Social Emotional Learning: Building Community and National Networks and Policies

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

High quality Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs have the potential to foster learners’ holistic wellbeing alongside foundational literacy and numeracy skills. SEL and foundational learning outcomes do not occur in isolation of each other. Children learn and develop according to their surrounding environment; culture, relationships, experiences, and resources in their immediate settings (e.g., schools or early childhood centers, homes, and neighborhoods and communities), as well as macro-systems (government policies and the broader cultural and political environment) influence their social and cognitive development (Jones et al, 2021). In recent years, SEL interventions have seen global growth, both as a key strategy in education foreign aid and in national education priorities.

A critical challenge faced when implementing SEL programs in low and middle income country (LMIC) contexts is that SEL frameworks narrowly developed for specific western contexts are commonly used as a starting point in very different LMIC contexts. This can occur with limited contextualization of such SEL frameworks, often leading to a mismatch of SEL domains, which may be perceived differently in LMIC contexts or even entirely absent from the initial SEL framework.

What happens when SEL interventions are not locally contextualized? USAID conducted an extensive SEL Systematic Review (Dietz and Thompson, 2021) in which they found multiple studies that assessed the same intervention in different contexts with differing affects on their target population across each of them. This review asserts that the design and measures of interventions must consider specific contexts and include consultations with target populations to ensure programming is responsive to context-specific needs and that SEL approaches are relevant for participants’ communities. According to the review’s key findings, without the engagement of local communities, a program may contradict local values, norms, and practices, which can undermine its effectiveness.

Knowing that contextualization is key to successful SEL interventions, this panel highlights different approaches that three implementers are undertaking to accomplish such efforts. Critical contextualization elements involve a national approach and collaboration at the highest levels of policymakers and education officials, but it does not end there. Engagement with children, teachers, community members, and caregivers not only can ensure effectively contextualized SEL interventions, it enhances their agency, protesting the system that has not traditionally included their input. Similarly, this panel examines the supporting factors that influence positive SEL outcomes in a child’s ecosystem, including child protection, local values, social norms, and language.

The presentations share common themes on mainstreaming SEL at the national level, engaging multiple local stakeholders at different levels (e.g. policymakers, educators, caregivers, and broader communities), ensuring SEL interventions reflect local cultural norms and values, supporting local partners’ leadership of SEL development and implementation, and integrating SEL programming alongside foundational learning approaches. These three presentations target learners ranging from early childhood through grade 12 and also include themes that are unique from each other, such as an emphasis on teachers’ SEL skills and children with disabilities, the importance of language in contextualization, evaluation/assessment tools, social behavior change, and home visits to reinforce caregivers’ role in SEL with learners.

The first presentation explores determinants of children’s SEL in Sri Lanka and specifically student-teacher relationships, participating in the Education for Protection and Well-being (EPW) program. Key risk factors, as well as protective factors associated with children’s SEL in these contexts will be explored, along with a case study on “co-creating” a locally relevant SEL framework and teacher training with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education.

The second presentation shares achievements and lessons learned from the organization’s collaboration in developing an evidence-based locally led SEL intervention at the national level, including designing and adopting a national SEL framework in Rwanda. The presenter will also share initial results of a program evaluation that uses a SEL skills assessment tool tailored to the national framework.

The third presentation discusses a caregiver engagement to support learners’ SEL through a project in Rwanda. Caregivers are reached through media messaging, group caregiver sessions, and home visits by volunteers. The presentation will focus on challenges and lessons learned in equipping caregivers to support learners SEL, especially through home visit interactions.

These different approaches toward contextualization provide insights into what we collectively have learned when it comes to best practice in contextualizing SEL approaches in different program environments and from the highest levels of national policy to household practice. Together the panelists and discussant will identify SEL contextualization considerations of greatest applicability to practitioners seeking to contextualize SEL approaches elsewhere.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Michael Greer, World Vision

Individual Presentations

• Bridging research and policy: exploring key determinants of student-teacher relationship in Sri Lanka and co-creating a national SEL framework - Janella M Nelson, ChildFund International; Jagath Kusumsiri Gunapala, ChildFund Sri Lanka

• Building a national SEL framework and intervention from the ground up in Rwanda - Jules Gatete, Save The Children International; Elyssa A Skeirik, FHI 360; Chantal Uwiragiye

• How to Build a Network of SEL Supportive Parents and Caregivers in Rwanda - Michael Greer, World Vision; Angelique Tusiime, World Vision International Rwanda

Discussant

• Aliou Tall, USAID