The link between Social and Emotional
Learning
and Academic Achievement
Aleisha M. Clarke & Professor Margaret M. Barry
Health Promotion Research Centre,
National University of Ireland Galway
Over
the past decade, education has become increasingly held accountable for raising
academic standards through measures such as standardised testing in the core
curriculum subjects. Many teachers find themselves under increasing pressure to
meet external requirements, with the result that curriculum time for subjects
where little accountability is required is frequently undermined. A common critique
of the social and emotional curriculum is that they focus time and energy on
social and behavioural goals at the expense of academic learning. In such a
climate, it becomes important for the social and emotional curriculum to
demonstrate their impact on academic performance.
Social
and emotional learning is defined as the process through which we recognise and
manage emotions, establish healthy relationships, set positive goals, behave
ethically and responsibly and avoid negative behaviours (Elias et al., 1997;
Payton et al., 2000). Within the context of schools, social and emotional
learning (SEL) involves the integration of two interrelated strands to promote
successful school performance and youth development: (i) skills development and
(ii) supportive environments. First, through evidence based classroom
programmes such as Zippy’s Friends, social and emotional skills are explicitly
taught, practised and applied to diverse situations so that students
internalise them as part of their repertoire of behaviours. These skills and
attitudes help students feel motivated to succeed, to believe in their success,
to communicate well with their teachers, to set academic goals, to organise
themselves to achieve these goals, to overcome obstacles.
The
second component is the development and maintenance of a safe, supportive
learning environment where (i) children feel cared for and respected, and (ii)
adults model and provide opportunities for them to practice and apply SEL skills both in class
and throughout the school. Communication styles, high performance expectations,
classroom structures and rules, school organisational climate, commitment to
the academic success of all students, and openness to parental and community
involvement are all necessary for the successful creation of a supportive
learning environment (Greenberg et al., 2003; Zins et al., 2004).
The
Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) illustrates
the connection between social and emotional learning and improved academic
performance (see Fig 1). Based on a review of the evidence, CASEL contends that
SEL interventions and skill development should be taught within a supportive
learning environment and should also contribute to the enhancement of such a
climate. These enablers in turn lead to positive child development and greater
attachment and engagement in school. The final outcome is improved academic
performance and school success (Zins et al, 2004).
Evidence
There
is a growing interest in examining the link between social-emotional
functioning and academic achievement. Several authors have examined the effect
of SEL programmes on children’s academic outcomes, including school grades and
standardised achievement test scores. In 2008, Payton and colleagues undertook
the largest and most rigorous assessment of the impact of school-based SEL
programmes on children. This report, which has been hailed as one of the most
critical and potentially influential pieces of work to emergein recent years,
concludes that evidence-based programmes are intimately linked to improving
children’s academic performance.
This
meta-analytic review included 317 studies involving 324,303 school children age
5-13 years. The resultsfrom this review are very impressive. Compared to
students in the control groups, children participating in SEL programmes
demonstrated improvements in multiple areas including:
• enhanced
social and emotional skills
• improved
attitudes towards self, school and others
• enhanced
positive social behaviour
•
reduced conduct problems – misbehavior and aggression
• reduced
emotional distress – stress and depression
• improved academic performance –
test scores and school grades.
The
results from this review indicate that in addition to improving students’
social and emotional skills, these SEL programmes also significantly improved
children’s academic performance. Notably, SEL programming yielded an average
gain on achievement test scores of 11 to 17 percentile points. These results
suggest that SEL programmes have the potential to elevate a child performing at
the 50th percentile in terms of their school achievement (i.e. doing better
academically than 49 percent of their peers) to the 61st percentile (i.e. doing
better academically than 60 percent of their peers) – an 11 percentile rise. In
discussing the significance of these findings for schools, Payton states:
“Although
some educators argue against implementing this type of holistic programming
because it takes valuable time away from core academic material, our findings
suggest that SEL programming not only does not detract from academic
performance but actually increases students’ performance on standardised tests
and grades”.
The
study also found that only when school staff conducted the intervention did
students’ academic performance improve significantly. This implies that the
direct involvement of teachers and school staff is critical if programmes are
to translate improvements in children’s social and emotional skills into
so-called “hard” academic outcomes.
In
terms of the characteristics of successful programmes, Payton and colleagues
found that interventions using four recommended practices for skills training
(S.A.F.E.) were the most effective:
Sequenced : programme applies a planned set of
activities to develop skills sequentially
Active : programme uses active forms of
learning such as role plays and behavioural rehearsal with feedback.
Focused : programme devotes sufficient time
to developing social and emotional skills
Explicit : programme targets specific social and
emotional skills.
It
is interesting to note that Zippy’s Friends uses all four of these
recommended practices in developing the coping and social skills of young
children.
The
results from this comprehensive review provide clear and compelling evidence of
the significant positive effect that SEL programmes have on children’s academic
achievement. SEL programmes not only improve social and emotional outcomes but
also improve skills which are vital for children’s academic performance. This
is particularly noteworthy in this era of accountability and teachers’ concerns
about raising academic standards. Furthermore, Greenberg (2003) states that
learning social and emotional skills is similar to learning other academic
skills in that the effects of initial learning are enhanced over time to
address the increasingly complex situations children face regarding academic
achievement, social relationships, citizenship and health. In addition, several
reviews of universal SEL programmes found evidence of greater effectiveness in
the early years (ages 2-7) than in older children (Tennant et al., 2007; Browne
et al., 2004). Taken together these findings highlight the need for schools to
embrace their role in promoting social and emotional learning from an early age
in primary schools, and to adopt a spiral approach that builds on what has been
learned as children progress through primary school into secondary school.
Aleisha M. Clarke & Professor Margaret M. Barry
Health Promotion Research Centre,
National University of Ireland Galway
References
(Browne,
Gafni, Roberts, Byrne, & Majumdar, 2004; Elias, et al., 1997; Greenberg, et
al., 2003; J. Payton, et al., 2008; J. W. Payton, et al., 2000; Tennant, Goens,
Barlow, Day, & Stewart-Brown, 2007; Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Walberg,
2004)
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Zins,
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