What Is Social Emotional Learning (SEL) And Why Does It Matter?

Most of the hardships we face as adults come from a lack of skills and knowledge to help us process external and internal circumstances in a healthy way. Many of us pass into adulthood without developing the ability to manage our emotions, navigate complex relationships, or make responsible decisions. This is where the power of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) – and specifically, the integration of SEL with Dynamic Mindfulness – comes in. 

Well-formulated SEL approaches offer pathways to developing the essential skills needed to navigate all stages of life, from succeeding in the classroom to handling later-in-life challenges at home, work, and beyond. By cultivating self-awareness, emotional regulation, and social intelligence, we can equip ourselves with the tools to thrive personally and build strong foundations for our communities.

In this article, we’ll discuss the basic concepts behind Social Emotional Learning, why it’s an important part of childhood education, and the stakeholders that can impact its success at the individual, school, and community levels.

What Is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children can cultivate the skills and insight to manage their emotions positively, make responsible decisions, and relate to others from a place of empathy and understanding. These skills are essential for academic success, improved relationships, more successful careers, and thoughtful community engagement. 

Essentially, Social Emotional Learning is about laying a strong foundation for successfully navigating life’s ups and downs and our relationship with ourselves and others. It helps shape new generations of adults that will go on to break cycles of toxic stress, trauma, burnout, violence, and more.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Framework was created to identify crucial competencies every child needs to support their learning and development. 

This model's collaborative aspect outlines the vital role that schools, families, and communities play in helping children gain the attitudes, knowledge, and skills that will help them thrive academically and emotionally. SEL focuses on five social and emotional competencies: three intrapersonal skills (related to what happens within our inner self) and two interpersonal skills (related to the way we interact with others). These skills can be taught in multiple ways within any school or learning setting. 

Understanding these competencies is vital to understanding Social Emotional Learning and its importance in fostering more equitable and supportive environments. Here's a brief overview of the five core competencies of SEL:

1. Self-Awareness 

The objective of this competence is to acknowledge our emotions, thoughts, and value systems and how they influence how we interact and behave in various contexts. Through self-awareness, SEL aims to equip children with the skills to assess strengths, limitations, and room for improvement with calm, confidence, and purpose.

2. Self-Management

This competence focuses on the capacity to effectively regulate our emotional responses, behaviors, and thoughts in various situations to help us reach the specific goals we set and the broader aspirations that underlie them. Through developing this competence, children can learn how to remain motivated and engaged by managing the stress produced by external stimuli. 

3. Responsible Decision-Making

This pertains to making constructive choices that shape our personal behavior and interpersonal relationships based on ethical guidelines, safety concerns, and social norms. By taking these into consideration, children can effectively identify the consequences and impact of their choices in a broader social context, considering the well-being of oneself and others.

4. Social Awareness

This encompasses the skills needed to approach other perspectives with empathy and understanding, recognizing diverse cultural and social backgrounds. Social Emotional Learning aims to enhance compassion through social awareness by providing children with the tools to recognize inequality, different social norms, and the validity of each individual’s background and behavioral response.

5. Relationship Skills 

This competence involves establishing and supporting healthy and rewarding relationships with people from diverse backgrounds. Some of the abilities SEL enhances through this competence include clear, effective, and empowered communication, active listening and cooperation, problem-solving, negotiation, conflict resolution, positive teamwork, and more. By developing these, children can learn to reach out when they need help and offer assistance to others, fostering better and more nurturing relationships.

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When children start developing strong social and emotional skills in the classroom – where they’ll spend most of their time during life’s critical formative stages – they are nurturing the needs of the 'Whole Child': physical, emotional, intellectual and social skills that will later set them up for success. 

An article published by the Wall Street Journal in 2016 revealed that 92% of the surveyed working professionals consider social-emotional skills such as effective communication and problem-solving to be equally if not more important than technical skills. This shows that knowledge-based education alone is no longer sufficient for success in today's collaborative work environments. Education needs to involve a more human-centric approach that will lead to stronger interpersonal relationships, reduced toxic stress, and ultimately, a better long-term quality of life.

Here are just a few examples of the benefits that Social Emotional Learning offers when implemented in school settings:

Improved Academic Performance

Social Emotional Learning can significantly impact academic success by improving students’ ability to focus, collaborate, and communicate more effectively. When students can manage their emotions while being present and understanding of their environment and others around them, they can:

• Improve their concentration by managing stress and external stimuli
• Build and maintain motivation to learn and succeed
• Address academic challenges more effectively

The Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning (J. Durlak, C. Domitrovich, and J. Mahoney, 2025) reveals an 11 percentile point increase in attendance and improved grades in students that participated in a SEL program at school.

