Why your child needs social and emotional learning
19 March 2021 — Written by Reyan Mishra
The purpose of learning is not solely bound to academic excellence or success in a career. In fact, an individual’s learnedness must encompass many more facets of life than the general perception of it. One of the constituents of learning is social skills besides anything else. It all boils down to the societies we live in.
Due to the lack of emotional learning in education, more than 50% of Indian school students feel stressed out at school as per a report by The Times of India. While we all know that this is not how children must feel in the process of learning, much work is left to be done in finding the missing pieces. Could social and emotional learning hold the key?
What is social and emotional learning?
Social and emotional learning is an indispensable part of education and human development. But somehow, the strategy of education hasn’t been paid much heed to in our education system. Social and emotional learning, often abbreviated as SEL, is a process of development of children and adults who are taught to employ the right mix of knowledge, skill, and attitudes to establish themselves as holistic learned people who are as capable in their profession as they are socially and emotionally. With proper SEL, an individual can be responsible, dependable, trustworthy, a community keeper, and a successful family person. Below are some of the greatest benefits of incorporating SEL in a child’s education:
Psychological development
For SEL to be carried out efficiently, a nurturing and inclusive learning atmosphere is a must. Students are encouraged to come out of their shells and talk about their aspirations much like the Personal Learning Hour at Beyond 8. The pressure to perform is entirely taken off and replaced with motivation. For a learner, such an environment works as a catalyst. Devoid of their fear or anxiety, their ability to understand and respond gets enhanced.
The most important factor of education owes its inception to the fundamental nature of life. Before a successful career comes to a well-oriented life and that’s SEL’s primary objective. With such an ed-system in place, fruitful results can be expected.
Benefits for the long haul
Studies found that nine out of ten teachers believe social and emotional skills benefit students in life. Since the bulk of the SEL involves students self-managing themselves and their emotions, they train themselves for life rather than just following footprints. What comes along with self-management are skills related to social awareness, self-awareness, relationship control, and the ability to steer through complex personal and professional difficulties. In other words, SEL is learning by practice which is hands down one of the most effective ways to learn.
Learn more about how we foster social and emotional learning at Beyond 8.