SEL Across the Globe

In recent years, scholars, educators, and municipalities from across the globe have begun to address SEL in a serious, systematic way as a means to better prepare students for life in the 21st century and promote a positive school climate to encourage the learning of all students. While we have no comprehensive snapshot of SEL worldwide (just as we do not have a full picture of SEL in the US), we know from people and institutions in touch with us that there is much SEL interest, innovation and impact taking place. Here is a brief sampling. If you have news about SEL in your country, we would love to hear it and share it! Please send information to Jeanne Osgood at jsosgood@uic.edu.

Page Contents

• United Kingdom
• Israel
• Singapore
• Latin America
• Canada
• Australia
• Online resources

United Kingdom
The interest in SEL has been is growing very quickly in the UK, in both England and Wales and in Scotland (which have separate educational systems). Work to promote social and emotional skills in schools can now be found in some form in most areas across the UK, supported by considerable interest and involvement by voluntary agencies and universities. This work goes under a range of different titles, including emotional intelligence, emotional literacy, emotional health and wellbeing, personal and social development, and mental health. Some local authorities and schools have been basing their work on successful US projects, others on approaches and materials developed in the UK, while others have been developing their own local approaches. In an attempt to consolidate and develop work in this area and provide clear entitlement for all students, over the last five years the government's Department for Education and Skills has committed significant resource to developing explicit programmes for England that cover the full age range. These go under the title "Social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL)". The primary programme (ages 4-11) is now well established, it can be found in about half of primary schools - evaluations are showing some encouraging results, including clear impact on behaviour and learning. A secondary SEAL programme (11-18) was piloted in 60 schools for the past two years, and is being supported in 10% of secondaries this year, with others free to use it if they wish. It has caused quite a splash politically and in the media here because it is the first time something of this scale and breadth has been suggested for all pupils in secondary schools. SEAL encourages schools to take a "whole school" approach, developing the kind of emotionally literate climates, ethos and relationships which can encourage SEL for students, staff and parents. Within this overall framework, the materials that have been developed to encourage learning, for students and staff, in and outside classrooms, can receive appropriate support. Meanwhile in Scotland the Scottish Executive has been developing approaches based on their healthy schools network, mainly under the title of "mental health and emotional wellbeing."

- Professor Katherine Weare, Head of Institutional and Professional Development Research Centre, School of Education, University of Southampton, United Kingdom

SEL Resources on the Department of Education and Skills site:

• SEAL Resources (Primary and Secondary): Frameworks for explicitly promoting social, emotional and behavioral skills at the primary and secondary levels, with built-in progression for each year group within a school. Dozens of activities, interactive PowerPoint presentations, and extensive guidance booklets are available for download.
• Family SEAL: Parent/caregiver and child workshops "designed to make explicit links between the support parents and carers provide their children when they are developing the social, emotional and behavioural skills and school based work." The 104-page workshop guide, and supporting materials are available for download.
• Community Cohesion Standards: Designed with the aims of closing achievement gaps; developing common citizenship values based on dialogue, mutual respect and acceptance of diversity; building good community relations; and reducing barriers to participation and achievement

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Israel
In Israel, educators have developed important approaches to implementing emotional intelligence. The first involves the concept of Binat Halev or "wisdom of the heart," derived from research- based and Biblical and Mishnaic sources. Binat Halev emphasizes finding and nurturing children's strengths, their "hidden intelligence," and bringing into their everyday school life the opportunity for them to develop and express their own unique abilities. The second involves an integrative conceptualization and organization of life skills and prevention services by SHEFI, the Ministry of Education's Psychological Services and Counseling unit. Both of these approaches, used together and expanded nationwide, hold the key to student engagement, violence reduction, and increased motivation for learning and creativity.

Many of the schools with such climates have incorporated social-emotional learning, character education, or life skills into their overall mission statements or Board policies. They have ongoing, coordinated, high-quality, empirically supported programs to teach skills for social and emotional learning, and to infuse character into various aspects of the school routine and environment. These schools also devote specific time toward preventing problems such as bullying and other forms of violence, alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, and pregnancy. Related to this, there is a strong emphasis on high quality service learning experiences, certainly at the high school but also (in many cases) at the middle school and elementary levels. The schools and the students in them come to be seen as places of caring and community.

They are places where all join together in the service of others. There is no reason to wait for military service as a force for creating equality, teamwork, and mixing in Israeli society; community service can serve that role at an earlier time in children's lives, and also serve to energize their commitment to academic learning.

With respect to scope or reach of SEL, every school in Israel must have a Life Skills curriculum component, even though all do not have the Binat Halev whole school climate component. The latter is most prevalent in the Tel Aviv and Northern Israel districts.

- Professor Maurice J. Elias, Rutgers University, Founding Member of CASEL, and adviser to Israel's Ministry of Education on the promotion of emotional intelligence in schools.

