Social Emotional Learning Competencies
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Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has been on my mind lately for many reasons including that this type of programming is very present at Quest, that CA lawmakers have increased funding for this core area of learning recently, and SEL has become a major buzzword. This all in combination led me to want to write about these core competencies so families have a better sense of what educators and therapists are talking about more specifically. This is not a new topic for our newsletter.
Specifically I have written about how much I value the book, Permission to Feel, by Marc Brackett, Ph.D., who is a professor at Yale University’s Child Study Center and founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and serves on the board at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). CASEL is a non-profit that is the nation’s leading organization advancing the development of academic, social and emotional competence for all students.
The 5 Core SEL Competencies otherwise known as the CASEL 5 are: [1]
1. Self-awareness: The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.
2. Social awareness: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. This includes the capacities to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
3. Relationship skills: The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups. This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with different social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed.
4. Self-management: The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, mange stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals.
5. Responsible decision-making: The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being.
These areas are considered to be connected to each other and are formed from a developmental perspective in which children can progress in these core competencies over time with different levels of instruction based on age and skill level.
The large majority of individualized goals we have for children at Quest Camp would fit into one of these competency areas. These goals include things such as using a number scale to better identify feelings, developing further reciprocal communication, using words to express feelings, thoughts, and needs, using eyes to examine other’s facial expression and body language, showing perspective taking, using positive self-talk, and demonstrating flexible problem solving.
Research Supporting SEL from CASEL: [2]
(Please see CASEL website for more detail and links to this research)
“SEL has a powerful combination of evidence and support. The findings below come from multiple fields and sources and include analyses of hundreds of studies that show SEL leads to beneficial outcomes related to: social and emotional skills; attitudes about self, school, and civic engagement; social behaviors; conduct problems; emotional distress; and academic performance.”
SEL has been found to improve academic outcomes and behaviors through hundreds of studies. “When students have supportive relationships and opportunities to develop and practice social, emotional, and cognitive skills across many different contexts, academic learning accelerates.”
“Results from a landmark meta-analysis that looked across 213 studies involving more than 270,000 students found that:
- SEL interventions that address the five core competencies increased students’ academic performance by 11 percentile points, compared to students who did not participate.
- Students participating in SEL programs showed improved classroom behavior, an increased ability to manage stress and depression, and better attitudes about themselves, others, and school.
- Additional meta-analyses echoed these findings. Consistency across independent research teams offers strong support that well-implemented SEL programs are beneficial.”
A 2021 systematic review also found that universal SEL interventions enhance young people’s social and emotional skills and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in the short term. SEL has also been found to have global effects, have long lasting results and be effective across cultural contexts.
I think it can be beneficial for parents to examine these five core competency areas (self-awareness, social awareness, relationship skills, self-management, and responsible decision making) as a means to reflect on where their children have strengths already and areas in need of further development.
[1] What is the CASEL Framework?
A framework creates a foundation for applying evidence-based SEL strategies to your community. CASEL website, Cited on April 30, 2022, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#social-emotional-learning
[2] What does the research say? Demand for SEL is on the rise, and it is easy to see why: SEL makes a difference. CASEL website, Cited on April 30, 2022,
https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-does-the-research-say/