Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Competencies

The primary goal of social and emotional learning is to improve student’s capacity to establish and maintain healthy relationships through establishing a safe, positive, and mutually beneficial environment.

People with strong social-emotional skills are better equipped to manage daily challenges, build positive relationships, and make informed decisions. SEL helps students and adults thrive in school and in life. And the skills can be taught and learnt from preschool all the way through adulthood.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), a leader in this field, identifies five competencies that make up SEL.

Self-awareness: The ability to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts and values and how they influence behaviour across contexts. This includes capacities to recognise one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.

Self-management: The ability to manage one’s emotions, thoughts and behaviours effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals.

Responsible decision-making: The ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behaviour and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective wellbeing.

Relationship skills: The ability to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups. This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed.

Social awareness: The ability to understand the perspectives of and empathise with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures and contexts. This includes the capacities to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behaviour in different settings, and recognise family, school, and community resources and supports.

Developing SEL competencies enables children to ‘have a sense of self-worth, self-awareness and personal identity that enables them to manage their emotional, mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing’, with a sense of hope and ‘optimism about their lives and the future’. On a social level, it helps students to ‘form and maintain healthy relationships’ and prepares them ‘for their potential life roles as family, community and workforce members’ Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA 2008). At MLC School we will continue to evaluate our SEL learning opportunities and ensure what we offer as part of our Pastoral Care is high quality, evidence based and meets the needs of our girls.

– Joanne Sharpe
Acting Head of Junior School – Student Life