Social and emotional learning: A brief overview and issues relevant to Australia and the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

Social and emotional learning (SEL) involves instructional approaches that endeavour to foster individuals’ social and emotional competence and promote classroom and school cultures that are safe, caring, and encourage participation. Over the past two decades, there has been growing interest in schooling that attends not only to students’ academic development, but also their social and emotional development. SEL has been recognised as one way to achieve this. The current chapter provides an overview of SEL, including important conceptual underpinnings for the area, key definitions of the five well-accepted social and emotional competencies that are promoted in SEL, and positive student and teacher outcomes associated with effective SEL implementation. The chapter also provides important contextual characteristics relevant to SEL implementation and research in Australia and the Asia-Pacific. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of important research implications for the region, as well as for the world more broadly. In sum, it is hoped that this chapter will help to extend awareness of and effective practice in SEL to best promote social and emotional competence and healthy school and community climates.