Social and Emotional Learning - Essay Example

?Social and Emotional Learning The acquisition of basic life skills goes beyond ordinary academic learning. Even when the process would be done in the school with the school as the primary agent for acquiring basic life skills, there are other aspects of the school’s curriculum that should cater for imparting basic life skills. This is what is commonly referred to as social emotional learning in schools. Roberts (2009, p. 12) observes that “social and emotional learning (SEL) is seen as the process through which children and adults acquire the knowledge, attitudes and skills.” This indeed shows that social and emotional learning indeed goes beyond ordinary academic learning. Social emotional learning in schools is best achieved when they are programmed. That is to say that the social emotional learning should be institutionalized to have a core and recognized place in the curriculum of the school. The process of coding the social emotional learning needs of students into the school’s curriculum is referred to as social emotional learning programming; and the specific activities that fall under the social emotional learning programming are known as social emotional learning programs. Roberts (2009) identifies some social emotional learning programs that could commonly be used in out schools and that are equally replicable in this particular school. But even before spelling out the specific social and emotional learning programs that can be implemented in schools, she cautions each of the programs should be able to “”provide some compensation, often working with parents and the local community” and that this should indeed be the sole basis for judging the viability of any named social and emotional learning program (p. 17). Based on the criteria given above, the following forms of social and emotional learning programs are identified and briefly outlined on how they function in the school system. The programs include citizenship education, Early Training Project, Penn Resiliency Programme (PRP), personal social and health education (PSHE), Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL), the Carolina Abecedarian Project, and the Milwaukee Projects (p. 17-25). These social and emotional learning programs are used in different parts of the world; particularly in the United States of America and in the United Kingdom. Depending on where these programs are found, they are implemented in different forms. In the cases of the Early Training Project, the Carolina Abecedarian Project and the Milwaukee Projects, a lot of the attention and focus is on children from poor socio-economic families. Indeed, these forms of social and emotional learning programs cannot be underestimated in anyway because given any realistic international schools system; there is the likelihood that not all the children would be of equal socio-economic standing. Indeed, it is true to admit that in most cases, students from low-class socio-economic homes form the majority in most schools and thus adapting these programs for any model schools would be a step in the right direction. Research conducted on the viability and validity of the three programs namely the Early Training Project, the Carolina Abecedarian Project and the Milwaukee Projects found that even though the programs did not play significant roles in improving the intelligent quotients of the students involved, the students benefited greatly in terms of school and college attainment, social skills and behaviour. (p. 17). This is indeed an achievement that cannot be underestimated in any way. This is because the research further stated that coupled with motivation, the social and emotional learning programs did so well in ‘reducing the impact on crime and improve health and employment prospects” (p. 17). Other forms of social and emotional learning programs are equally viable. These are the personal social and health education (PSHE) and citizenship education. These two programs are common in England. These two programs are implemented in such a way that all schools incorporate the programs into their curriculum. This way, the core aspects of social and emotional learning are taught as incorporated topics in the school’s subjects. The skills and values of social and emotional learning that are spread throughout personal social and health education (PSHE) and citizenship education subjects include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making and relationship skills. This approach therefore focuses on the need to use the social and emotional skills to help in improving the academic wellbeing of students as well. This is because as the skills and values are part of the subjects, students are indirectly examined on the social and emotional learning when they take examinations in these subjects. The approach described above is a very useful one. This is because it helps in ensuring that no student escapes the learning of social and emotional values. It also helps in ensuring that the pace of adapting to the skills and values behind the social and emotional learning are well monitored, regulated and evaluated. Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) as a social and emotional learning program takes a voluntary form. In England, this program is taken up by 60% of students in primary education and 15% of students in secondary education (p. 18). The main this program sets out a “framework and guidance to develop pupils’ social and emotional skills within each school’s particular circumstances” (p. 18). Just as the programs outline above have their personal skills and values that they develop, the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) also have their skills and these are self awareness; managing feelings; motivation; empathy and social skills. Due to the enormous importance of social and emotional learning programs, there have been several researches undertaken in this regard. One of the most outstanding of these researches is that, which was led by Goleman, which is on emotional intelligence. Research on emotional intelligence has highlighted the need and importance of social and emotional learning programs. This is because emotional intelligence is embedded in social and emotional learning and it has been found to be an important catalyst for accompanying any level of intellectual quotient possessed by a graduate to ensuring that the fellow becomes highly marketable in the job market. It is not for nothing, that Goleman argues that in the absence of emotional intelligence, a lot of graduates would not serve as strong forces in the labor market. In a research that was further advanced by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer (1990), it was established that "the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions" (Cheery, 2012). This speaks more on the need for all schools to adapt to one form of social and emotional learning program or the other. There applies certain major theories in Roberts (2009) that helps in making the implementation of social and emotional learning programs easier. These theories include socialization, brainology and social learning theory. Brainlogy for instance outlines the possibility of implementing all forms of social and emotional learning programs when Dweck explains that the brain is structured in such a way that “anything is possible – all the time” (p. 25). Building on this, school administrators should be encouraged to take up social and emotional learning programs with a positive attitude that the programs will succeed and work best according to plans. The social learning theory also gives a model on how the implementation could be done. This is because the theory posits that as far as social and emotional concepts are concerned, there could be methodologies that includes “observing and modelling the behaviour and attitudes of others, and of providing situations that allow learners to use or practice that behavior” (p. 39). With such methodology, it should be easy to start implementing any of the forms of social and emotional learning programs discussed in this presentation. REFERENCE LIST Roberts, Yvonne. The Skill for success and how they are grown. 2009. Web. April 12, 2012 Cherry, Kendra. Emotional Intelligence. 2012. Web. April 13, 2012 Read More