SEL in Early Childhood: Does it really matter to begin so early?
The other day I was having a small talk with my friend who is an expert in social emotional learning (henceforth SEL). She invited me to attend an online forum to discuss the importance of SEL in early childhood. The discussion was about how SEL is important and should be systematically introduced in schools. That was the first time I ever heard of something like that. I clicked the yes button to attend the forum. Well I had questions, to begin with what is SEL and how is it useful for a 4 year old who is trying to learn ABC s and 123 s. Luckily, this question was raised in the forum and a brief discussion on adult’s perception of children followed.
Let me share my take away from the discussion. Most of us believe young children are impressionable and dependent on caregivers. We believe as caregivers, our role is to meet their basic needs, love and care for them. From the first to the fifth birthday children are rapidly developing cognitively, physically and mentally. Also their social contexts are expanding. There is an immense responsibility on us to facilitate children’s smooth engagement with expanding complex social contexts they are dealing with. In this process of looking out for children, most caregivers end up restricting children by laying each and every step by telling them what to do, when to do, how to feel, how to express when in a public space etc. We often rob their learning opportunities by doing so. This definitely does not mean we should not guide children in the right direction, the idea is to not encroach their space but to provide a safe environment where they can flourish. But how do we guide children in the right direction? The answer is in focusing on children’s SEL in early childhood.
The next question I had was ‘what SEL means to a 4 year old?’ I can tell you a few things that I could gather from the session. ‘Systemically introducing’ SEL in schools at an early age can help children to develop competencies to regulate their emotions, build positive relationships, power through challenges and improve their communication skills. It is shown in numerous studies that young children with inadequate social and emotional competencies face a tough time learning in schools. When it comes to school preparedness, knowing their numbers and alphabets is important but not enough. Along with it the child needs to make friends — should be able to play with them, understand and pay attention to instructions, make sense of their feelings and manage them. These factors do not get enough importance compared to the academic aspect. In this field, a study conducted by Aspen Institute claims three factors are important for brain development: social relationships, emotional experiences and cognitive opportunities. These factors influence the patterns of brain structure and functions that provide a firm base for child’s skill development and behavioural patterns. Also other research studies point out children with strong social emotional competencies are better decision makers and perform well in academics.With this understanding I came to agree that involving children in SEL gives them appropriate tools to navigate their way through challenges.
At this point I was wondering how do I introduce my children with these skills and what is systemic SEL in the first place? Can it happen only in schools? Well, all schools do not have this program? What can I do? I asked these questions in the forum and realised SEL is not only for children but caregivers as well. There are two players when it comes to creating a healthy SEL environment for children. First, the children themselves. Giving children opportunities to practice social emotional skills through designed activities can help them to implement the skills learnt in their daily lives. Second, engaging caregivers like parents and teachers in SEL. At this point I was wondering why do caregivers need SEL intervention? In order to reflect on the need for SEL intervention for caregivers we tried to identify a few challenges we face with three to five year old kids.
Here are few concerns shared by parents:
“My kid just refuses to eat food without the TV on. She cries and refuses to eat.”
“She can watch cartoons for hours together with utmost focus but when asked to read something or perform an activity it’s usually not more than a few seconds.”
How do we as adults deal with these situations? Most of us respond by shouting at them, punishing them, and threatening them with consequences. Do we really know why children behave in such a manner? Have we tried to understand the underlying reason? Upon reflection we realised that children’s inappropriate behaviour is a manifestation of inability to express their emotions or effectively communicate what they feel. It can be a mechanism developed by the child to get things rolling the way they want it to be. In these situations responding by introducing punitive action in the form of punishments might stop the child from behaving a certain way but that is a result of fear or the mere need to please adults. By doing that are we not stopping children from reasoning and differentiating between what is good and bad? Hence, undoubtedly caregivers require SEL intervention. The intervention can serve two purposes: One for building their own social emotional skills. Two, preparing them to support their child’s SEL. Research studies assert that a socially and emotionally equipped caregiver is successful in providing a safe and nurturing environment for children. They are well equipped to address challenges posed by children and hold better abilities to understand children’s emotions. They are actively involved in children’s school life and create a better home learning environment. Research studies show a healthy home environment is key to overall well being of a child — be it social, emotional, mental or academic.
If you are wondering how you can introduce your child to social emotional learning please visit the Learning Curve website and check out the tool kit made for children of different age groups. Equip yourself and your young one with social emotional tools to power through challenges. Here is the link to the website: http://www.learning-curve-foundation.org/
Also here are a list of research articles that you can read to get a critical perspective on why it matters to begin social emotional learning so early.
Nymisha Y | Research Specialist
Learning Curve Life Skills Foundation
email: nymisha@learning-curve.co.in
Articles for further reading:
Ashdown, D. M., & Bernard, M. E. (2012). Can Explicit Instruction in Social and Emotional Learning Skills Benefit the Social-Emotional Development, Well-being, and Academic Achievement of Young Children? Early Childhood Education , 397–405.
Darling-Churchill , K. E., & Lippman, L. (2016). Early childhood social and emotional development: Advancing the field of measurement. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology .
Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., Zinsser, K., & Wyatt, T. M. (2014 , February). How Preschoolers’ Social–Emotional Learning Predicts Their Early School Success: Developing Theory-Promoting, Competency-Based Assessments. Infant and Child Development , 426–454.
Jones , S. M., & Kahn, J. (2017). The Evidence Base for How We Learn Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. The ASPEN Institute. National Commission on Social Emotional and Academic Development.
McClelland, M. M., Tominey, S. L., Schmitt, A, S., et al. (2017). SEL Interventions in Early Childhood. ERIC , 33–47.
