Why is Social Emotional Learning Important for Students?

Social Emotional Learning is one of the important aspects of life, in both personal and academic life. It is one of the most crucial parts of development, which supports a learning environment. 

It promotes positivity for both students and teachers. It enhances self-awareness, self-regulation, management, making wise decisions, interpersonal skills, and classroom learning. 

Adding to it, these days, homeschooling offers education, choosing quality over quantity.  

Social emotional learning plays a vital role in personal as well as social life. Here is more about Social Emotional Learning, with its importance and fundamentals in detail, which you need to know.

What is Social Emotional Learning?

Social-emotional learning, or SEL, is the process of developing self-awareness, interpersonal skills, and decision-making power. With homeschooling and socialisation, parents can keep their children upgraded. 

Social Emotional Learning promotes the process of development wherein a person can develop a knack for knowing and handling emotions. Social-emotional learning, or SEL, is the process of developing self-awareness, interpersonal skills, and decision-making power. 

And they can make wise decisions, build positive relations, and cope with challenging circumstances. It ensures that this process of development promotes well-being and success in different spheres of life. 

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) develops child’s problem- solving and analytical skill. It also helps in interacting with others, recognising and understanding emotions. 

Apart from cognitive learning, Social Emotional Learning concentrates on development in various spheres of life. It helps in inculcating the student leadership qualities and leads them to a successful life. 

Social Emotional Learning focuses not only on the academic part, but also on other developmental aspects. These include how do children socialise with each other and how to interact and work with others. Like teachers, peer groups, family, friends, and society. 

Reasons Why Social Emotional Learning is Important

Here are a few important aspects of the social-emotional learning process. 

1. Self-awareness

Self-awareness assists you in comprehending your strengths, weaknesses, and recognising your emotions. It stimulates self-compassion and positive relationships with others.

It is for both the individual and society, such as family, friends, fellow mates, teachers and community members.

2. Emotional stability

Emotional stability includes determining the situation and handling emotions, in respective circumstances. Emotional stability has been taught to students of all ages. 

It increases social-emotional learning abilities and coping in difficult situations. 

3. Enhances Performance

The performance of students is directly related to their social- emotional abilities. People having strong social-emotional learning ability can adapt to a given situation quickly and grasp things better. 

It enhances their performance and helps in achieving desirable outcomes. 

4. Ethics

Ethics as a social-emotional learning part aids you in building strong ties and taking responsible decisions and actions. It helps in building positive relationships, interacting with integrity, and balancing life. 

Ethics plays a vital role in students ‘ social-emotional learning abilities.

5. Interpersonal relationships

Interpersonal relationships point up the skills to interact with each other, with empathy. Interpersonal skills add to the importance of communication skills. Students are required to interact, share, and learn these social-emotional skills. 

This helps in building positive relationships and resolving conflicts. 

6. Problem-solving skills

Problem-solving skills emphasise identifying problems, analysing them, and finding solutions. It promotes decision-making skills and critical thinking skills to improve problem-solving abilities. 

For more on how to improve your problem-solving skills read here. 

It enhances the social-emotional learning skills of an individual and people as a whole.

7. Perseverance

Perseverance emphasises gaining flexibility, durability while adapting to any learning environment. The attitude of perseverance helps anybody to last long in any challenging situation.

Perseverance is an important part of social-emotional learning methods. 

8. Reduces conflict

Social-emotional learning resolves conflicts and builds self-awareness and empathy. It promotes social emotional understanding and ethics, and cuts unnecessary conflicts between each other. 

Reducing conflicts initiates positive relationships and social-emotional abilities. 

9. Better teacher-student relationships:

Better teacher- student relationships guide to build positive teacher- student relationships. Such engagement promotes students for better engagement and makes learning easier. 

This way, the teaching and reachability to students become easier, showing students success. 

10. Important for Mental Health:

Mental health is interconnected to social-emotional learning. Simultaneously, creating a positive learning environment at home is also important.  

It promotes comprehensible learning, empathy, kindness, understanding, and compatibility with others. 

11. Positive and Safe Learning Environment:

A positive and safe learning environment supports the building of social-emotional skills. Social– Emotional Learning aims to promote a positive, safe, and inclusive learning environment. 

Here you can learn more about the benefits of inclusive education.

This would help students and teachers feel safe and enjoyable class ambience. A supportive learning environment is important for students’ growth.

Read about the virtual schooling growth, benefits, challenges environment here. 

Fundamentals of Social Emotional Learning

Social Emotional Learning helps people to grow both academically and personally, and helps to develop in all aspects.

It bridges the gap between teaching and curriculum, and develops a comprehensible approach to learning. Curriculum stands as a pillar for the dedicated education system, and social emotional learning works in line with it. 

Understand more about what is curriculum in education.

There are five core components of social emotional learning. 

They are as follows: 

• Self-awareness 
• Self-management
• Social awareness
• Relationship skills
• Responsible decision-making

Social Emotional Learning Theory

As said by a Canadian-American psychologist and professor, Albert Bandura, 

“Social Learning Theory points out that people learn either by observing or imitating others.”

It could be in the form of behaviours, attitudes, and emotional sharing with each other. He quotes, “People tend to learn from others”. This implies that people learn by observing others, imitating them, and learning from them.

Later, he explains the social emotional theory by the Bobo Doll experiment. There, he tries to show that children tend to learn aggressive behaviour by watching adults behave aggressively towards a doll. 

Final Thoughts 

Social Emotional Learning is crucial because of various factors. It promotes a learning environment that is adaptable to both teachers and students. 

They both can enjoy their learning in a safe and proper environment. Creating a positive learning environment generates empathy, management, and social causes.

This tends to be productive in various spheres of life.

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