SEL in Practice: A Teacher Training Module for Intentional SEL in Inclusive High School Sports

• In Event: From Research to Practice: Promoting SEL Skills for All Students Through Innovative Social Inclusion Programming

Abstract

As the presentations in this symposium demonstrate, participating in UCS sports and leadership activities has many positive benefits for students with and without intellectual disability (ID), from social and emotional learning (SEL) to academic and behavioral outcomes. Considering recent research demonstrates an exponential growth in students’ SEL needs today (Twenge et al., 2019), intentionality in schools’ SEL practices is essential because it can maximize students’ learning (Blyth et al., 2017). For adults supporting students’ SEL development, training on intentional SEL provides necessary guidance and builds adults’ competence (Donahue-Keegan et al., 2019). Yet, learning how to support students’ SEL is rarely prioritized in teacher preparation/PD courses (Buchanan et al., 2009; Schonert-Reichl et al., 2015), which exacerbates existing equity issues in education around accessible and meaningful SEL opportunities for all students, including those with ID. Quality professional development (PD) can lead to more frequent use of new instructional techniques (Desimone et al., 2002) that benefit students.
This presentation shares a PD module developed to train school staff to implement activities that intentionally target SEL skills with students with and without ID on inclusive school sports teams. Three working groups collaborated with the researchers developing the module: Unified Sports coaches (four coaches with 5-10 years of coaching experience), an expert advisory group (nine national experts in SEL, PD, and disability), and Special Olympics (ten staff with expertise in sport education, youth leadership, and evaluation). The PD is centered on understanding SEL within a sports context, its importance for youth with and without ID, and its role in supporting positive adult-student relationships. Further, the PD trains school staff on how to implement specific SEL-focused activities with their team and provides them with a set of “activity cards” as a resource.
The module and associated materials were drawn from and align with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning SEL framework (CASEL, 2020). As such, the training and materials highlight all five CASEL domains including self-reflection (self-awareness), perseverance (self-management), goal setting (self-management), respect for others (social awareness), team building (relationship skills), and problem solving (responsible decision-making). Moreover, the training components align with the Learning Policy Institute and US Department of Education recommendations on effective teacher PD and online professional learning (for virtual delivery due to COVID-19) to ensure quality (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Office of Education Technology, 2014).
Initial piloting of the module with Unified Sports coaches (n=11) indicated an engaging training (average rating: 4.5 out of 5), with every coach praising the structure as more engaging than most other PD they have attended. The most common takeaway reported (86%) was the need to make SEL intentional as part of their coaching pedagogy, with most coaches (71%) mentioning the value of the specific SEL-focused activities taught in the training and all coaches reporting confidence in their ability to implement the activities with their teams. Attendees of this symposium will hear directly from coach panelists about their experiences and perceived benefits of this type of PD and receive the activity cards resource to take home.

Authors

• Holly Jacobs, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Despoina Lioliou

• Margaret Mackin, University of Massachusetts - Boston