SEL Education is the Foundation

Can you hear that? It’s the rat-a-tat-tat beat of the drum that education in America is not working, or at least not working for many students. We hear it play out on the news, we hear it from the teachers themselves and we see it from students as far too many have said the education system they attend let them down. We talk about it as parents on the playground, and most of the time, hands are thrown in the air saying the problem is too big or the solution isn’t big enough. 

It seems like an Everest to climb. The truth is there are many reasons that it may not work well or needs restructuring both for students and teachers. However, there is one reason that, based on research both neurological and academic, is an Everest that the education system needs to recognize to truly change the educational system to benefit all students and the teachers who serve them. Once we climb this Everest and flip to this new model with SEL education, the trickle-down effect of the smaller issues will improve. That Everest involves flipping the idea that academics should come before social-emotional learning. 

SEL Education Should Not Be Sprinkled In

It has long been a belief that academics are the main drive in education, and social-emotional learning is sprinkled in to help students deal with some feelings and aid with behavior issues. This model and our blind adherence to it is at the heart of the American education system’s problems.

Three big areas show this to be true. To be completely honest, there are many more than three, but these three shine a light on how putting social-emotional development before academics not only helps students and is in alignment with their natural human development, it actually makes a difference in academic performance. Students who are in classrooms where social-emotional learning is a priority increase their academic achievement by an average of 11 percentile points (Durlak et al., 2011).

Neurological Development Guides SEL Education

A child’s developing brain architecture should be the driving force behind creating educational learning environments and policies. In the early years, human brain development is driven by social-emotional learning and creating a good foundation for building relationships, trust, emotional resilience, and emotional regulation skills. If children do not get adequate exposure to social-emotional skill-building experiences during the formative years, the brain architecture lacks a skill base needed not only to learn and thrive in their academics, but learn and thrive as an adult. One’s social-emotional learning experiences developed in preschool and kindergarten years has a direct impact on their 

Brain science also tells us that we function as emotional beings first. Our ability to process information and synthesize it with what we know is based on our emotional reaction to the situation or information presented. Nothing gets by our brains without forming a feeling or opinion that links to us emotionally. In fact, our emotional response will dictate to our prefrontal cortex how much we can process, learn and focus. Therefore, teaching students how to manage their emotions and navigate the social systems of emotions and relationships directly impacts their ability to learn anything. 

Self-Awareness and Stress

Self-awareness is the key to change. Without self-awareness or the willingness to be open to looking at ourselves, we lack a basic understanding of how to achieve, learn, grow and connect. Lack of self-awareness also causes us to be unhappy, unfocused and disconnected from others. 

Mindful self-awareness is a crucial first step in effective self-concept and relationship skills because it lays the foundation upon which the other social-emotions pillars are built. Students can’t develop skills like self-control, empathy, effective communication, positive self-concept, respect, gratitude unless we come from a place of emotional self-awareness. Mindful self-awareness allows us to be present in recognizing our thoughts, feelings and actions. It gives students necessary information about themselves and the effectiveness of their interactions so that they can monitor their emotions and manage or modify their behaviors.

Stress is an emotional response. One that is at epic proportions for students today and chronic stress conditions in children can cause neurological damage that will affect not only the child but also society. Stress in and of itself, to some degree, is a natural and present part of our lives. It is not the stress as much as the response to stress that matters the most. Giving students an opportunity to understand how stress affects them while allowing genuine opportunities to develop resiliency skills is necessary to have a comprehensive school curriculum.  

In our modern society today, trauma will impact almost half the children in the United States, according to The National Survey of Children's Health. A.C.E.S or adverse childhood experiences are a real and present impact on our school systems. Helping students work through and overcome adverse childhood experiences is necessary to connect with their learning. While trauma-informed teaching practices have become more normalized and widely accepted, the system of education itself still tells students that it is academics before the emotional healing from trauma. 

Economical and Social Impact of Ignoring SEL Education

The economic and societal impact of an education system that does not support the social-emotional impacts that children face today can be devastating. Research shows that students who receive SEL training are 42% less likely to be involved in physical aggression in schools. Aggression in adulthood can lead to life-changing incarceration or abuse. The Seattle Social Development Project found that social and emotional learning in school affected students into young adulthood, including decreased mental health costs and reduced substance abuse and crime rates. 

SEL education is not an add-on feature for schools. It is the foundation upon which to build an education. It’s time we flipped the model to make developmental SEL skills the priority in a child’s education.