Revitalizing Preservice Teacher Education With Social-Emotional Learning at the Forefront: A Burgeoning Movement With Momentum

• In Event: Social and Emotional Learning in Teacher Preparation: Emerging Policy, Research, and Programs

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes
A growing number of U.S. education researchers and practitioners assert that explicit, systematic integration of social-emotional learning (SEL) in educator training programs is at the fulcrum of efforts to revitalize teacher education. Yet, currently, SEL is marginalized in most teacher education programs (Bridgeland, Bruce, & Hariharan, 2013; Cohen, 2006; Fleming & Bay, 2004). Although a number of states have adopted SEL standards or guidelines for the implementation of SEL in school districts, in most cases there is a gap between these SEL standards or guidelines, and what is happening in respective, residing pre-service teacher education (Jones & Bouffard, 2012; Cohen, 2006). This paper will explore how efforts to address this adaptive challenge are gaining momentum in promising ways, with particular focus on federal and state level policy initiatives to transparently integrate SEL in pre-service teacher education.
Perspective or theoretical framework
Developmental sciences research points to why and how it is crucial for pre-service and in-service teachers to have an understanding of the ways in which cognition and emotion are inextricably linked. Concomitantly, a growing number of educators assert that fostering and supporting the development of solid social-emotional competency (SEC) among educators is critically important, beginning with pre-service training. Mounting research evidence supports the longtime common sense understanding that the affective, interpersonal skills a teacher possesses, to manage the daily range of students’ cognitive and social-emotional needs, directly impact students’ academic performance (Durlak et al., 2011; Jennings, 2011; Jones et al., 2013; Roorda et al., 2011).
Methods
This paper presents a survey of federal and state level policy initiatives to transparently integrate SEL in pre-service teacher education paper; highlighted is a case study of the Massachusetts Social-Emotional Learning & Teacher Education (SEL-TEd) Consortium’s efforts to advocate for substantive, systematic integration of SEL research and practices into teacher education programs in this state. The presented case study is situated within the larger movement (national and international) to explicitly integrate SEL in pre-service teacher preparation programs.
Consequences: Findings and Implications
Emotionally attuned and culturally competent teaching and learning in PreK-12 schools is essential to the successful development of crucial life skills for students of all backgrounds and abilities (Willingham, 2009). Although robust scientific research evidences the inextricable link between social-emotional development and academic achievement (Brackett et al., 2011; Durlak et al., 2011), SEL is marginalized in the vast majority of pre-service teacher preparation programs. Though the current, dominant policies vis-à-vis teacher preparation and quality emphasize “value-added” approaches that quantitatively link the type/duration of a teacher’s training to his/her students’ academic achievement, there are promising legislative, policy and grassroots efforts, on both federal and state levels, to integrate SEL in teacher preparation programs in explicit, systematic ways—towards the promotion of highly effective teaching and learning in all PreK-12 schools, for the benefit of all students.

Author

• Deborah Ann Donahue-Keegan, Tufts University