What do resilience and conflict resolution have in common? They're both important aspects of social-emotional learning that open the doorway to success in school!
What do resilience and conflict resolution have in common? They're both important aspects of social-emotional learning that open the doorway to success in school! Social and emotional learning (SEL), as described by Maurice Elias, a psychology professor at Rutgers University and director of the university's Social-Emotional Learning Lab, is the process through which students learn to manage emotions, make good decisions, develop good relationships and avoid negative behaviors. Researchers have been studying the ways students benefit from SEL and how the development of critical life skills impacts their personal development and academic performance.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is a driving force behind promoting SEL in educational settings. Its mission is "to establish social and emotional learning as an essential part of education." CASEL completed a meta-analysis of 270 SEL programs, which established that SEL has a positive effect on students' academic performance.
The analysis found that SEL:
- helps to improve attendance, students' attitudes toward school, students' grades and performances on standardized testing and
- decreases negative behaviors that interfere with learning, such as student violence and substance abuse.
Teaching students the skills to identify and manage their emotions, make good decisions, bounce back from challenges and peacefully resolve conflicts gives them the tools to succeed in school and in life.