Enhanced Social Relationships

By encouraging empathy and understanding of different social backgrounds, norms, and behaviors, students can create stronger and more sustainable relationships with their peers. This ultimately contributes to more supportive, inclusive, and collaborative environments. Through Social Emotional Learning, students can:

• Express themselves effectively and respectfully with others
• Navigate challenges and disagreements constructively
• Create a more inclusive and welcoming school community

According to research data compiled by EdWeek Research Center Survey (October 2022) on How Educators View Social Emotional Learning, 84% of teachers think SEL has a positive impact on the ability to collaborate, communicate, be creative, and think critically.

Greater Self-Confidence and Emotion Management

Self-awareness and emotional regulation support students in making responsible decisions based on understanding and respect for others that will positively impact their relationships. This ultimately empowers students to confidently:

• Face challenges without succumbing to stress and anxiety
• Persevere during setbacks or adverse circumstances
• Understand their own strengths, areas for improvement, and core values

In the paper Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects (R. Taylor, E.Oberle, J. Durlak, and R. Weissberg, 2017), researchers engaged with participants from SEL programs up to 18 years post-intervention, revealing improved social-emotional skills, attitudes, and clear indicators of well-being.

Implementing Social Emotional Learning from an early age helps students thrive academically and socially. It's not just about their academic performance; it's about equipping them with the tools to build up their emotional intelligence to thrive in all aspects of their lives.

What Role Do Teachers, Parents, and Communities Have In Implementing Social Emotional Learning?

Social Emotional Learning doesn’t happen overnight, nor is it the sole responsibility of the school system. To be sustainable over time, SEL needs to be strongly supported by educators, educational leaders, parents, and the entire community. 

CASEL Wheel showcasing all primary stakeholders and settings

It all starts in the classroom, where teachers integrate Social Emotional Learning into the curriculum through the SAFE framework, which stands for Sequenced, Active, Focused, and Explicit, to ensure a structured and sustainable impact in students' learning experiences and development. 

Some ways in which educators can foster effective Social Emotional Learning include:

• Engaging in explicit instruction on the SEL competencies
• Incentivizing practice through collaboration
• Intertwining social-emotional skills into other academic subjects such as language, math, science, arts, and more

But it doesn't stop there. In order to be truly successful, Social Emotional Learning needs to be addressed with a school-wide approach that encompasses intentional planning, implementation, follow-up, and refinement to create a positive culture and climate throughout the diverse learning environments within a school. 

This also helps create a strong sense of community and belonging that is crucial for student engagement, which is one of the biggest challenges our school systems face. According to data compiled by researcher Veera Korhonen, the high school dropout rates in the US have decreased from a staggering 9.7% in 2006 to 5% in 2022, but there are still approximately 1.2 million students who abandon school annually.

It’s vital for Social Emotional Learning to have allies and partners outside of the school setting, and this is where parents and caregivers hold a crucial role in nurturing and reinforcing what children are learning in the classroom by also implementing these practices at home and playing an active role in their child’s development. Schools can approach and build these partnerships through open, two-way, and culturally-sensitive communication, paired with opportunities to engage in school activities with their kids.

When school and district leadership teams understand the critical need for Social Emotional Learning, they can also support students’ learning and development journeys by:

• Providing educators with SEL-focused professional development opportunities
• Offering special resources for under-served families with diverse social and cultural backgrounds
• Helping spread the word about the importance of social-emotional skills beyond the school setting

By engaging these primary stakeholders, SEL becomes more than just a classroom initiative. Instead, it represents a shared commitment to shape the next generation and set them up for success. 

Conclusion: The Long-Lasting Impact of Social Emotional Learning

A 2023 study conducted by the Yale Child Study Center on the Benefits of Social Emotional Learning in Students indicates that SEL program participation increases a sense of safety in the classroom and inclusion in the school community. 

The same Yale study finds that SEL program participation causes students to feel better even outside school: it is linked to lower levels of anxiety and stress, instances of depression, and thoughts of self-harm. 

These are critical factors in mitigating some of the most urgent social and mental health challenges we face in society.

By fostering the SEL core competencies early on, we’re helping students build essential skills for lifetime use. Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making are deeply interwoven into the fabric of strong and healthy communities, so it is imperative that we recognize the importance of SEL and provide equitable access to it.

While Social Emotional Learning is often associated with its own educational curricula, it is most successful when it can be integrated into other academic subjects and activities outside the classroom. Further, outcomes are strongest when all stakeholders are involved, not just students and classroom teachers, but other educators, decision-makers, parents, caregivers, and community leaders.  

The SEL core competencies are essential tools that support well-being and provide students with tools to face challenges with a mindful, empathic, and emotionally regulated approach. Today’s children are tomorrow’s decision-makers, those who will shape our society in the decades to come. 

Interested in how mindfulness can be part of a winning approach toward Social Emotional Learning? Check out Niroga’s article on How Dynamic Mindfulness Supports & Enhances Social Emotional Learning.