Highlighted Session: The Impact of Social Emotional Learning on Social Cohesion in Fragile Contexts

Group Submission Type: Highlighted Paper Session

Proposal

The role of education is increasingly important in conflict-affected settings, where deepening divisions can be bridged with holistic education programming, paving the way for greater harmony and peace. A holistic approach to education is necessary to ensure that programmes are not only improving children's literacy skills, but also improving their wellbeing and promoting social cohesion.

In order to achieve this, education programmes in conflict and crisis settings need to integrate psychosocial support (PSS) and social emotional learning (SEL) components. These elements of an education programme contribute to an improvement in children's learning outcomes as well as an improvement in their wellbeing and ability to create more positive relationships with their peers, teachers, families and their broader community. Holistic education interventions also contribute to an improvement in social cohesion as children learn to manage their emotions and have more meaningful and positive connections with others, particularly those who might be from different backgrounds or communities.

Over time, these programmes contribute to paving the way for building and maintaining peace as children and adolescents start gaining the necessary skills to work towards having a more united and peaceful community.

To ensure that PSS and SEL interventions are effective and relevant, it is necessary to measure their impact on children and adolescents. Relevant, good quality data is essential in ensuring that education programmes are meeting the needs of local communities and are adhering to globally recognised minimum standards.

The proposed panel will examine the importance of PSS/SEL measurement tools in showing impact and informing future programmes. The first presentation will focus on the INEE PSS/SEL Toolbox and the importance of not only making various tools that measure PSS and SEL available to education actors but also ensuring that they can be contextualised and localised. The panel will then look at two case studies of education programmes that have strong PSS/SEL components. The first case study will look at Concern’s non-formal education programme in Syria and particularly at the use of the Social Emotional Response and Information Scenarios (SERAIS) assessment to measure improvement across multiple domains of SEL skills as well as to get insight on the adjustments needed for the education programme to deliver greater impact. The second case study will look at Plan’s Playful Minds for Wellbeing, a play-based PSS-SEL initiative using story-telling that supports both children and adolescents building resilience and improving coping mechanisms. The initiative also supports staff in applying PSS-SEL principles in both education and child protection programming, comprising strong coaching models for continuous professional development and staff wellbeing.

Sub Unit

• Monitoring and Evaluation SIG

Chair

• Sonja H Anderson, INEE

Individual Presentations

• PSS/SEL Toolbox - Esther Wambui Mbau, Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE); Bryan Nelson, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Measuring the Impacts of SEL in Syria: Results from the Social-Emotional Response And Information Scenarios (SERAIS) Assessments - Agathe Freal, Concern Worldwide; Monica Kassouf, Concern Worldwide; Paul Tonkei