This document discusses the evidence behind social and emotional learning (SEL) programs in schools. It outlines that SEL programs are most effective when they take a whole-school approach, focus on developing relationships and participation, and provide clarity and autonomy. Recent research shows that well-designed SEL interventions can positively impact students' social/emotional skills, behavior, and academic achievement, as well as teacher retention and performance. Key ingredients of successful programs include sound theory, a supportive school environment, skill development, parental partnerships, high-quality implementation, and monitoring/evaluation.

1. Developing SEAL : what does the
evidence say we need to do?
Professor Katherine Weare
Universities of Southampton and Exeter
skw @soton.ac.uk
Bridgend
July 2011

2. Aims
Outline the origins and
evidence for the key features
and principles of SEAL
Explore what recent research
adds to the picture
To clarify what actions you
need to take as a result.

3. l Health Promoting Schools in
My role
Europe: Mental Health
l Reviewing evidence e.g. for
UK Govt (‘what works”) and
EU (Dataprev)
l Helping design SEAL
programmes
l Advisory e.g. TaMHS, Early
Intervention, WHO, Scottish
Assembly

4. SEAL drew on international work from a range
of interrelated perspectives….

5. SEAL drew on
l Long term work in LAs on SEL e.g.
Cumbria, Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham
l Successful whole school approaches e.g.
Healthy Schools, Anti-bullying, diversity
l Evaluated SEL programmes in UK e.g.
PATHS, Second Step, Incredible Years,
Friends
l Successful SEL work elsewhere e.g.
Australia - resilient schools, Norway -
bullying, US – conflict resolution, solving
problems, emotional control, optimism
l Secondary SEAL – on primary

6. Schools who opted for SEAL had a range of
motives:
l To raise achievement/ continuous improvement
l To support what the school does anyway but get
more explicit and coherent e.g. about skills
l To extend Healthy Schools and PSHE work on
emotional health and wellbeing
l To address particular problems – staff or pupils
l To build staff confidence, staff skills
l To get out of special measures/ impress Ofsted
l Secondary – to build on work in primary feeder
schools

7. Based on a new understanding of the role
of social and emotional learning in schools
l Traditional view Modern view
l For young children l Everyone including adults
l Responsibility of the l Everywhere e.g. secondary
home/ health services schools, workplaces
l For special needs/ those l All of us, including ‘without
with problems problems’(?)
l Trouble shooting/
l Positives e.g. wellness, growth,
prevention
strengths,
l Bolt on extra/low status
activity l Central to life and educational
l Wishful thinking - an art goals – learning, behaviour,
not a science relationships, career
l Evidence based – it can work

8. Primary SEAL
l Initially mainly curriculum
based - 7 themes, 5 levels
l 1 lesson a week across whole
primary school plus assemblies
l Delivered how schools wish e.g.
PSHE, circle time, literacy etc
l Developed whole school
guidance, work with parents –
Family Seal, work for special
needs – silver set

9. Secondary SEAL
l Built on primary SEAL, international
evidence, and pilot
l Web based
l Whole school approach from the
outset – school organisation, staff
development, behaviour, parents etc
l Using diverse models of
implementation
l Emphasis on staff development
l Learning materials for years 7-9 and
anti-bullying

10. Some key landmarks/ evidence
l What works in promoting emotional and social competence
University of Southampton (2004) – SEL can work, outline of
principles, need for home grown approach
l Evaluations of SEAL by Institute of Education, Ofsted NFER –
SEAL popular with schools, modestly positive on hard outcomes
l NICE reviews of primary, secondary, violence related, targeted
(2009) principles generally endorsed, SEAL supported
l Evaluation of secondary SEAL by University of Manchester (2010)
disappointing on outcomes, need for high quality implementation
l Evaluation of secondary SEAL by University of Sussex (2010)
SEAL can work well – central importance of implementation and
school ethos
l Dataprev – EU review 2011 – SEL can work if done well, principles
endorsed, need for high quality evaluation especially for whole
school approaches

