Young Adolescents’ Perspectives on Peers’ Social and Emotional Competence

Abstract

The integration of social and emotional learning into school curricula has been linked to a number of positive student outcomes, including increased academic achievement, the development of healthy relationships, and improved emotional self-regulation. Rarely, however, has research considered students’ perspectives on which social and emotional competencies are most salient to their contexts and experiences. Using a priori and emergent coding to analyze a data set in which nearly 2,000 young adolescents from 42 countries completed the sentence starter, “I wish my friend/peers knew …,” I examined young adolescents’ perceptions of their peers’ social emotional competence. Findings conveyed two areas of social and emotional competence as most central to students’ concerns: 1) social awareness, with respect for difference and the development of empathy the forefront; and 2) responsible decision-making, with an emphasis on language usage and inclusivity. I explore the significance of these findings in the midst of increasing calls for transformative social emotional learning and consider their implications for future research and teacher education.