AJE Feature | School-wide approaches for promoting social and emotional well-being in Australian school contexts by Annemaree Carroll, Julie Bower, Holly Chen, Jim Watterston, & Angela Ferguson.

The full-length American Journal of Education article by Carroll et al. can be accessed here.

Incorporating social and emotional well-being into school policy and practice has never been more important, with clear links established between academic achievement and the explicit teaching of social emotional learning (Durlak et al. 2011). Yet very little research captures the policy challenges experienced by major stakeholders when endeavoring to strategically embed social and emotional well-being (SEW) in educational contexts. Using a science of learning lens, the present research identified how well-being is prioritized in an Australian school context from five school stakeholder groups. Through semi-structured interviews, the study sought the views of 157 participants, including students, parents, teachers, and school executive members in three Australian urban government high schools and departmental and management staff of the Department of Education (DoE) in Queensland, Australia to determine the current status of social and emotional well-being (SEW) in an Australian context. 

From the voices of the five major stakeholder groups, five clear themes demonstrated by CASEL (2013, 2020) as essential elements of social and emotional well-being in school policies and practices were deductively analyzed from the interview data. All stakeholder groups recognized the importance of a shared vision for SEW and the need to prioritize it in school practices despite some variation in points of view. For example, most teacher groups expressed their reluctance to have a vision, as their SEW has previously been overlooked. They appealed for a cultural change to value and support their work and well-being. Student and parent groups highlighted the need for more support in academic learning and the prevention of bullying. 

In relation to the implementation of social emotional learning, DoE staff, school executives and teacher groups emphasized the need for a coordinated approach to implementing social emotional learning (SEL) using a whole school model. DoE staff and school executive groups also viewed quality leadership as the key to building a trusting and safe culture, a foundation for SEL. In comparison, effective communication was the common issue highlighted by teacher groups (formal and informal channels for building relationships and getting support), parent groups (timely and clear communication with the school and teachers), and student groups (communication to enhance understanding across student sub-groups and cultural groups). 

Another common theme across the five stakeholder groups was the need for more proactive support, resources, and clearer protocols for promoting the well-being of teachers and students. Moreover, explicitly teaching social and emotional skills to teachers and students was suggested across the five stakeholder groups, while school executive and parent groups emphasized the need to prioritize explicit teaching of teachers’ coping skills to improve their well-being and benefit their teaching of SEL to their students.

The present study has highlighted that the precursors to changing SEW policies and practices are already in the system. There is evidence of support for an increased focus on SEW at the highest level of the organization, as demonstrated in the DoE and school executive interviews. The challenge appears to be one of translating this commitment into actions that can be embedded within the school climate, enshrined in practice, and maintained in the context of competing priorities placed on schools and teachers. Expectations and interactions that promote trust, respect, value, and collaboration impact significantly on the quality of the learning environment and the well-being of students and teachers (Collie 2017; Roffey 2012). In a school system context, such expectations come from multiple levels, including from the top of the school organization—the central policy and operational areas—in addition to the levels of school leader supervisors, school leaders, the collective teaching team, and the wider school community. For well-being at a school level to be truly achieved, a concordance of expectations is required that places social and emotional well-being at the center of all teaching and learning.

The challenge for schools now, lies in how to implement purposive and systemic programs where all stakeholders are engaged in the well-being of students and staff (Rutledge et al. 2015). Invariably schools will experience some tensions while developing a school-wide policy to well-being in existing school cultures where mental health has not previously been prioritized, and where teachers feel unprepared to address the growing rates of mental health issues in their students. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread interruptions to schooling, with its longer-term effects on young people’s social and emotional well-being and mental health still being fully realized and understood (Zieher et al. 2021). Emerging evidence suggests increasing mental health issues and feelings of isolation and reduced academic performance and well-being among our young people world-wide.  Simultaneously, the stress of teachers has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with their role extending to the rapid development and delivery of online materials to students remotely (Allen et al. 2020), while also being available in classrooms for families of frontline workers. With the closing and reopening of schools repeatedly occurring in many countries since March 2020, teachers have carried the burden of rapidly upskilling in digital literacy, while also having concerns for the engagement, motivation, and well-being of their students (Hoffman and Miller 2020). Although the pandemic has not yet ended, there is already a strong argument internationally, for the need of evidence-based interventions to assist young people to re-evaluate their thoughts and adjust behaviours, as well as strategies to prevent the development of long-term mental health issues (Loades et al. 2020). There seems no better time than now, to ensure that all stakeholders within school communities are working together to embed systematic school-wide social emotional learning. 

References

Allen, Rebecca, John Jerrim, and Sam Sims. 2020 “How did the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Teacher Wellbeing.” Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) Working Paper 1: 20-15.

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). 2013. CASEL guide: Effective social and emotional learning programs—Preschool and elementary school edition. Chicago, IL: Author. 

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). 2020. Fundamentals of CASEL. https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/ 

Collie, Rebecca J., 2017. “Teachers’ Social and Emotional Competence: Links with Social and Emotional Learning and Positive Workplace Outcomes. In Social and Emotional Learning in Australia and the Asia-Pacific (pp. 167-184), Springer, Singapore.

Durlak, Joseph A., Roger P. Weissberg, Allison B. Dymnicki, Rebecca D. Taylor, and Kriston B. Schellinger. 2011. “The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions”. Child Development 82 (1): 405–32.

Hoffman, Jessica A., and Edward A. Miller. 2020. “Addressing the Consequences of School Closure due to COVID‐19 on Children’s Physical and Mental Well‐being.” World Medical and Health Policy 12 (3)3: 300-310.

Loades, Maria, Eleanor Chatburn, Nina Higson-Sweeney, Shirley Reynolds, Roz Shafran, Amberly Brigden, Catherine Linney, Megan McManus, Catherine Borwick, and Esther Crawley. 2020. “Rapid Systematic Review: The Impact of Social Isolation and Loneliness on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in the Context of COVID-19”. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 59 (11): 1218–1239. 

Roffey, Sue. 2012. “Pupil Wellbeing – Teacher Wellbeing: Two Sides of the Same Coin?” Educational and Child Psychology 29 (4): 8-17.  

Rutledge, Stacey A., Lora Cohen-Vogel, La’Tara Osborne-Lampkin, and Ronnie L. Roberts. 2015. “Understanding Effective High School’s Evidence for Personalization for Academic and Social Emotional Learning”. American Educational Research Journal 52 (6): 1060-1092. 

Zieher, Almut K., Christina Cipriano, Joanna L. Meyer, and Michael J. Strambler. 2021. “Educators’ Implementation and Use of Social and Emotional Learning Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic”. School Psychology 36 (5): 388-397.