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Localizing Social and Emotional Learning: Adapting SEL Kernels in International Contexts

Wed, March 13, 2:45 to 4:15pm, Hyatt Regency Miami, Floor: Terrace Level, Orchid A

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Decades of research confirm that children with stronger social and emotional skills have better outcomes at school and later in life across learning, health, and behavior domains (Jones, McGarrah & Kahn, 2019; Jones et al., 2015; Moffitt et al, 2011). School-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs improve students’ social and emotional skills, mental health, attitudes toward school, and academic performance as well as teachers’ social and emotional competence, and reduce teacher stress and burnout (Durlak et al, 2011; Jones & Kahn, 2017; Oliveira et al., 2021; Cipriano et al., 2023).

Based on this evidence, there has been increasing interest in SEL and related programming (e.g., 21st century skills, life skills, psychosocial support, etc.) in education settings around the world. Initial demand for programming can often be vague or wide-reaching, and the conceptualization and application of social and emotional skills can vary widely from context to context. For example, emotion regulation (a term used commonly in US-based SEL programming) may be seen as appropriate and desirable in one context and in another the term emotion regulation may be misaligned with the values and practices related to emotional expression. As another example, in one context critical thinking may be applied to identifying challenges in the community related to environmental sustainability and strategizing to advocate for systematic solutions; in another context critical thinking may be applied to analyzing the appropriate use of authority and strategizing to defend human rights when needed. Despite variation in priorities, values, and manifestations of competencies across cultures and contexts, time and resource constraints often result in the adoption of programs developed in one context—typicallythe Global North—in another with little consideration given to contextualization. In a recent contemporary meta-analysis of universal school based SEL interventions from 2008 to 2020 that represented studies from 53 countries, close to 47% of the programs studied were developed in the United States (Cipriano et al., 2023).

Increasingly, however, there have been efforts in a number of countries, led by local stakeholders, to determine and systematize locally prioritized and defined social and emotional competencies via contextually relevant, locally developed frameworks, including at the national level in Lebanon (Kaloustian, Shrestha & Kotob, 2022) and Rwanda (Rwanda Basic Education Board, 2022), as well as wider regional efforts such as the Assessment of Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) (see for example: RELI, 2022, Ariapa & Akongo, 2021, Fontana & Peverelli, 2021) and narrower, deeply context-specific efforts (i.e., Jukes et al., 2018).

Amidst this revolution of locally-developed frameworks for SEL, the team that developed SEL Kernels of Practice has partnered with local teams in various countries and contexts to co-create SEL Kernels that reflect local cultural values, priorities, and practices in each unique setting. SEL Kernels were developed by analyzing 25 leading evidence-based SEL programs and pulling out the “active ingredients” that promote SEL skill development (Jones, Bailey et al., 2017; Jones, Brush et al., 2017). As a result, SEL Kernels are dynamic, short (5-15 minute), skill-targeted activities, games, and routines that are designed to be flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of different classrooms and settings. Unlike more traditional approaches to SEL that follow a scope and sequence and include lessons that are often 30 minutes or longer, SEL Kernels represent a menu of options for teachers to choose from and adapt, centering teachers’ autonomy and expertise.

This panel aims to showcase the various processes undertaken to contextualize SEL Kernels in the Amazonas region in Brazil, in the Adjumani district in Uganda, as part of a robotics program in Chile, and with educators currently teaching during the war in Ukraine. The panel will explore the various aspects of SEL Kernels that have remained “universal” through the adaptation processes, as well as the distinctions that have surfaced to reflect culture, place, and practice in each project. While the projects represented are each in distinct phases of progress or completion, the panelists will highlight findings, where possible, both empirical and qualitative, from studies undertaken to (a) determine local priorities and practices, and (b) document the ways in which teachers and students perceive and use the SEL Kernels, and (c) examine the extent to which SEL Kernels contribute to changes in social, emotional, and related outcomes.

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