11. Overall findings of reviews
l Strong group of SEL interventions
l Few adverse effects
l Positive, and small to moderate
effects, overall (average 0.28) on all
the areas reviewed
l Some interventions sometimes have
much stronger effects in some
circumstances
l Positive impact on academic learning
l Effects cannot be relied on – devil is
in the detail

12. Well designed interventions can impact on
l Positive health and wellbeing:
l Mental health problems -
anxiety, depression, stress
l Social and emotional skills
l Social behaviour
l Teacher retention,
performance and morale
l Attendance
l Learning

13. Recent summary of results of 207 SEL
programmes in US:
l 11% improvement in achievement tests
l 25% improvement in social and emotional skills
l 10% decrease in classroom misbehaviour, anxiety
and depression
Social and emotional learning (SEL) and
student benefits
www.casel.org/downloads/EDC_CASELSELResearc
hBrief.pdf

14. l Sound theory and evidence based Key ingredients
l Whole school, integrated of effective
l Supportive ethos and environment – approaches
balance key features
l Balance universal, targeted,
indicated
l Develop skills
l Partnerships with parents
l High quality implementation
l Monitoring and evaluation
l Strong leadership
l Effective staff development

15. The key principles/ ingredients of effective
approaches
lSound theory
and evidence

16. Evidence from neuroscience- brain is
an emotional organ
l Cerebral cortex - value driven and
can only process what the limbic
system lets in
l Limbic system – gatekeeper
-responds to what is emotionally
meaningful/ valued
l Reptilian brain – basic survival -
all that is left to us under stress
l Brains pathways need social and
emotional attachments to grow

17. Learning and performance of staff and
pupils is improved by wellbeing
l Stress is the enemy of rational
thought
l Chronic emotional problems
make learning difficult
l Unattached people find
learning difficult
l Ready to learn when we feel
safe, valued
l We think about/ process what
we feel strongly about
l Learn better when alert but
relaxed and focused – flow
l Helps staff feel motivated, and
perform

18. Whole school approach
with supportive school
ethos

19. The whole school environment
Skill development
Management
Curriculum and
Leadership
Methods
Policies
Pupil support
Staff
Pupil involvement
School climate and
ethos
Community
Parents Physical environment
Outside agencies
• More is better, so long as it is coordinated and coherent

20. Create balanced environments
and ethos
l Relationships e.g. warmth,
listening, respect
l Clarity e.g. rules and
boundaries
l Participation e.g.
belonging, bonding,
ownership CARP?
l Autonomy e.g.
independence, critical
thinking

21. Relationships…
l Warmth
l Sense of connectedness,
belonging, valuing
l Respect
l Empathy
l Focus on positives e.g.
behaviour management
l Listening
l Learning social skills,
cooperation
l Fun, humour

22. Participation
l Involvement, engagement,
ownership
l Openness and transparency
l Diversity/ success for all
l Bottom up’ approach
l Shared goals, values, power
l Groupwork, teamwork
l Peer learning
l Learning styles
l Pupil voice
l Partnerships e.g. parents,
community, agencies

23. Clarity– clear, explicit,
positive….
l Values and aims
l Goals - measurable
l Boundaries, rules
l Congruence
l Consistency e.g. rewards and consequences
l Roles and responsibilities
l Standards and expectations
l Sense of safety

24. Autonomy
l Self determination
l Questioning
l Independence
l Having control
l Personal responsibility
l Independent thinking
l Critical awareness including staff
l Real choices, decision making,
responsibility
l Involve pupils e.g. in management
of their behaviour and learning

25. Balance
universal,
targeted,
indicated

26. Get right balance
lUniversal – for all
lTargeted – at risk
interventions
lIndicated – one to one
for severe problems

27. Universal approach more helpful for those
with problems than targeted alone
l Less stigmatising
l Problems are widespread, on a
continuum, connected
l Same processes which help
everyone help those with
problems – ‘more’ not
‘different’
l Provides educated ‘critical
mass’ of people to help those
with problems