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Singapore
In 2004 a delegation from the Ministry of Education of the nation of Singapore visited CASEL. Primarily in response to requests from Singapore's global business community, they were in search of methods to improve their graduates' abilities to work effectively in the multi-racial work groups common to these companies. And although Singapore students typically lead the world in cross-national comparisons of math and science proficiency, employers were also pressing for graduates who could be creative problem-solvers when work challenges required more than technical solutions. Their search led them to SEL and CASEL. Together we held challenging and stimulating discussions and visited Chicago area schools doing SEL.

In summer 2006, the Ministry invited CASEL President Roger P. Weissberg to the nationwide launch of SEL in Singapore's schools, using CASEL's framework of five essential social and emotional skill areas. In November 2006, a Ministry delegation visited CASEL and other sites in the US again. We held lively discussions on the challenges of schoolwide and system wide SEL implementation, measurement and accountability in SEL, and how to help educators make the "mind shift" to see the coherence-making qualities that an SEL framework provides. It was a total delight for CASEL staff to engage with a group of peers grappling with the same issues we do, in as sophisticated, thoughtful and experienced a manner as we had ever seen. We at CASEL know that we will learn much from the Singapore experience in the years to come. And we will work to bring our new learning to the world education community. To learn more, visit the Ministry's web site

- Contributed by Mary Utne O'Brien, CASEL

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Latin America
South America's national movement in Citizenship Competencies aims to ensure that the next generation of children is equipped with the necessary skills to become solution oriented and capable of not only preserving democracy, but engaging in it. For example, Colombia has taken a courageous and innovative step by implementing a policy on national citizenship competencies designed to foster the peaceful resolution of conflict, promote the understanding of differences, involve young people in mutual decision making, and encourage a collaboration of youth and adults to create need-based community projects that foster and promote effective citizenry. This growing awareness of the influence of education in the development of responsible, active, and peaceful citizens is, in fact, part of a cultural revolution in favor of peace in Colombia. Colombia views this educational movement as a very strong step in the ongoing efforts to reduce violence and build cultural norms that promote peaceful co-existence. This policy is being implemented in 36,000 Colombian institutions.

Standards and assessments in citizenship competencies guide Columbian educators in implementing programs and practices. The citizenship competencies standards are organized by developmental levels within four dimensions:

• Respect and defense of human rights
• Coexistence and Peace
• Participation and democratic responsibility
• Plurality, identity and value of differences

Columbia is employing many strategies to facilitate large-scale implementation. The standards have been announced by television campaigns, and the complete text has been mass distributed via the main Colombian newspaper. Columbia is also implementing a Trainer of Trainers model to help teachers provide direct instruction based on the standards in their schools.

Columbia uses a system of national evaluations to study both programmatic effects within schools and individual improvement of young people within classrooms based on the citizenship standards and competencies. In 2003, an initial evaluation of over one million students was carried out to provide baseline, pre-implementation data. The results also served as to inform school planning. Subsequently, 5th and 9th grade progress is to be measured approximately every two years at the end of the elementary and basic school cycle. The evaluation measures attitudes, knowledge, cognitive competencies, emotional competencies, and also observed actions. The influence of citizenship competency development on violence and aggression is currently being analyzed, with the hope that the teaching of citizenship competencies may be an important step in breaking the cycle of violence.

- Professor Janet Patti, Hunter College, and CASEL Collaborator Network Founding Member.

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Canada
Social responsibility concept: In the province of British Columbia, Canada, "Social Responsibility" is the term used to describe social and emotional learning. Social responsibility includes:

• Contributing to the classroom and school community
• Solving problems in peaceful ways
• Valuing diversity and defending human rights
• Exercising democratic rights and responsibilities

A Ministry of Education document outlines age-specific K-10 social responsibility performance standards.

Implementation. Many schools and districts across the province are teaching social responsibility, even though it is not mandatory. They have made social responsibility a goal of their school and/or district, and put into place processes to facilitate its successful implementation. The focus of the initiative is to integrate social responsibility into every curriculum and to make it an integral part of teacher practice.

Districts are at various stages of implementation. Some have recruited a team of teachers to assist schools in their efforts; others have made social responsibility a part of a staff memberís job description. Teacher groups across the province are reviewing existing programs and adapting them to suit their needs, or creating their own curriculum and resources.

Assessment. A unified format for reporting on studentsí social responsibility development has yet to be developed. However, teachers are expected to make general comments on a studentís behavior and/or work effort on the report card. Beginning in the first reporting period for the 2006/07 school year teachers at the primary level (K-3) will be required to evaluate students on all four aspects of social responsibility. Teachers have a list of example behaviors for each aspect, for each grade level, and will base their evaluation on observed student behaviors in the classroom or on the playground, and/or evidence of student knowledge, skills and attitudes. Teachers will indicate whether each child is not yet meeting, meeting, or exceeding expectations. This evaluation will appear on the studentís report card as good, satisfactory, or as an anecdotal comment on behavior or social responsibility.

