Teachers’ Perspectives of Developmentally Appropriate Transformative Social and Emotional Learning in Elementary and Secondary Schools

• In Event: Building Inclusive Futures: Teachers Advancing Equity through Social and Emotional Learning in Diverse Learning Contexts

Abstract

Background: In response to the call for social and emotional learning (SEL) to serve as a lever for addressing historical and systemic inequities, transformative social and emotional learning (TSEL) was introduced as an equity-elaborated version of SEL (Jagers et al., 2018). TSEL is defined as a process through which individuals critically examine the root causes of inequity and take explicit action to promote social justice and equity (Jagers et al., 2021). Although TSEL has recently gained scholarly attention, existing research has yet to explore how TSEL can be implemented in developmentally appropriate ways across various grade levels, which limits its practical applicability. Given that teachers are central to translating TSEL principles into classroom practice (McGovern et al., 2023), this study aims to explore how teachers conceptualize, strategize, and navigate TSEL implementation across elementary and secondary schools.

Theoretical Framework: This paper is grounded in dynamic adaptation theory from implementation science (Aarons et al., 2012), which emphasizes that educational practices must be collaboratively adapted by key stakeholders, such as teachers, to align with local needs and developmental appropriateness.

Method: Twenty K–12 teachers across the United States participated in this study, all of whom were engaged in SEL implementation and interested in integrating social justice components in their SEL curriculum. Ten were elementary school teachers, and ten were secondary school teachers, representing diverse backgrounds in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, age, and teaching experience. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted virtually between March and May 2025. Using thematic analysis (Clarke & Braun, 2018), key themes and subthemes were generated.

Results: One of the main findings is that all elementary teachers believed that TSEL is not only feasible but essential to begin in early childhood. In contrast, six secondary school teachers expressed concern that their students lacked the social maturity to engage in TSEL, revealing a deficit-based perspective. Upon deeper analysis, this deficit view appeared rooted in the homogeneity of their student populations in terms of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status and a perceived lack of prior exposure to equity-oriented learning. Elementary school teachers shared a wide range of integration strategies for TSEL, including embedding TSEL into academic content, conducting community circles, involving families, supporting student-led projects, and using interactive role-plays. Secondary school teachers also highlighted integration with academic subjects and student-led approaches, such as youth participatory action research (YPAR) for TSEL implementation. Notably, several secondary teachers emphasized that scripted or standardized TSEL curricula would be ineffective with their students. Instead, they advocated for flexible, student-driven approaches that empower youth to identify inequities in their school or community and take action to address some of the problems.

Significance: This paper contributes to the field by highlighting how TSEL can be implemented in accordance with students’ developmental stages, rather than assumed to be only applicable for older age groups. In addition, this paper positions teachers as central agents in transforming TSEL framework into actionable practices, by focusing on their insights for designing developmentally appropriate TSEL practices that resonate with diverse classroom contexts.

Author

• Jin Hyung Lim, University of California - Berkeley