life, fewer behavioral and conduct problems in school;
Improvements in a variety of student outcomes last long-term (some measured to 18 years after the EELS exposure in school);
EELS programming and exposure beginning in Kindergarten and lasting through the schooling years of development last a lifetime - those individuals are more likely to stay out of poverty, stay away from drug and alcohol addiction, have better mental and social health, stay out of prison, and get and hold higher paying jobs;
EELS expenses in school are paid for, and then some, after students leave the school system: there is a 11:1 payoff to the economy for those who came through successful EELS programming and exposure in the school systems - for every $1 invested in EELS, society gains $11 in returns;
EELS in schools is a key component to reducing poverty and improving economic mobility;
Perception among education system stakeholders overwhelmingly feel there is a need for EELS in schools: students, parents, teachers, administrators, scientists, and employers;
EELS are not all intuitive, but need to be taught and learned; many of the skills are based on societal norms, and need to be taught to our youngest students and continued to be presented year after year for reinforcement as societal stresses increase with age. It would be wise to consider including EELS in all teacher training programs, along with the benefits of including them in the classroom;
Most employers (70%) see Emotional Intelligence (EI) as an immediate, essential skill set for their employees: in an age where jobs are significantly and routinely changing or being eliminated due to technology and artificial intelligence, workers are under more and new stresses that have never been experienced in human history, and many are not able to cope and adapt mentally, emotionally or socially.
Students who are able to maintain control over emotions are more likely to stay out of trouble, be non-violent, and find calmer ways of resolving issues with other students. They can focus better in class. They can work better and more productively with classmates, because collaborative and teamwork skills are part of the EELS. Learning about these and getting real experience and practice with skills don’t suddenly abandon a person upon graduation - they tend to remain over one’s lifetime. This is why people strong in EELS tend to be happier, healthier, and more productive citizens for life - and they tend to earn more and stay out of trouble compared to those who grew up with little or no real exposure and practice with EELS.
One feature I like about this addresses my original exposure to SEL, which was in the name of school safety. Schools and communities where students are strong and competent in EELS tend to be safer, and kids tend to learn more.
EELS are a MUST IN SCHOOLS, AND FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND AND MASTER! Especially in the AI world they are inheriting.
Let EELS be your Class Mascot!
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