Social and Emotional Learning: Role of School Psychologists in Australia

Abstract

The important role of social and emotional learning skills (SELs) in student learning and well-being has been well documented. In Australia, it is the case that, due in part to Australian SEL-oriented, mental health research as well as international scholarship in SEL, both the fields of psychology and education now accept that the development of social and emotional skills of young people is central to their mental health and school achievement. It is now generally accepted that the responsibility for social and emotional education is not as it has historically been the case a home responsibility, but rather one of school–home/community collaboration. In schools today, with the advent of Australia’s new national curriculum, the personal and social up-skilling of young people has been taken out of the exclusive province of health and physical education and moved into the mainstream responsibilities of all teachers. In this chapter, we review the history of SEL and the role of psychologists in Australia, some background on social and emotional learning in schools, examples of its implementation in Tier 1 (i.e., preventive or universal interventions directed at entire populations without regard for risk status) with a focus on Australian examples, and then look at three areas in the social and emotional field with a potential for strong growth and influence by Australian school psychologists: Tier 2 interventions (i.e., those targeting students who possess risk factors or who are exhibiting early signs of difficulty), assessment, and work with parents.