Abstract
Social-emotional skills are essential for navigating the rapidly evolving world, especially for students who will become the makers and doers of tomorrow. The literature suggests that a technology-driven shift in needs is fueling a skills gap within a workforce needing social-emotional competencies. These shifts have grown the need for students to develop their social-emotional skills for professional and personal success. Experts suggest infusing social and emotional learning (SEL) in career and technical education (CTE) to address this. This study documents and explores a strategy for explicit SEL in CTE at Clark County School District in Nevada, USA during the 2019-2020 school year. Usage and student answers suggest promising value of SEL in CTE for student learning, but a need to better support teacher adoption. Findings from this study contribute preliminary guidance on program development and implementation upon which future educators and researchers can build.
TopLiterature Review
SEL is the development and practice of cognitive, emotional, and social competencies that promote productive mindsets and habits for setting and navigating goals, building and managing relationships, regulating behavior, and interpreting experiences (Harvard Graduate School of Education, n.d.). SEL has many documented benefits such as improved academic performance and well-being (Durlak et al., 2011; Taylor et al., 2017), and the initiative to infuse SEL in education has gained momentum as 50 states adopted SEL standards from 2015 to 2019 (Dusenbury et al., 2018). In today’s fast-paced, high-tech society, these skills are increasingly valued by employers and becoming more important to learn for professional success and personal well-being, warranting the need to comprehensively integrate them in education (Committee for Children, 2016; Deming, 2017; Lippman et al., 2015; Yoder et al., 2020).
Skills for the 21st Century
Technological innovations have automated more rudimentary tasks, consequently, increasing demand for non-technical skills in project and people management (World Economic Forum, 2020). Ultimately, the current workforce needs a combination of both technical and social-emotional skills (Autor et al., 2003; Casner-Lotto & Barrington, 2006; Deming, 2017; Johnson & Wiener, 2017; Pew Research Center, 2016; Yoder et al., 2020). This trend will continue in the future, with social-emotional competencies becoming increasingly important in the workforce (Deming, 2017; Manyika et al., 2017; Rainie & Anderson, 2017). The World Economic Forum (2020) found that 13 out of the top 15 skills projected for the year 2025 were part of a broader social and emotional competency (see Table 1).
Table 1. Top 15 Skills for 2025 and Related Social and Emotional Competencies
| # | Skill | Social-Emotional Competency |
| 1 | Analytical thinking and innovation | Global Awareness |
| 2 | Active learning and learning strategies | Self-Management |
| 3 | Complex problem-solving | Ethical Decision Making |
| 4 | Critical thinking and analysis | Global Awareness |
| 5 | Creativity, originality, and initiative | Self-Management |
| 6 | Leadership and social influence | Relationship Skills |
| 7 | Technology use, monitoring and control | N/A |
| 8 | Technology design and programming | N/A |
| 9 | Resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility | Self-Management |
| 10 | Reasoning, problem-solving, and ideation | Ethical Decision Making |
| 11 | Emotional intelligence | All Sections |
| 12 | Troubleshooting and user experience | Relationship Skills |
| 13 | Service orientation | Relationship Skills |
| 14 | Systems analysis and evaluation | Global Awareness |
| 15 | Persuasion and negotiation | Relationship Skills |
Note. Social-emotional competencies are based on IMAGO’s framework for social and emotional intelligence.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Emotional Intelligence (EI): As defined by Peter Salovey, John Mayer, and others, one’s ability to understand oneself and others in order to think, behave, and navigate one’s surroundings in ways that are contextually appropriate.
Self-Control: The ability to control oneself, in particular, one’s emotions, desires, or behaviors resulting from them, especially in difficult situations.
Accountability: The fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility.
Facilitator Guides: Documents accompanying each Mindsets lesson that identify the lesson objectives, and include think-ahead questions, discussion questions, activities, and additional resources to help teachers explain the topics.
College and Career Readiness (CCR): Ensures students graduate from high school prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary opportunities—whether college or career—without need for remediation. To be college and career ready, students must graduate with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to succeed.
Career Technical Education (CTE): Programs involve a multiyear sequence of courses that integrate core academic subjects with career-specific technical and occupational knowledge.
Adaptability: The quality of being able to adjust to new conditions.
Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): The process of acquiring knowledge and developing self-awareness, social awareness, global awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and ethical decision-making.