Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): A Key Framework for Early Childhood Educators

A child’s behavioural, social and emotional development is crucially shaped by educators and early childhood practitioners, preparing us for a life full of change and challenges. But with increased diversity in schools, bigger class sizes, and growing pressure on students, there is a greater need for improvements to be made in the support system to help young people thrive.

The key here is to provide young people with the tools and language they need to empathise, process and understand emotional responses, and emotionally self-regulate to strengthen their interpersonal and intrapersonal relationship building skills. This is where social and emotional learning (SEL) frameworks come into play.

What is Social-Emotional Learning?

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a process used to help children develop their emotional well-being through social interactions. How it is implemented in learning environments is subject to each educator or institution. But with new training and technology, the positive effects of SEL frameworks are becoming more noticeable by professionals across the globe. In Australia, we’re also seeing SEL frameworks being integrated into early child education training, including in Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care courses as well as bachelor’s and master’s level education courses. This vital training equips education providers with the skills and fundamental knowledge needed to nurture and provide for children through these stages of learning.

Rather than simply teaching isolated skills, SEL creates a supportive environment for emotional learning.

The Five Key Elements of SEL

SEL training teaches children how to manage their social emotions and equips them to handle adult life’s emotional highs and lows. The practice enables children to build a balanced view of social difficulties while nurturing their ability to adapt and remain resilient.

To achieve a well-rounded social-emotional learning experience, educators trained in SEL work to integrate the five fundamental areas across all learning materials to enhance existing skills and promote new ones. These five fundamentals are as follows:

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is used to recognise and understand our emotions, strengths and weaknesses. Teaching young people this foundational SEL skill allows them to self-reflect from a younger age.

Self-Management

Managing our behaviours and emotions appropriately in new situations is vital to maintaining social etiquette and respect for others. This is why self-management builds off of self-awareness learning in SEL frameworks.

Social Awareness

Social awareness refers to the ability to understand others emotions and behaviours, assessing group dynamics and social situations. This tenet provides the building blocks for teaching empathy to younger children.

Relationship Skills-Building

Relationship skills-building refers to our ability to establish and maintain relationships to a healthy standard, resolving conflict and supporting the social and emotional wellbeing of others.

Responsible Decision-Making

Making informed decisions based on your own analyses and remaining open to the consequences of your decisions is a vital skill for all adults. The ability of students and young people to not only self-reflect but take accountability demonstrates a SEL framework has been successfully implemented with student engagement.

At its core, SEL is a salutogenic process teaching healthy emotional responses as opposed to just reacting to difficulties. Even if students don’t fully immerse themselves in SEL teachings, having educators that are trained in SEL frameworks and can respond appropriately to classroom disputes will provide a model of behaviour and social values for students to emulate. This is why SEL is particularly vital for early childhood learning, where students are more likely to act based on examples set by parents and teachers.

The Importance of SEL in Early Childhood Education

SEL plays a critical role in early childhood development, shaping behaviours and beliefs, and implementing social and emotional skills. SEL skills are also proven to decrease stress and anxiety amongst young people and better equips children to manage daily challenges. These skills in turn create a foundation for learning and achievement.

Similarly, by integrating SEL into education and workforce training, professionals can promote healthy environments for young people to thrive. SEL is effectively foundational to building the emotional intelligence that businesses are naming one of their more desired skills when evaluating job candidates. When factoring in safety and wellbeing in social contexts outside of professional contexts, there are further observations to be made on how SEL can reduce crime and bullying, allowing us to curb violence in local communities.

The Role of Early Childhood Educators in SEL

Early childhood educators directly influence our children’s long-term mental well-being and emotional stability. The inability to manage emotions during childhood leads to increased rates of anxiety and depression as well as physical health problems in adulthood.

We live in an era where society’s escalating mental health struggles make it essential that educators are knowledgeable and deliberate while actively supporting emotional development. When educators stay current with research findings and child learning processes, they enable students to develop the emotional resilience necessary for thriving in a complex world.

By helping children learn to control their feelings and create positive relationships, we teach them the lasting ability and the skills to determine their life satisfaction and societal health.

Integrating SEL in Early Childhood Education

Early childhood education programs often consider SEL to be supplementary instead of an essential teaching methodology. The successful development of emotional resilience depends on embedding SEL practices into daily routines.

Educators can use safe and intentional play with social interactions to provide children chances to connect with others while reflecting on their experiences and practising emotional regulation skills.

By incorporating SEL into a safe learning environment educators enable children to build critical skills, including empathy and self-awareness all while learning problem-solving techniques which prepare them to handle future emotional and social situations.

The Lasting Impact of SEL in Early Childhood Education

The importance of SEL in shaping, emotionally intelligent individuals should not be overlooked. SEL is proven to make a difference when implemented in early childhood education, having a positive impact on understanding and managing children’s emotional experiences and fostering resilience and adaptability.

With these benefits in mind, educators must invest in the social and emotional development of young people through training, allowing childcare and education professionals the opportunity to enhance their skills and support.

The experiences and confidence SEL practices can provide, will enable children to grow into competent learners and successful working professionals. Now is the perfect time for early childhood educators to step forward and prioritise SEL in their teaching practices!