According to the organization CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning), social-emotional learning (SEL) is a process through which children and adults:
Understand and manage emotions
Set and achieve positive goals
Feel and show empathy for others
Establish and maintain positive relationships
Make responsible decisions
Here are some stats on the results of SEL from some research we found:
54 percent more likely to get a high school diploma
Twice as likely to get a college degree in early adulthood
46 percent more likely to have a full-time job at the age of 25
Many experts have noticed that social-emotional learning has been in the spotlight for the past few years. Other experts say that SEL is essential for the classroom. While indeed, SEL has become popular in education, it’s been the recent global pandemic, where virtually every parent became a homeschool teacher, which has brought social-emotional learning to attention. There’s an increasing concern that children isolated at home, will fall behind in their social and emotional development. Some are even calling it a crisis.
Has the Social-Emotional “Bubble” Popped in 2020?
There are tragic stories of children who have suffered from isolation without the support of regular school life. Consider, for a moment, the social and emotional toll that a global pandemic brings to a family. Parents are stressed as they face economic uncertainty and loss of employment. Also, teachers have had to adjust to virtual classrooms while dealing with their households. It became the perfect storm to highlight the need for SEL. How do children learn to make sense of it all?
Beyond isolation, the death of George Floyd has sparked national outrage and cultural backlash for social justice. Problems compound while the political environment becomes more charged. Children can no longer live in a “bubble,” no matter how much as parents we want to protect them. Realities of a new world that we’ve never faced as a global population continue to form. Our future generations need better social and emotional skills to navigate increasingly complex times. How future-ready and resilient are your children?
So, it only makes sense SEL should be integrated, not just in schools, but starting with the family.
But how?
Emotional Intelligence as the Cornerstone for Social-Emotional Learning
We define emotional intelligence (EQ) as being intelligent about your emotions and then using those emotions to unlock your intelligence. Therefore, we believe that EQ is the perfect starting place for social-emotional learning. And we’ve created the following framework for how to use EQ to increase social-emotional performance.
If you want to learn how to integrate SEL into your family, then EQ is the place to start. There are many ways to learn EQ. We happen to use EQ games to train your brain for emotional intelligence. But regardless of how you learn EQ, we agree that it’s time for all parents and leaders to pay more attention to social-emotional learning for all children around the world.
If you’re interested in learning more about emotional intelligence and social-emotional learning, try our free mini-course. You can also attend a live gameplay demo session to see how we use neuro-gamification for brain-training. We play multiple times per week with a growing community.