The world we are living in is full of stress, depression, and anxiety. Not only adults, but even children and youths are also facing these issues. They are coping with emotional realities one can’t ignore. A study shows that when educators tell about stress, students are more likely to learn about it. Social-Emotional learning deals with mental issues and problems. The question arises is that what is social-emotional learning? Why do we need it?
Social and emotional learning is a process through which an individual develops self-awareness and interpersonal skills. Social-emotional learning plays a significant role in a student’s life. Students with great social-emotional skills are better at coping with academic stress. Social-emotional learning provides a strong foundation for a positive mindset. The skills will also help students in the future to maintain good relationships.
Social-emotional learning is vital for students as they don’t know how to cope up with mental stress. The skills also help in developing positive behavior. The skills empower the student’s ability to perform great at the academic level.
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Five Core Competencies of Social-Emotional Learning
Social-emotional learning has five interrelated sets of cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies. These core competencies of social-emotional learning are:
Self-Awareness
The self-awareness is the ability to recognize emotions and their influence on behavior. It will help in understanding the need for improvement. The students adopt problem-solving skills. The skills will assist in researching and using relevant information. Self-awareness helps to develop critical, analytical, and creative thinking skills. Self-awareness also helps in recognizing one’s strengths, weaknesses, and abilities.
Self-Management
The self-management ability can help in regulating emotions and thoughts in different situations. The ability helps to manage stress, control impulses, and achieving personal goals. The students realize their responsibility to plan and evaluating projects. The skills of evaluation can help in self and peer assessments in learning. The ability will help in better focus and concentration on learning.
Social Awareness
Social-awareness is the ability to understand the perspective of diverse backgrounds and cultures. It encourages the qualities of proper communication, professionalism, and personal responsibilities. One can understand the emotions and thoughts of others. Social awareness helps in appreciating diversity and respect for others.
Relationship Skills
The relationship skills help in maintaining healthy relationships with diverse individuals and groups. It includes communicating, listening, cooperating, and seeking and offering help from others. The students feel safe in school. The expertise will enable students to maintain quality interactions throughout their study period.
Responsible Decision-Making
Responsible decision-making skills help students to make constructive choices about personal behavior. Social norms and deep critical thinking are the main aspects. The skill is all about to consider moral code and benefit well-being.
Benefits of Social-Emotional Learning
Social-emotional learning helps students to develop social and emotional skills in schools. There are many benefits of social-emotional learning in a student’s life. These are:
Educational and Academic Success
The social-emotional learning skills help students to perform better at the academic level. The skills acquired by social-emotional learning improve student’s attitudes towards school. They pay more attention to their studies and perform well to gain good results. When the students come to know that their opinions get respect, they perform better.
Behavioral Problems
Students who practice social-emotional learning tend to be less aggressive in schools. Research shows that students have 10% less psychological and substance abuse problems.
Emotional Distress
Social-emotional learning helps students to improve their behavioral problems. The students are less likely to have anxiety, depression, stress, and social withdraws. It affects central cognitive functions. The functions improve the ability to switch attention from one task to another. Social-emotional learning also helps in developing strong self-regulation skills.
Social Behavior
Social-emotional learning helps to develop positive social behavior. It will help students to maintain productive relationships. A good student-teacher relationship will encourage students to perform better in their studies.
Social-emotional learning helps the students to gain skills and knowledge for better learning. They make a responsible decision. The mental well-being, personality development, and career and academic success get improved. It is a crucial part of a student’s life and maintains a safe school environment. Social-emotional learning is a process, and it requires time and patience to learn. It is a mechanism for developing long-term social and emotional strength. It also helps students to cope up with trauma.
