Exchange Sneak Peek: SEL Can Help Learners Chart Their Ways Through an Uncertain Decade

2025 Exchange speaker Katherine Prince of KnowledgeWorks offers a sneak peek of the issues she’ll be exploring in her breakout session, An SEL Blueprint for the Future of Learning.

As the education landscape undergoes profound transformation, social and emotional learning (SEL) stands at a pivotal crossroads. Educators need to evolve in response to the sweeping forces shaping the next decade of K-12 education while also providing a critical foundation for young people as they navigate an especially uncertain future.

People in the U.S. are experiencing challenges to our sense of unity that impedes our ability to connect across differences and work together toward a shared future. At the same time, concerns about climate contribute to the sense of an uncertain future. These factors, along with the spread of generative AI, are redefining how and where learning occurs. These realities form a complex backdrop for SEL and all aspects of education.

Drivers of Change

Over the next decade, several major drivers of change will further complicate efforts to meet the needs of learners and equip them with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to steer the course of their own lives. As KnowledgeWorks’ most recent future forecast, Charting a New Course for Education, describes:

• AI will continue to develop, impacting human cognition, identity and relationships.
• Challenges to public institutions will require public education leaders to reimagine how they support learners and collaborate with other learning providers.
• A growing gap between young people’s realities and school will make it essential to design learning that engages students and meets their needs.

These drivers are more than just external pressures; they are shaping the fabric of how young people grow, connect, and thrive.

Future Possibilities for SEL

The mental health crisis among youth demands SEL approaches that foster resilience and emotional literacy. Similarly, the rise of AI calls for SEL strategies that help students navigate uncertainty, build authentic relationships, and develop a strong sense of self in an increasingly digital world.

SEL can help students cope with today’s challenges in many ways. It can nurture care for the environment as young people face worries about climate change, or it can strengthen a sense of community during times of disruption. SEL can also spark imagination to find common goals. Just as importantly, it can give students tools to engage with complex issues in ways that match their stage of development.

Shaping the Future for and with SEL

My Exchange session, An SEL Blueprint for the Future of Learning, will invite participants to consider how they might help shape what’s ahead. By grounding SEL in the changing landscape and considering a range of possibilities for the future, educators and changemakers can build the environments and competencies that equip young people to thrive.

Education systems must prioritize learners’ humanity, joy, academic growth, and development as whole people while supporting their ability to chart unique paths forward. Looking to the future can help ensure that today’s choices help steer them in that direction.

To learn more about this and other other great SEL topics, be sure to register for the 2025 Exchange, November 4-6, in Minneapolis, Minn.

The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.

Katherine Prince leads KnowledgeWorks’ exploration of the future of learning and stewards the organization’s strategy around engaging people with education transformation. As Vice President, Foresight and Strategy, she leads a team of professional futurists who explore possibilities for education and help people grapple with change. She holds a BA and an MA in English as well as an MBA and is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists and a Salzburg Global Fellow.

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