Social and Emotional Learning: A Critical Reflection

Abstract

My purpose here is to offer some of my thoughts on the current field of social-emotional learning (SEL). I am coming from the perspective that schools are places where children develop the skills to create fulfilling academic/work lives and successful social relationships; schools should help to: (i) provide young people with the skills to achieve personal happiness and well-being throughout their lives; and (ii) educate their pupils about managing difficult times with confidence. Key to that success is the development of emotion understanding, and schools are seen to be important drivers in that learning process. But how do schools best teach such skills? Currently, the most popular mode is through the use of developed curricula that have been designed to teach different elements of emotion understanding. But how do those programmes map on to the current academic evidence of what emotion understanding is?