2
COMPONENT
Social & emotional learning (SEL) for students
Acknowledgement of Country
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians
of this land and pay my respects to Elders past,
present and future, for they hold the memories, the
traditions, the culture and hopes of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Australians.
2
COMPONENT
Professional learning goals
■ To better understand the KidsMatter
Primary framework and the relevance of
social and emotional learning in a school.
■ To understand the skills students need to
develop social and emotional competence.
■ To provide information about how social
and emotional competence can be taught.
■ To understand the factors that can
support social and emotional learning
programming in your school.
What is KidsMatter Primary?
 A national whole-school approach to mental
health and wellbeing that aims to contribute to:
KidsMatter Primary professional learning
Increase awareness and
understanding of each
of the four components
Encourage ALL staff to have
a voice in contributing to
planning for each component
The KidsMatter Primary framework
The guiding principles
 The best interests of children are paramount.
 Respectful relationships are foundational.
 Diversity is respected and valued.
 Parents and carers are recognised as the
most important people in children’s lives.
 Parents and teachers support children
best by working together.
 Students need to be active participants.
 Schools, health and community agencies
work together with families.
The four components of KidsMatter Primary
KidsMatter model for mental health promotion,
prevention and early intervention (PPEI) in schools
Whole-school
community, staff,
students, parents
and carers, health
and community agencies
All students (and their
parents and carers)
Students experiencing
mental health
difficulties (20-30% of students) and the 3-12%
of students with mental
health disorders, and
their parents and carers
Adapted from World Health Organization (1994)
Works with the whole
community and provides
support and information to
staff, parents and carers
Through the curriculum,
creates opportunities
to practise skills and
engages parents
and carers
Supports children in
school and develops clear
processes and referral
pathways (by working
with parents and carers
and health and
community agencies)
Risk and protective factors
for children’s mental health
 Risk factors – increase the chances of children
developing mental health difficulties (for example,
childhood adversities).
 Protective factors – are associated with good
outcomes for children and can protect them in
circumstances where they are exposed to risk.
Risk and protective factors
for children’s mental health
(adapted from Commonwealth Dept of Health and Aged Care, 2000 and Spence, 1996)
Activity
An outline of what’s to come
Session 1:
Social and emotional learning (SEL)
for all students – what it means and
why it is important
Session 2:
Teaching social and emotional learning
(SEL) in the classroom
Session 3:
Implementing social and emotional
learning (SEL) throughout your school
2
COMPONENT
Session 1
Social and emotional learning for all students
– What it means and why it is important
What is social and emotional learning (SEL)?
“Social and emotional learning is the
process of developing the fundamental
skills for life effectiveness.
These skills include recognizing and
managing our emotions, developing
caring and concern for others,
establishing positive relationships,
making responsible decisions,
and handling challenging situations
constructively and ethically.”
Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2006)
How social and emotional learning
supports positive outcomes for students
CASEL (2009)
The importance of social
and emotional competence
Social and emotional learning:
 promotes positive mental health and is
a protective factor for mental health difficulties
 is relevant to:
– children’s academic learning
– classroom management
 is of growing interest internationally
and nationally.
Relevance of social and
emotional learning to schools
 Social and emotional competence is linked to:
– improved academic motivation and achievement
– better engagement with learning
– increased pro-social behaviour
– reductions in problem behaviour
– greater job satisfaction for staff
– long-term success.
 Social and emotional learning is consistent with
education policy and curriculum objectives.
How social and emotional learning
links to educational policy and curriculum
 National policies include:
—
Values Education
—
Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals
for Young Australians
—
National Safe Schools Framework
 States and territories have their own policies and
links to curriculum.
Influences on social
and emotional competence
Activity
Influences on social
and emotional competence
 For each of the five influences below,
think of:
– two factors that promote social and emotional competence
– two factors that hinder social and emotional competence.
Individual
Peers
Family
Community
School
Development of social
and emotional competence
 Like other forms of learning, social
and emotional development is dynamic.
 It is created through relationships with others.
 Successful social and emotional development
depends on both:
– individual factors
– context and environmental factors.
Activity
Enhancing social
and emotional competence
 Read through the scenarios provided.
 Brainstorm skills you could teach
children to help with social and
emotional competence.
Reflection
Before the next session…
 Think about the social and emotional
competence of your students.
 What do you notice about students
who might have more or fewer social
and emotional skills?
 What strategies do you use to support
children’s social and emotional
competence at your school?
Summary
 Teaching social and emotional skills is part
of school core business.
 Social and emotional competence
can be taught and learned.
