Integrating Social-Emotional Learning and Community Engagement in Schools
Social emotional learning is a hot topic in education. How does SEL fit with another educational goal of community engagement? Can they work together?
I interned at a private psychology practice in Charlotte, NC over the summer, and there I worked alongside a clinician in developing social emotional learning (SEL) materials for clients. The project really opened my eyes to what exactly SEL consists of. Overall, SEL is the process in which we obtain and use our knowledge, skills, and emotions to navigate relationships, make responsible decisions, and show empathy. The diagram below shows how the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) defines SEL and it’s five core competencies (in the center). These competencies are broad, interrelated, and can be applied to many developmental stages and contexts.
Before we integrate concepts, where I will define core aspects of SEL, let’s talk about community engagement. There is no single definition for this, but it is generally thought of as individuals, groups, organizations, and governments working together to propel the community’s goals for the benefit of others. This can take the form of activism, building relationships between various aspects of the community, and creating and implementing solutions to community problems. In many schools, both K-12 and beyond, students are required or encouraged to engage with their community in these ways and more. There are many benefits to this and I believe social emotional learning is one of them. Let’s look at each aspect of SEL and determine how community engagement fits the narrative. Please note that each area has various mechanisms and goals, but only a few will be discussed in relation to community engagement.
Self-awareness
This involves understanding your own thoughts, emotions, and values and how they influence your behavior in multiple contexts. I think one of CASEL’s self-awareness capacities that relate to community engagement is to develop interests and a sense of purpose. Through working with others in the community, a student will be able investigate what they like, what they don’t like, what they value, and how they can help others. For example, participating in a community garden project may help students realize that they actually like to get their hands dirty, they like teamwork, they like independent work, or that they truly care about the environment.
Another capacity of this competency is to examine the prejudices and biases that they may hold. By engaging with others whom they differ from, students are better able to see others’ perspectives and actively think about what is potentially hindering them from seeing a situation in another light. In a trash picking volunteer experience, youth may change perspective and realize that picking up trash all day is hard work. They may also re-assess their personal bias against trash collector and begin to be more kind to them. Both of these community engagement projects have the potential to increase self-awareness, which will increase confidence and sense of purpose.
Self-management
Self-management is the ability to manage your own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different contexts in order to achieve your goals. One method for developing this is to set personal and collective goals, which is especially achievable in community engagement due to it’s collaborative nature. For example during a letter writing campaign to the various politicians, a student may work to set a personal goal of writing X number of letters per hour. This goal should be based on the students current abilities while working simultaneously to increase that ability. The collaborative goal may be to write 100 letters. With these goals, the student or community may experience success and/or failure which is good to experience to develop self-management. In a team setting, you have social supports to help you reach your goal or cope with not meeting your goal. It will also help one to understand that negative emotions and self-talk may be unnecessary or inappropriate. Instead, they will learn to manage their stress, motivate themselves, and work hard to accomplish goals.
Social awareness
This is an important SEL skill that involves empathizing with others and understanding their perspectives. This is often done by recognizing others’ strengths, perspectives, and experiences. Most community engagement projects involve working with others, particularly those you differ from, and taking a stand to help others. In order to effectively engage with the community in this way, one must work to understand why they are doing a certain project and who it will positively impact. When volunteering to build something, tutor someone, or just work with another person, a student is able to put forth the effort to see someone without judgement and see what they are good at. They are also able to make connections with others to get to know them and their perspectives and emotions. Students become aware of how they should behave, how others behave, and how others, though different, can be resources.
Relationship skills
This skill set, similar to social awareness, is necessary for everyone and it is important to learn it as young as you can. Relationship skills involves creating and maintaining healthy and supportive relationships with others and navigating various contexts with diverse people. A primary aspect of this is communication. With communication skills, one is able to effectively engage with someone else while learning from them. Community engagement involves not only communicating with the people or population in need, but also with your collaborators. Both are essential in creating a compelling community engagement project. To communicate and establish a healthy relationship, one needs to not only speak, but also listen. Active listening is key to a supportive conversation and relationship because it makes the other person feel heard and supported. In turn, you should receive the same.
Responsible decision-making
Decision-making is a skill used in every academic, professional, social, and personal setting. Responsible decision-making means to make careful and thoughtful choices about your behaviors and interactions. One way to foster this is by thinking critically about the consequences of one’s own actions. For example, a student may want to complain about their seemingly tedious duty of feeding the homeless. However, if a student were to stop and think about what they are about to do, they may realize that the homeless and their supervisor will look down upon them for doing so. Complaining about service may make the people being served feel self-conscious and burdening. And it may show your boss that you’re not really up to the challenge. Instead, it is more beneficial to think about how helpful you are being and decide to work harder to make a bigger difference.
As you can see, SEL and community engagement can certainly be integrated to foster healthy development in students. While not all schools offer or require community engagement, this should be explored due it’s significant SEL benefits.
There are certainly more benefits and ways SEL can be implemented in community engagement than what I have described here. Check out CASEL’s website to learn more about SEL and ways you can incorporate it into your life.
