Elly Setterfield is a teacher trainer and Young Learner ELT specialist, with over 14 years’ experience of working with children and teenagers within the ELT industry. She has taught and trained teachers across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. She is currently particularly interested in how to develop happier, healthier teachers of English. She blogs at https://thebestticher.wordpress.com/ 

 

Introduction

Emotional wellbeing, social competence, and academic success: in the perfect classroom we’d help our students achieve all of these things. It’s not unreasonable to want this for ourselves too: greater emotional intelligence, better relationships (both in and outside of the classroom) and more resilience when dealing with challenging situations, all in turn leading to better teaching. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) isn’t just for children, or indeed for the classroom, it’s a lifelong journey that can have a profound impact on both our personal and professional lives. 

So what do we mean when we say SEL, and how can it help us reach our full potential for growth and wellbeing? The best-known definition (from CASEL, the Collaborate for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning) describes it as ‘an integral part of education and human development’, which focuses on how we understand ourselves and our emotions, how we get on with other people, and how we function in society. 

 

Social and Emotional Learning: the five competencies

Most of us don’t remember ever consciously learning (or being taught) these qualities – so how do we quantify them and turn an abstract concept into skills we can actually teach? CASEL references five key competencies that they believe form a part of SEL: 

• Self awareness is how we think about ourselves and who we are. This includes understanding our culture, our thoughts, our feelings, and what we believe about ourselves and what we are capable of achieving. It’s similar to emotional literacy, understanding ourselves and then also understanding how these things can affect our behaviour. 

• Self management is having the ability to manage thoughts and emotions in different situations, particularly challenging ones! It’s how we manage stress and deal with difficult emotions, as well as how we achieve goals or work towards change. 

• Social awareness is how we understand other people. Being able to see things from someone else’s point of view and being able to empathise with someone even if they’re different to us. It’s also being aware of the broader culture that we live in, what the norms and values are, and feeling part of a community. 

• Relationship skills are how we connect with those around us, and form relationships. This includes things like communicating effectively, managing disagreements, and standing up for ourselves and the rights of others. 

• Responsible decision-making is how all of these things come together to help us make good decisions. This includes critical thinking, understanding how our actions affect ourselves and others, and using skills like problem solving to help us make decisions that will have a positive impact. 

 

Why is it important for teachers?

SEL doesn’t describe knowledge that we acquire once and then never need to think about again, it’s a set of skills that we continue to develop and practice. It’s understandable that teachers are concerned about the prospect of yet another thing to add to an already long to-do list. However, SEL has the capacity to make you a better teacher, reduce your stress, and contribute positively to student-teacher relationships. 

We all know that it can be a challenge to leave difficult situations in the classroom at the end of the day. Exact numbers vary, but research has shown that many teachers experience a high level of daily stress. This has the potential to affect their health, sleep, quality of life, and their teaching. This has a knock-on effect, when teachers are highly stressed, their students show lower levels of both social adjustment and academic performance. (Abenavoli, Brown and Greenberg, 2017). 

If we’re required to teach SEL skills to our students (or choose to do so of our own accord) there are also motivations to develop our own skills. In one research study teachers who developed their own SEL skills improved both their own mental health and the SEL skills of their students, while teachers instructed to teach SEL who did not develop their own skills made their students’ SEL skills worse. (Brackett et al., 2012) We also know that children learn SEL skills better when their teachers can effectively model those skills. (Berman, Chaffee and Sarmiento, 2018)

Teaching aside, there are also substantial benefits for our own wellbeing - adults who recognise, understand, label, and regulate their own emotions are less likely to report burnout, demonstrate higher levels of patience and empathy, and are more able to encourage healthy communication. 

 

How can teachers develop their SEL skills?

Learning about social and emotional learning (even simply from the perspective of how these skills apply to your students) can provide a valuable starting point for integrating these skills in your personal and professional life. There’s also a wide variety of tools and strategies teachers can use, the ideas listed here are just the beginning! 

 

Developing Self-Awareness

• Start a habit of recognising and labelling your own emotions. For example, take a moment to notice how you feel at the beginning of a lesson, or at the end. It can also be helpful to notice any impact you think your emotions may have on your actions. 

• ‘Think out loud’ when you’re using SEL skills. This helps your students see that you’re still learning and practising these skills too. For example, model being curious, open and respectful of other cultures, while noticing how your own culture is different. 

• Try a new activity in class – then ask your students for feedback: ‘I tried something new today. What did you think? Should we do it again?’

• Demonstrate a growth mindset by describing how you’ve overcome a challenge or achieved a goal.

• Remember that we’re all human! It’s ok to have a lesson that goes badly, or wish you’d responded to a situation differently.  

 

Developing Self-Management

• Self-care is a vital tool in helping us be in control of our emotions. It won’t make difficult situations magically go away, but it will help you be better equipped to deal with them. With that in mind, look after yourself, eat well, get some exercise, spend time with friends, and try to get enough sleep. 

• Use stress management strategies. Whether it’s journaling, going to the gym, or talking to a teaching (or non-teaching) friend, find a method that works for you and use it. 

• Set goals for yourself and your teaching. What’s a new activity you could try?

• It’s far, far easier said than done, but try to approach new or unexpected situations as learning opportunities. A challenging class could be an opportunity for you to learn and grow as a teacher. 

 

Developing Social Awareness

• Your students learn SEL skills best when they see them put into practice. Model appreciation and acceptance of other people’s beliefs and cultural differences. 

• Consider your students’ perspectives on decisions you make. Where appropriate, take their opinions and perspectives into account, for example, by letting them choose particular activities or topics of interest. 

 

Developing Relationship Skills

• Get to know your students, and within appropriate boundaries let them get to know you. Consider sharing some information about your life, such as a favourite book, film or hobby.  

• Your students will see relationship skills in practice in your relationships with them. Model fairness, respect, and appreciation for others in your classroom.

• Notice how and when you are offering praise and constructive criticism in your classroom. Do you need to adjust the balance? 

 

Developing Responsible Decision Making

• Consider how you solve problems, for example gathering all the relevant information before drawing a conclusion, or thinking of different solutions to the problem before deciding on the best one. Model some of these for your students. 

• Incorporate your students’ feedback and perspectives when making decisions, and help them develop their own autonomy by giving them opportunities to make choices themselves. 

Teachers juggle lots of different responsibilities, and amongst all the other demands on our time it’s easy to neglect ourselves and our own growth and development. However, it’s important to recognise that we already have social and emotional skills – and we can develop and improve them by incorporating simple practices. Prioritising our own Social and Emotional Learning means that we can foster a supportive and healthy work environment, a positive and inclusive classroom, and become better versions of ourselves, and that includes being a more fulfilled, emotionally balanced teacher!  

 

References

Berman S with Chaffee S & Sarmiento J. 2018. The Practice Base For How We Learn Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. [Online]. [9 February 2024]. Available from: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CDE-Practice-Base_FINAL.pdf

Brackett, M. A., Reyes, M. R., Rivers, S. E., Elbertson, N. A., & Salovey, P. (2012). Assessing teachers’ beliefs about social and emotional learning. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 30(3), 219–236.

Greenberg MT, Brown JL, Abenavoli RM. 2016. Teacher Stress and Health. [Online]. [9 February 2024]. Available from: https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/our-research/2016/07/teacher-stress-and-health.html

 

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