Social Emotional Learning (SEL) for High School Students

Emotional intelligence has significant influence over career and personal success. People who are emotionally intelligent are able to identify their emotions, maintain awareness of themselves while also having the presence of mind to notice the emotions of others through verbal and nonverbal cues. While this is an essential skill students should learn as early as possible, it isn’t always the primary focus in the high school classroom. In this article, our EdTech company discusses the meaning and significance of emotional intelligence for high schoolers, and we’ll guide you through creating a plan for fostering Social Emotional Learning in your classroom.

While this is an essential skill students should learn as early as possible, it isn’t always the primary focus in the high school classroom. In this article, we discuss the meaning and significance of emotional intelligence for high schoolers, and we’ll guide you through creating a plan for fostering Social Emotional Learning in your classroom.

Why is Emotional Intelligence Important in High School?

Students who have an established emotional intelligence are able to regulate their emotions, maintain a positive outlook, and fluidly adapt to new circumstances.

These individuals tend to be highly influential because their relationship skills are strong, and they know how to empathize and inspire others. Their awareness of personal and group dynamics allows them an advantage in every situation.

Emotional intelligence can help them in almost any social interaction from high school to adulthood. Perhaps the most important thing to know about emotional intelligence is that it can be improved over time.

But how can educators improve social intelligence among their high school students? The answer is with Social-Emotional Learning, or SEL.

What is Social Emotional Learning?

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process by which schools and teachers can influence the development of K-12 students’ emotional intelligence.

The values, assumptions, and beliefs around which schools are organized play a significant role in how well SEL is integrated into the day-to-day experiences of students.

Social Emotional Learning Examples

A school’s commitment to Social-Emotional Learning can often be found in the system’s disciplinary practices. Artifacts like parent-student handbooks and district policies make values, assumptions and beliefs about student discipline transparent.

The administrators and teachers are required to follow the disciplinary practices laid out in these documents. These practices exemplify the extent to which SEL is integrated into the culture of the school.

Restorative Practices Instead of Exclusionary Discipline

The use of exclusionary discipline (such as suspensions) without restorative practices has an enormous impact on a school’s culture and on social-emotional learning for high school students.

Imagine a student who is late to class every day in a week. A zero-tolerance school may use disciplinary measures against the student, such as holding them after school for detention. An example of restorative practices in this scenario would be to speak with the student about the issue.

The educator might then find that the student had to take care of a sick family member or had another experience that was outside of their control. From here, the educator and student could establish a solution that could help them manage this issue and arrive at school on time in the future.

Utilizing an Advisory Block

Another example that epitomizes the organizational values, assumptions, and beliefs held in a high school is the time and energy dedicated to developing and facilitating an advisory block.

The quality of a school’s advisory block has great influence on school culture and the social-emotional learning of its students. It’s unfortunate when advisory is overlooked and underestimated, or when time is allocated, but resources and teacher development fail to be cultivated.

It’s difficult to know where to focus our energies in schools when there is so much to do! However, emotional intelligence matters even more than academic development, so it’s essential for educators to ensure an effective advisory block has taken root.

The Importance of Social Emotional Learning

Social Emotional Learning is more than how discipline is handled and what goes on during advisory. It’s critical for educators to integrate SEL into instructional content and practices if we want students to learn positive social emotional skills and dispositions in high school.

Indeed, students are always learning about their social and emotional lives and are either practicing prosocial behaviors or reinforcing less effective ones. A school’s culture can shift when teachers are given the necessary time, tools, and professional development to boost their capacity for integrating SEL into instructional content and practices.

Beyond the pronounced benefit of developing greater emotional intelligence, in a meta-analysis of 213 school-based SEL programs Durlak et al (2011) found an 11-percentile point gain in academic achievement as measured on standardized test scores.

With the combined behavioral, emotional, and academic benefits of SEL, there should be a high priority placed on getting this right in schools.

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