 Schools that teach it effectively can have a
significant positive impact on their students’
social and emotional competence.
 Social and emotional competence
is a dynamic process of learning.
2
COMPONENT
Session 2
Teaching social and emotional
learning (SEL) in the classroom
Key messages from last session
 Teaching social and emotional skills is part
of school core business.
 Social and emotional competence
can be taught and learned.
 Schools that teach it effectively can have a
significant positive impact on their students’
social and emotional competence.
 Social and emotional competence
is a dynamic process of learning.
Program overload?
There are many social and emotional
programs that target:
 resilience
 self-esteem
 drug education
 social skills
 bullying
 restorative practices…
Development of social
and emotional skills
 KidsMatter Primary aims to guide schools
on what a social and emotional curriculum
might look like.
 How do we decide what to teach?
– Treat social and emotional learning like literacy
and numeracy.
– Make sure we cover all the skills needed.
– Social and emotional skills should be used
in all aspects of learning so they can be
transferred to real life situations.
Discussion
Think about a socially and
emotionally competent student…
How would you describe them?
What skills do they have?
Manages anger
Happy
Confident
Friendly
Can stand up
for themselves
Can resist
peer pressure
Has friends
Helpful
Positive thinking
Resilient
Social and emotional competencies
CASEL (2006)
Self-awareness
 Identifying emotions – identifying
and labelling one’s feelings.
 Recognising strengths – identifying
and cultivating personal strengths and
positive qualities.
Self-management
 Managing emotions – monitoring and
regulating feelings so they aid rather than
impede the handling of situations.
 Goal setting – establishing and working
toward the achievement of short and
long-term pro-social goals.
Social awareness
 Perspective-taking – identifying
and understanding the thoughts
and feelings of others.
 Appreciating diversity – understanding
that individual and group differences
complement each other and make
the world more interesting.
Relationship skills
 Communication – using verbal and nonverbal
skills to express oneself and promote positive
exchanges with others.
 Building relationships – establishing and
maintaining healthy and rewarding connections
with individuals and groups.
 Negotiation – achieving mutually satisfactory
resolutions to conflict by addressing the needs
of all concerned.
 Refusal – effectively conveying and followingthrough with one's decision not to engage in
unwanted or unsafe conduct.
Responsible decision-making
 Analysing situations – accurately perceiving
situations in which a decision is to be made
and assessing what factors might influence
one's response.
 Assuming personal responsibility – recognising
and understanding one's obligation to engage
in ethical, safe, and legal behaviour.
 Respecting others – believing that others
deserve to be treated with kindness and
compassion.
 Problem solving – generating, implementing,
and evaluating informed solutions to problems.
Activity
Micro-skill sort
 Move into groups of five.
 Distribute the cards
among the group.
 Sort the skills according to
the five core competencies.
Teaching social and
emotional learning effectively
 Programs should be of long duration
and high intensity.
 Just like other areas of learning, teach
it proactively rather than reactively.
 Infusing the academic curriculum with
key concepts is effective and beneficial.
Teaching social and emotional learning
emotional learning effectively
What does an effective social and
emotional learning lesson look like?
 It focuses on teaching the micro-skills
for each core competency:
– for example, self-awareness: in teaching
the composite skill of identifying emotions,
the micro-skills we would need to teach include:
o
recognising one’s own body signals
o
differentiating the strength of intensity
of emotions
o
labelling emotions accurately - have
an age-appropriate feelings vocabulary.
 It provides a depth of instruction that promotes
student mastery of the five core competencies.
Provision of information
Explicit
Providing
information
about the
relevance
and importance
of the skill.
◔
 Brainstorm and compile a poster
of different feelings.
 Identify which are pleasant
and unpleasant.
 Discuss how feelings can
vary in intensity.
 Discuss the body signals
of different feelings.
 Discuss why feelings
are important.
Guided skill practice
Practice and
feedback
Providing
opportunities
to practise the
skill in the lesson
with feed back
to guide learning.
◑
 Feelings charades:
– Each child acts out an emotion.
– Audience mirrors the actions
and expressions.
– Audience guesses the emotion.
– Feedback from teacher to support
student learning.
 Feelings meter:
– Common scenarios are read,
class indicates on a scale (1-5)
the intensity/strength of the emotion.
Personalised skill application
Application
Providing
opportunities
to generalise the
skill beyond the
classroom to
‘real life’ situations.
●
 Feelings Record
take home task:
– “I felt … in my … when …”
– Draw about it.
 Refer to a Feelings
Vocabulary Poster.
