Education reform is on the way and should blend Leadership with Social-Emotional Learning. There is continual debate over what practices will effectively alter the trajectory of the American Educational System. Specific trends in Educational Leadership may be included in this overhaul. Some examples include:
- Personalized Learning
- Inclusive Education
- Blended and Online Learning
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Social-Emotional Learning
- Etc.
To manufacture impactful change, we must blend Leadership Development Strategies with Social-Emotional Learning tools that allow students to eliminate self-doubt and help them remain present for all learning opportunities. Former Superintendent Mike Caudill of Madison County Schools in Kentucky believed, “Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.” The first step in providing help is to develop students’ emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills. Without these core competencies, students and educational institutions will lack the foundation for overall learning and growth.
Proposed Initiative
To create a high-quality and equitable education for our schools, we must provide resources that foster leadership development, enhance emotional intelligence, and promote a positive school culture. We, as educators, must teach and speak openly about the power of authentic leadership. We must define and encourage students to create a leadership strategy that allows them to minimize self-doubt and empowers them to lead courageously. This is made possible with the development of emotional intelligence.
Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.
Mike Caudill
The solution should follow the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework. This collaborative is the leading organization in Social-Emotional Learning. According to CASEL, “Schools, districts, states, and others can use CASEL’s Framework to Foster knowledge, skills, and attitudes across five areas of social and emotional competence; Establish equitable learning environments and coordinate practices across four key settings that support students’ social, emotional, and academic development” (What is the CASEL Framework? 2023). CASEL is a proven resource for SEL research, resources, and framework. CASEL identifies five core competencies of SEL. They include:
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Responsible Decision-Making
- Relationship Skills
- Social Awareness
CASEL claims, “Our framework provides a foundation for communities to use evidence-based SEL strategies in ways that are most meaningful to their local context. It can be applied to many priorities and aligned with each community’s strengths, needs, and cultures” (What is the CASEL Framework? 2023).
The ability to differentiate the Social-Emotional Learning structure allows schools to meet the immediate needs of their students. It allows them to combine the additional need for student leadership. Emotional intelligence and leadership are byproducts of the five core competencies outlined by CASEL.
How to Align Leadership with Social-Emotional Learning Competencies
Leadership naturally aligns with five SEL Competencies. To be an effective leader, we must exhibit self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness. Leaders know and understand their strengths, weaknesses, values, and emotions. A quality leadership development program will help students discover these qualities within themselves. Self-control and adaptability are two critical components of quality leaders. They must be able to harness their emotions and work towards goals.
Teaching students how to initiate systems in their lives is valuable to the educational structure. Routines play an integral part in self-management. Leadership education will emphasize responsible decision-making. Students will learn to navigate difficult situations and interactions to be confident leaders. Relationship skills will allow leaders to communicate and relate to others. Leadership requires building relationships and connecting with others, even in conflict. Great teams are sustained through teamwork and social awareness. The final SEL competency, social awareness, recognizes and understands that leadership considers the emotions and perspectives of others.
Leadership is Influence
For educators to effectively influence students and see them adopt the five competencies of Social-Emotional Learning, they must take on the practices themselves. Educators and those in Leadership must model what they teach—also known as leading by example. They will all benefit by practicing proven strategies that increase their ability to meet the five SEL competencies. However, in a study completed by James Bailey and Randy Weiner titled Interpreting Social-Emotional Learning: How School Leaders Make Sense of
SEL Skills for Themselves and Others explain that many school leaders believe in SEL, but a disconnect exists between their understanding and belief in SEL and actual plans to implement it (Bailey & Weiner, 2022). They speak about leaders’ inability to accurately consider emotions’ role within the context of their leadership practice and how they can effectively practice the SEL competencies within their own lives. When considering this, it is challenging to influence emotional leadership, especially when attempting to produce effective teaching and work in educational organizations. Understanding these observations, organizations must take on this initiative as a community and support one another across the board. As Jimmy Casas says, you must “Culturize” the school inside and out (Casas, 2017).
Support
There must be systems in place that support both educators and students. One of those is the implementation of daily physical activity for everyone. There should be built-in movement breaks that allow time for exercise, emotional decompression, and social opportunity. Kaylee Vincelet states, “Some activities could focus on playing specific games that focus on
problem-solving and conflict resolution to work on students’ social skills” (Vincelet, 2023). This will lead to a more significant number of positive social interactions and will support emotional well-being.
Kaylee Vincelt says there are four steps to developing a physical activity program that promotes SEL.
- Find Support
- Include Principal / Administration
- Staff Involvement
- Designing Your School-Wide Program
Support must come from District Leadership, School Leadership, Teachers / Staff, and Community. These are the key players who will routinely implement the practices. All individuals participating in the physical activity component must be trained in SEL and know how to effectively communicate the competencies to students and teach them how to implement them in their activities and lives.
Embed What Helps You to Help Them
Teachers must be taught how to embed the SEL competencies into their everyday curriculum. One actionable strategy is a teacher explaining a life practice that benefits them. To infiltrate the emotional needs of students, they must view and draw accurate comparisons to those teaching them. If students see that a teacher uses specific SEL strategies to help them cope and deal with certain situations, they are far more likely to try the suggested practice. For example, if a teacher in their spare time enjoys discovering new music that brings them joy and allows them to rest their mind, that teacher may share the specific ways in which they find new music. They will walk their students through the exact steps to do so. If a teacher wakes each morning and participates in a yoga flow, teach each class how they establish and maintain their routine. They should dive into why they enjoy it and talk openly about the benefits it brings physically, emotionally, and spiritually. There is no creative limit on how teachers can share their experiences. We must encourage our educators to share these life lessons often and with enthusiasm.
Emotional Intelligence
According to Lauren Landry of Harvard Business School, emotional intelligence is understanding and managing emotions while recognizing and influencing the feelings of others (Landry, 2019). The SEL competencies are closely tied to EI. Psychologist Daniel Goleman wrote the popular book Emotional Intelligence. According to Landry, Goleman stated, “The most effective leaders are all alike in one crucial way: They all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. It is not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They matter, but they are the entry-level requirements for executive positions” (Landry, 2019). Leadership and emotional intelligence can be trained.
Conclusion
Educators must adapt to the changing needs of our students and community. Students will be significantly influenced by modeling the five SEL competencies to build the overall culture in and out of school. Institutions should prepare students to enter adulthood with the capacity to lead, communicate, and effectively deal with adversity. Through professional development, teachers will learn the tools to teach and mentor community leaders of tomorrow.
P.S.
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References
- Bailey, James & Weiner, Randy (2022). “Interpreting Social-Emotional Learning: How School Leaders Make Sense of SEL Skills for Themselves and Others,” School Leadership Review: Vol. 16: Iss. 2, Article 4. Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/slr/vol16/iss2/4
- Casas, J. (2017). Culturize: Every student, every day, whatever it takes. Dave Burgess Consulting, Incorporated.
- Landry, L. (2019, April 3). Why Emotional Intelligence is Important in Leadership. Business Insights Blog. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/emotional-intelligence-in-leadership
- Pawliw-Fry, J., & Benjamin, B. (2023, September 7). What is emotional intelligence?. Last Eight Percent. https://www.ihhp.com/meaning-of-emotional-intelligence/
- Vincelet, K. A. (2023). (rep.). How does Physical Activity Support Our Students’ Social-Emotional Learning in School? (pp. 2–7).
- What is the Casel Framework?. CASEL. (2023, March 3). https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/
