Don’t Forget the “L” in SEL
Don’t Forget the “L” in SEL
Written by Douglas Reeves*
August 2, 2020
In the fall of 2020, schools are opening in a season of continuing trauma for students, families, and staff members. The deaths and illnesses of family, friends, and colleagues are perpetual reminders of how fragile life is and how the emotional needs of children and adults are a central responsibility of educational leadership. It is therefore understandable that many schools are prioritizing the social and emotional needs of students as they begin the school year in virtual, blended, and on-site learning environments. The question leaders and teachers must face is not whether to give emotional needs of students priority, but how to do so.
Social and emotional needs of children rest on the twin pillars of safety and identity. Students must be physically safe, with adequate nutrition, freedom from abuse and neglect, and protected to the maximum extent possible from COVID-19. They must also be emotionally safe, with the confidence to seek help without fear, express their needs without embarrassment, and share their joys, sorrows, and apprehensions with a loving and caring adult. In addition, students need a sense of identity – classmates, teachers, and trusted adults who know their names, appreciate their personalities, and engage with them about interests outside of school. That was true before 2020, and it is especially true now.
But as much as we care deeply about the social and emotional needs of students, some schools are making a grave error when they separate those needs from the “L” in SEL. The pursuit of social and emotional development without learning is futile and destructive. I recently saw a school leader suggest, “For the first few weeks of school, we’re not going to worry about academics, but only focus on SEL.” This attitude reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of what social and emotional learning is all about. If you want to see elementary school students who are stressed out, full of anxiety, and depressed, then deprive those students of school from March to August of 2020, and then when they at last re-engage with teachers and classmates, deprive them of the opportunity to regain their confidence as students. To say, “We don’t have time for literacy, because we need to attend to their social and emotional needs” is counterproductive and dangerous. If you want to see middle and high school students who are self-destructive and ready to explode, then deprive them of social contact and a sense of personal agency for six months and then, when they are re-entering virtual, blended, or live learning environments, tell them that their personal competence doesn’t matter as long as they are socially and emotionally well. There are no adolescents on the planet who will be emotionally healthy if they feel incompetent.
Think about it: Why do students retreat into the inner world of video games while they ignore schoolwork? Because with video games, as violent and inappropriate as they might be, the kids know that they are getting better all the time. They keep score, get feedback, improve and know the objective truth that they are competent. Misguided approaches to social and emotional care that exclude academic success – and that includes assessment, feedback, improvement, and competence – undermine the very emotional health that they seek to attain.
Finally, let us put aside social and emotional learning as a program – a curriculum to march through as if it were the psychological equivalent of flash cards, after which we can say, “Now that this program is done, we can get back to teaching.” The very best social and emotional learning includes practices that are imbued in all of our interactions with students and adults throughout the day. It is not something done to students, but rather an ethic that pervades interpersonal relationships at every level. It is the respect accorded to students, parents, bus drivers, cafeteria and custodial staff, and every human with whom we come into contact. We know their names, listen before speaking, and value them as humans. And we teach students to read, solve problems, and think not because it might be on the on test, but because that is part and parcel of our love and care for them.
To be clear: social and emotional learning is a vital part of every school year, and most especially in the fall of 2020. But the focus on social and emotional needs of students without learning will undermine the psychological health of the students who need us the most.
*Dr. Reeves is the founder of the Equity and Excellence Institute, a non-profit organization providing support to schools in fifty states and more than 40 countries. He can be reached at Douglas.Reeves@CreativeLeadership.net, or 781 710 9633. Doug Tweets @DouglasReeves.