28. Targeting - start early and keep going
l Brief interventions can sometimes
work with mild problems -but most
take time
l Target the youngest/ address early
l Spiral approach/ booster sessions
l Integrate with whole school
l Use small groups and one to one
l Beware using groups with same
problem, especially bullying
l Use experts to support in-school
work, not just withdraw pupils
l Strong parental involvement

29. Specific mental health issues
l Self esteem – tough to influence, best if focused on
l Depression – also tough, associated problems
make it complicated. Long term, CBT/Social Skills
indicated.
l Anxiety, stress, easier to influence with medium
term interventions using mixed methods e.g.
relaxation, CBT, meditation, body work
l Conduct disorder – short term can work, long
term is better, training teachers to be less negative
helps
l Bullying – whole school work, with bullies,
victims and bystanders
l Universal suicide prevention - unwise

30. Some generally effective targeted
approaches
• Long term programmes on
social and emotional skills –
reinforced in all interactions
with children
• CBT
l Conflict resolution programmes
l Play based approaches
l Nurture groups
l Parenting programmes

31. Skills and the curriculum

32. What are the skills are we trying to
develop in students and staff?
l Self understanding
l Understanding and
managing the
emotions
l Motivation
l Social skills
l Empathy

33. Learning skills
l Learning outcomes clear and
explicit through school day
l Underpins all teaching and
learning
l Includes peer work
l Sensitive to differences e.g.
cultures, learning styles, stage
l Empowers - not coercive or
manipulative
l Use the key methods of skills
learning e.g. generalisation,
coaching, feedback, modelling
l Monitored to improve learning,
not label the student

34. Myriad opportunities for learning...
Out of classroom The
e.g. sports, trips, visits, curriculum
student council, work Subjects
experience PSHCE
Circle time
Learning and
teaching, thinking
skills
Staff development Student support
Coaching Tutorials
Modelling Counselling
and guidance
Careers

35. Methods
l Active, varied, experiential
l Groupwork
l Peer approaches
l Use identification/practice/generalisation
l Use coaching, feedback, mentoring
l Structured lessons, scaffolding etc
l Modelling

36. l Share the goals Working with
l Involve parents in delivering the
programme
parents
l Recognise parental concerns and
anxieties e.g. about language, stigma,
their own difficulties
l Normalise -include wellbeing in
home/school literature e.g. contracts,
postcards home, parents evening
discussions
l Use variety of outreach methods –
meetings, leaflets etc
l Integrate it into events parents come to
anyway e.g. plays, concerts
l Parenting programmes – teach skills

37. High quality implementation

38. High quality implementation
l Explicit: focused directly on desired
outcomes
l Well defined, specific and
measurable goals
l Explicit guidelines, possibly
manualised
l Thorough training and quality
control
l Ongoing support for staff
l Complete and accurate
implementation
l Consistent, comprehensive
coherent, coordinated, congruent
l Success monitored

39. Monitoring and evaluation
Built into the implementation cycle
Use tailored measures e.g. inventories
and questionnaires of skills, values,
opinions
Assessment of whole school ethos
Ask all involved, staff, students, parents
Use existing data e.g. attendance,
incidents, academic results
Qualitative approach, e.g. interviews,
discussions
Use same tools across schools for
comparison

40. Founded on sound leadership
and staff development

41. Key challenge – motivating self,
and staff
l “What has this got to do with
education”?
l “Too many other initiatives”

42. Address the wellbeing of staff
l Listened to
l Respected
l Given autonomy and
choice
l Help with own stress
levels
l Take change slowly
l Integrate the new with
normal activity
l Time to develop own
skills

43. Effective leadership for SEAL
l Strong and involved lead from the top
l Clear, focused, explicit
l Clear specification of responsibilities
l Clear what is different from what went
before, and why
l Linked with concerns of your staff
l Integrated with normal staff development
l Taken slowly and with sense of ownership
l Allow criticism

44. How far are you looking after your
own wellbeing?
l Time for self
l Allowing yourself to be
human and make
mistakes
l Seeking as well as giving
support
l Stress reduction
l Work- leisure balance

45. Social and emotional learning is
central to good education