 Class Stories:
– children identify the emotions
of characters; explain the cues
they noticed, and what other
words could also be used to
describe the feeling.
Summary
 School staff play an important role
in the development of children’s
social and emotional competencies.
 There are five core social and
emotional competencies (CASEL).
2
COMPONENT
Session 3
Implementing social and emotional
learning (SEL) throughout your school
Key messages from last session
 School staff play an important role
in the development of children’s
social and emotional competencies.
 There are five core social and
emotional competencies (CASEL).
Effective social and emotional
learning implementation
Providing social and emotional learning
instruction to all students is most effective
when it is delivered:
 formally
 regularly
 in a coordinated
and supported way.
Deciding on a program for your school
 Consider reviewing the programs that
are being used and/or have been used.
 Also think about:
– if and how the program addresses each
of the five core competencies
– if the program meets the needs and
goals of your school
– what school resources are available
– the program’s target age range
– whether there is research evidence
it works (not just testimonials).
Some other important considerations
 Does it provide structured sessions?
 Does it provide assessment measures for
students?
 Is it suitable for your school community’s:
– cultural and linguistic backgrounds
– students with special needs?
 Does it have a formal parent component?
 Does it offer or require further professional
learning?
KidsMatter Primary Programs Guide
The KidsMatter Primary Programs Guide is designed
to assist schools to make informed decisions and:
 contains over 80 school-based programs
arranged according to the four components
of KidsMatter Primary
 contains over 30 programs designed
specifically for social and emotional learning
 categorises each program according to
certain criteria
 provides detailed information on each program.
Activity
Using the Programs Guide
Activity
Discuss the factors that might be
important considerations for social
and emotional learning programming
in your school community
 What other supports or resources does our school
need for school-wide implementation (for example,
leadership support, professional development)?
 How can the entire school community be organised
to ensure that all students gain social and emotional
competence (for example, relationship-centered
learning community)?
Fidelity versus adaptation
 Fidelity to program materials and/or procedures
leads to better outcomes.
 Some minor adaptations are almost always
necessary, for example, to meet:
– diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds
– students with special needs.
 Changes must be carefully planned and
monitored.
 Without a planned process, the outcomes and
integrity of the program can be affected.
Strategies
Strategies
for embedding
social and
emotional
learning
throughout
your school
Some ideas from KidsMatter Primary pilot schools:
 Develop a scope and sequence for social
and emotional learning.
 Identify narrative texts (books, videos, etc)
to support and enrich social and emotional
learning program lessons.
 Ensure breadth and depth by looking at
additional programs to fill any gaps.
 Offer parent/carer sessions at the same time as
student activities (for example, school discos).
 Embed social and emotional learning across all
aspects of the school – use same language in
the school yard when on duty.
Bridging between school and home
for social and emotional learning
KidsMatter Primary supporting resources
 Component 2 information sheets, including topics:
– What is social and emotional learning?
– Learning to manage anger
– Children and friendship
– Learning to resolve conflict
– Helping children make decisions and solve problems
– Helping children cope with fears and worries
 School stories
 Implementation Tools
 Enewsletters
 www.kidsmatter.edu.au
What have we learned from
KidsMatter Primary pilot schools?
What have KidsMatter primary
schools achieved?
 Timetabling of regular/weekly social
and emotional learning classes.
 Addressed how to embed their chosen
program throughout the school.
Summary
 KidsMatter Primary Programs Guide.
 Effective delivery of SEL programs.
 Embedding SEL throughout your school.
 Bridging between home and school.
A quick review of Component 2
professional learning
 View students’ behaviour as a skillset that is part
of social and emotional competence.
 Social and emotional learning should be taught from
a broad skills-base.
 The CASEL five core competencies (and micro-skills)
are crucial.
 There are guidelines for effective social and emotional
learning instruction.
 Further professional learning helps staff build
knowledge, confidence and skills around social
and emotional learning.
 Whole-school planning and support is important to
ensure social and emotional learning is taught in
a coordinated way.
Evaluation outcomes
 Improvements to student mental health:
—
Increased positive mental health.
—
Reduced mental health difficulties.
—
Students experiencing mental health difficulties
showed significant improvements in their mental health.
 14% more teachers strongly agreed that
KidsMatter Primary led to improvements
in students’ schoolwork.
Component 2: Evaluation outcomes
 14% more teachers strongly agreed they knew
how to help their students improve their social
and emotional competence.
 16% more teachers strongly agreed that their
teaching programs helped students to develop
social and emotional competencies.
 Parents and carers reported improvements in
children’s social and emotional competence.