Remember the Relationships: The Missing Link that Makes SEL Measures More Understandable and Actionable
By Kent Pekel and Peter C. Scales, Search Institute The term “social-emotional learning” starts with the word social, and so it may seem strange to contend, as we do in this blog and in a longer white paper, that most approaches to SEL and SEL measurement underemphasize the role of relationships in strengthening SEL. As the field has focused on students’ interpersonal capacities and intrapersonal self-regulation, relationships obviously haven’t been ignored, but, for the most part, we suggest that the field hasn’t paid adequate attention to the relationships between teachers and students through which social and emotional skills can be powerfully enhanced. The focus of most SEL measures is on the individual student’s social-emotional knowledge and skills, rather than […]
