Culturally Responsive Social and Emotional Learning: Perspectives of Early Childhood Teachers

• In Event: Developing Educators’ Social and Emotional Competencies to Advance Educational Possibilities

Abstract

Background & Objectives. Scholars have emphasized that SEL program implementation in preschool settings not only merits special consideration regarding content, instructional approaches, and opportunities to practice skills (e.g., Jones & Doolittle, 2017; Mahoney et al., 2020), but also should be implemented using a culturally relevant and sustaining approach to address the needs of diverse populations (Barnes, 2019). Otherwise, SEL program implementation may be used as a tool of control and deterrence instead of as a tool of empowerment and development, thereby undermining children’s cultural grounding (Lauricella et al., 2016). Thus, it is important to embed a culturally relevant and sustaining lens in SEL that transforms individuals, interactions, and institutions in ways that support optimal human development and functioning, regardless of circumstances or background (e.g., Jagers, Rivas- Drake, & Borowski, 2018; Mahfouz & Anthony-Stevens, 2020). The purpose of this study is to understand early childhood teachers’ perceptions of SEL integration and their approaches to culturally relevant SEL in order to specify implications for the design of culturally relevant SEL programs in the early grades.

Method and Data Sources. Early childhood teachers (preschool through second grade; ages 3-8) were recruited to participate in the study by sending the online survey link to all publicly available emails on public and private school websites in Colorado (n = 7,869), yielding 1,154 participant responses to utilize in study analyses. For this study, we analyzed participant responses to an open-ended question that asked teachers to describe their perceptions of their school’s approach to SEL and its cultural relevance or lack thereof (Q25). Data were analyzed using the general inductive approach and coding technique suggested by Creswell (2010). The analysis process involved five specific steps:
(a) initially reading through the data, (b) identifying segments of information, (c) creating emergent parent codes and child codes, (d) reducing overlaps and redundancies among the codes, and (e) developing themes of the most relevant categories.

Results. Teachers’ perceptions (Table 1) regarding the cultural relevance of SEL implementation varied from being aware of how their schools implemented or did not implement culturally relevant SEL to being unsure if their SEL programs attended to cultural relevance. Others were dismissive of the idea of culturally relevant SEL as their beliefs were grounded in the idea that they should not cater to a particular student population—SEL is for all and thus does not have to be culturally relevant. Teachers’ perceptions regarding the cultural relevance of SEL implementation seemed to be connected to their understanding of the definition of “culturally relevant” and their attitudes and beliefs about culturally relevant practices in general.

Significance. While specific to the state of Colorado, the findings reveal gaps pertaining to understanding of culturally relevant SEL, SEL implementation, and in perceptions of what culturally relevant pedagogies mean. The findings also highlight a need for early childhood teachers to be receive explicit training in culturally responsive pedagogy in order to implement culturally relevant SEL.

Authors

• Julia Mahfouz, University of Colorado - Denver

• Elizabeth A. Steed, University of Colorado - Denver

• Dorothy Shapland Rodriquez, Metropolitan State University of Denver