While social-emotional learning has become a fixture in many of the nation’s schools, there’s still debate in some communities about whether students should pick up those skills in classrooms, or at home.
Teachers should focus on academic content, so the argument goes, and character development should remain the purview of the family.
But among educators, there appears to be broad consensus about the value of attempting to build students’ specific SEL skills during the school day.
A new survey of teachers, principals, and district administrators shows that more than 3 out of 4 educators believe that students should be taught self-management, cooperation, problem-solving, and effective communication, respectively—all typically described as core components of SEL—as part of their K-12 education.
The nationally representative, online survey was conducted in December and January by the EdWeek Research Center of 499 educators.
“Schools are required to teach these skills but they are not reinforced at home or in the community; therefore it is like yelling into the wind. It does no good.”
Of the 13 SEL-related skills survey respondents could choose from, “leadership” was the least-selected one—and even for that category half of educators still believe that it should still be taught in schools.
Just 2 percent of educators said no social-emotional skills should be presented in K-12 settings.
These skills are crucial to helping students develop academically to their fullest potential, say SEL proponents. For example, students who can’t control their emotions will struggle to overcome academic difficulties and setbacks.
In some states and districts, SEL has become the subject of political attacks from conservatives, who see it as an effort to introduce discussions of race and gender issues into classrooms.
“I have had training and have seen the value in it. When you invest time on this, it is not wasted. It actually helps with the academic learning,” said an elementary school teacher in Colorado who responded to the EdWeek Research Center survey.
Some educators pointed out in the survey that if they don’t teach these skills in school, students may not learn them at all.
“[These] are life skills and some students are NOT getting them at home,” said a high school teacher in Nebraska.
While there’s broad agreement for teaching some of these social-emotional skills in school, there are some differences based on educators’ roles.
For example, 74% percent of teachers and 80% of school leaders listed social awareness and empathy as critical skills, compared with just 57% of district administrators.
Elementary and middle school educators, as well as educators from large districts of 10,000 or more students, are more likely to cite this as an important skill to learn versus their counterparts in high schools and smaller districts.
All of the differences are statistically significant.
Are teachers equipped to teach SEL?
Whether teachers are equipped to promote social-emotional learning in their classrooms is a separate question.
When asked in a separate question on the EdWeek Research Center survey to share whether teachers are adequately prepared to teach these specific social-emotional skills, educators offered an array of responses. Even for educators who said they feel prepared to teach SEL, challenges persist.
Specifically, survey participants were asked: “In the previous question, we asked you to select what social-emotional skills you believe are critical for students to learn. In your view, are you—or the teachers in your district/school—equipped to teach those skills? Why or why not?”
In their written responses, the most common barriers educators highlighted were a lack of training, resources, and buy-in from educators, parents, and the community.
“Yes, some are equipped. Others are not,” said a Texas middle school teacher in the survey. “It is really not an implicitly taught skill in a teacher-training program.”
“We are naturally good at it but not trained in it,” said a Florida-based high school teacher.
“I believe teachers need further training,” wrote another Florida educator, an elementary school teacher, “and the problems students face are beyond our level of expertise.”
EdWeek reporting has also uncovered one instructional debate that schools face when putting together their SEL program: whether the skills are best taught independently, or interwoven into subject-matter content.
“We are sometimes equipped to teach the skills, but the curriculum provided to us is ‘canned ‘and not always relatable to our students,” shared an elementary school teacher in Massachusetts.
“I believe that the majority of our staff are capable of teaching those skills,” said a principal in Michigan. “The only problem that we have is that there isn’t enough time in a class period or day.”
For a middle school teacher in New Mexico, a lack of broader buy-in stymies SEL efforts: “Schools are required to teach these skills but they are not reinforced at home or in the community; therefore it is like yelling into the wind. It does no good.”
And two district-level leaders shared different perspectives on whether veteran teachers, or those new to the profession are better equipped to teach critical social-emotional skills.
“Yes and no. For the older generation of teachers this is [an] expectation, but the younger generations of teachers want everything to teach given to them in a binder,” a Kentucky teacher responding to the survey said. “I don’t believe their teacher-preparation programs address the SEL issues at all.”
“The teachers are not equipped. Many of the veteran teachers have deeply held beliefs in consequences and punishment for behaviors rather than anticipating challenges for students and helping work through their mental health struggles,” said a district leader in Massachusetts.
Are schools overstepping their roles in discussing SEL?
Other educators also questioned whether it’s ever appropriate for teachers to teach social-emotional skills, a belief that echoes broader criticisms that those topics are well beyond the scope of a educators’ role and training.
“We are not psychologists,” said a high school teacher in New York. “SEL is taking us away from teaching to play psychologist.”
A California-based teacher shared that sentiment, arguing that SEL requires a level of specialized skill that many educators—given their other duties—have not yet achieved.
“We also need to complete the vast curriculum that we are required to teach,” the teacher explained.
A superintendent from New York added, simply: “No. Don’t view it at teachers’ responsibility. Want to focus on content.”
