Navigating Social and Emotional Learning from the Inside Out

As the phrase “social and emotional learning” begins finding its way into nearly every public-facing material in the world of education, educators wanting to explore exactly what this phrase means find themselves at a loss for a consistent definition.

Some focus “on character traits such as honesty, while others focus on skills like understanding emotions and solving problems.” The inconsistency in interpretation leads to an immediate case of “paralysis by analysis” for any educator looking to intentionally incorporate this style of learning in their respective environment. Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with generous support from the Wallace Foundation, wanted to create a one stop shop for educators hoping to find a model that best fits their community of learners. In their recent publication, Navigating Social and Emotional Learning from the Inside Out, the Harvard research team provides a general background on SEL, recommendations for adopting SEL practices, and detailed profiles of 25 programs implementing various SEL strategies.