What is Social and Emotional Learning?
Social and emotional learning education is broad in scope. According to The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2019), social and emotional learning includes the following competencies: self -awareness, self- management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. The goal is to help our students become knowledgeable, responsible, and caring. Elias, Zins, Weissberg, Frey, Greenberg, Haynes, Kessler, Schwab-Stone, and Shriver (1997), explain that, ”Social and emotional competence is the ability to understand, manage, and express the social and emotional aspects of one’s life in ways that enable the successful management of life tasks such as learning, forming relationships, solving everyday problems, and adapting to the complex demands of growth and development” (p.2). Essentially, social and emotional learning is important for life. According to Elias, Ferrito, & Moceri (2016), “SEL refers to a set of skills that are important elements of everyday life and are present and relevant from infancy to old age: recognizing and managing emotions, developing empathy and concern for others, establishing effective relationships in one-on-one and group contexts, making responsible and ethical decisions, and handling challenging situations constructively” (p.4).
When considering the emotional skills component of SEL, understanding the concept of emotional intelligence is essential. Emotional Intelligence refers to skills “which include self-control, zeal and persistence, and the ability to motivate oneself” (Goleman, p.xxii). The Five Factors associated with emotional intelligence as: Self Awareness, Managing emotions, Self motivation, Recognizing the emotions of others- Empathy, and Handling relationships (Goleman, 2006). To further explain, Goleman (2006), states that emotional intelligence includes, “abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping one’s ability to think; to empathize and hope” (p. 34). There are two types of intelligence, rational and emotional, and, according to Goleman (2006), “intellect cannot work at its best without emotional intelligence” (p.28). Academic performance can be enhanced or inhibited by the state of one’s emotions, therefore, it is essential that skills that enhance a student’s emotional well-being are integrated into learning.
Social Intelligence is well researched and is clearly explained. The social intelligence model emerged from research in the field of emotional intelligence. According to Daniel Goleman (2006), “The ingredients of social intelligence…can be organized into two broad categories: social awareness, what we sense about others- and social facility, what we do with that awareness” (p.84). Social awareness includes primal empathy, attunement, empathic accuracy, and social cognition. Social facility includes: synchrony (interacting smoothly at the nonverbal level), self-presentation, influence, and concern (Goleman, 2006). People are “wired” for social interactions. In the educational setting, students are situated in social settings in which social awareness and social facility skills can be advantageous. Goleman (2006) states that, “Neuroscience has discovered that our brain’s very design makes it sociable, inexorably drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we engage with another person” (p.4). It is further explained that, “Mother-infant synchrony operates from a child’s first day of life; the more synchrony, the warmer and happier their overall interactions” (Goleman, 2006, p.166). This foundational research clearly identifies the skills associated with social intelligence that are important for healthy relationships in all aspects of life.