Rethinking social and emotional learning in light of current societal challenges

A recent study from Portugal, titled Growing up in a never-ending crisis: youth transitions and aspirations, was recently published in the special issue School-to-work transitions amid social vulnerability in Europe and Latin America. This study analyses the impact of different crises on young people’s views of education and reveals that young people, facing crisis upon crisis, view education merely as a means to an end – a way of getting a (better) job. Parents and educational institutions alike seem to share this reductive view. According to the article, young people often bear the burden of academic success (and failure), oblivious to the complexity of institutional and systemic factors that influence their life trajectories.

These findings are particularly relevant to rethinking the context in which social and emotional learning can take place. In situations of crisis, when the main focus often falls on measurable educational outcomes, it becomes increasingly challenging for teachers to engage children, young people, their parents, and even school leaders in promoting more holistic forms of education. Social and emotional learning, which is all about promoting the development of healthy identities, of personal, social, and learning to learn competences, can be easily eclipsed by the need to become more employable in an increasingly unstable labour market.

While it is important for teachers to acknowledge the challenges of these crises, the European Commission, together with education actors in many Member States, are working towards further developing social and emotional learning. A Commission expert group on supporting well-being at school will be set up in 2023 and many examples of policies and practices are now available. It is important to strive further in this direction and contribute to the development of informed, responsible, and active European citizens.

Further reading:

• Improving social and emotional learning in primary schools: Guidance report
• A formative, inclusive, whole school approach to the assessment of Social and Emotional Education in the EU