Learning Communities. The Encompass Conference 2007, (April 19-21) is a provincial conference held annually to bring together teachers, parents and students to hear, discuss and take part in many keynote speakers, workshops and interactive presentations all on the topics of social responsibility, social justice and social emotional learning. In 2007, Mary Utne OíBrien from CASEL, Alfie Kohn, Kim Schonert-Reichl, Shelley Hymel, Martin Brokenleg and a host of others will be headliners at the conference bringing their expertise and background to create a stimulating and inspiring three days. For further information about the conference contact Gerry Lush at pd43@bctf.ca.

An exciting initiative emerged from a previous Encompass conference, spearheaded by Dr. Kim Schonert-Reichl and Dr. Shelley Hymel from the University of British Columbia. Representatives from eight lower mainland school districts in the Vancouver area and the British Columbia Teachersí Federation have formed an association that combines programs, resources and ideas to support classroom teachers and districts in their efforts in making social responsibility a part of school culture and teacher practice. This group is in its infancy, but has already made huge strides in establishing itself as a force in supporting the implementation of social responsibility and SEL in the BC public school curriculum.

-Contributed by Chris King and Colleagues, Vancouver, BC

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Australia
The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing supports several national initiatives that are focussed on social and emotional learning and wellbeing.

MindMatters is a resource package and professional development program for secondary schools. Throughout Australia, over 80% of schools with secondary enrolments have sent staff to the free MindMatters training. The program advocates a comprehensive whole-school approach to promote and protect the mental health and wellbeing of all members of the school community. MindMatters provides curriculum resources for use in the classroom, as well as materials to help schools create a caring and supportive environment and develop productive partnerships with their community. A multi-faceted evaluation over several years showed that MindMatters can be a powerful catalyst for positive change in schools.

MindMatters will be adding a further level two planning process for schools. The MindMatters resource will have additional early intervention materials added to the existing health promotion and early intervention materials within the kit. Recent significant developments by the project, to respond to issues of indigenous health and well being, youth engagement and staff health and well being, will also be included.

More recently, the Government has initiated KidsMatter. This is a primary school mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative specifically developed for Australian primary schools by the Australian Principals Associations Professional Development Council, the Australian Psychological Society, the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, Beyondblue: the national depression initiative, and supported by the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund. The initiative is being piloted in 101 schools throughout Australia. The KidsMatter initiative aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of primary school students, as well as reducing and responding to mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and behavioural difficulties. Schools piloting the initiative develop and implement comprehensive plans for each of the 4 key components of KidsMatter; A positive school community; Social and emotional learning; Parenting education and support; and Early intervention for students at risk of or experiencing mental health difficulties.

To complement these and other school-based mental health and wellbeing approaches, the Response Ability initiative supports the pre-service education of teachers. Response Ability provides free multi-media teacher education resources to higher education institutions and offers ongoing practical support to teacher educators. The project team also distributes information through meetings, conferences and publications. The multi-media Response Ability materials use problem-based learning to help teachers develop practical skills. Topics include promoting resilience and identifying young people who need additional support. The existing resources focus on secondary teacher education and are used at around 90% of Australian campuses offering relevant programs. Evaluation data show that the Response Ability materials are effective in raising pre-service teachers’ self-reported understanding and confidence. Plans are underway to develop material for primary and early childhood teacher education.

The Australian Government is currently investigating avenues for supporting social and emotional learning and wellbeing in preschool settings. These include a review of the qualifications and training for early childhood workers in Australia and consultation with the sector in regard to professional development. There are also many other SEL programs available in Australia, designed to assist children of various ages to develop social and emotional competencies or resilience.

-Contributed by Karen Stafford, Hunter Institute of Mental Health, in collaboration with partners throughout Australia

Referenced SEL Resources now available:

MindMatters: Background information and the MindMatters Kit are freely downloadable on the site. Among other items, the kit includes modules on bullying, suicide prevention, enhancing resilience, loss and grief, and diversity.

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Online International SEL Resources

• Denmark: Center for Social and Emotional Learning
• Germany: German Network for Mental Health
• Israel: Psychological and Counseling Services/Life Skills Program
• Japan: EQ Japan
• New Zealand: Cornerstone Values; Youth Education (No Bullying) Service
• Norway: Nasjonalforeningen for Folkehelsen
• Singapore: Singapore Ministry of Education
• Sweden: SET
• Turkey: EI website
• UK: School of Emotional Literacy; Promoting Social Competence Project in Scotland (Scotland); Department for Education and Skills (England)
• UNESCO Education Booklets
• UNICEF: Child Friendly Schools; Life Skills Education
• World Federation for Mental Health