Why Social Emotional Learning is crucial in a technology driven world

SEL involves understanding personal strengths and identifies areas of improvement.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockPhoto

The world today has greater connectivity and faster exchange of information. Further, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has created a new paradigm for human existence. However, the focus on greater technical expertise can limit human touch and sensitivity. It can create robotic individuals bereft of human emotions or connections. This makes social-emotional learning (SEL) crucial, as it focuses on developing life skills such as emotional intelligence, empathy, self-awareness, and responsible decision-making and helps students manage stress, develop resilience, and lead balanced lives.

Research has shown that SEL improves social-emotional behaviour and academic performance, and extends the perimeters of education to include the human element in a technologically charged world. It helps manage emotions, develop relationships, set and achieve goals, and make responsible decisions. It involves recognising and respecting each learner’s unique attributes and tailoring the teaching according to these attributes.

SEL involves understanding personal strengths and identifies areas of improvement to build confidence and self-efficacy. The next aspect is effective self-regulation of one’s emotions, thoughts, behaviours, and actions. This helps manage stress and control one’s impulses.

Benefits

Learning is not isolated to the personal level. Students become socially aware and learn to understand and empathise with others and are tuned to recognising and respecting social norms and cultural diversities. They learn to respect other perspectives, give space for others’ views and advocate for human rights. SEL teaches students to develop and maintain healthy relationships.

Communication and conflict resolution skills are nurtured through a spirit of cooperation and collaboration and desire to achieve shared goals. The approach enables the person to be a decisive and responsible individual who considers consequences of actions to all and evaluates situations to solve problems effectively. There is holistic integration that balances short- and long-term goals.

Educational institutions can integrate the elements of SEL in the curriculum, and extracurricular activities, thus creating a supportive environment for student. This leads to better all-round performance by providing emotional congruence, better communication and teamwork skills and problem-solving abilities. Learners become more engaged in communities and learn to use their strengths for social upliftment.

The most appropriate method to implement SEL in schools is by incorporating its principles into the curriculum of each subject. This could include group activities that foster teamwork and communication or discussions about emotional topics encouraging students to reflect. Educators should implement blended content effectively and efficiently. Further, the support of parents and the community is necessary for successful implementation through PTA. Community members can create support groups that are involved in the skill-building process.

SEL is the key to retaining humanness in a changing technologically enhanced mechanical environment and improves the student’s ability to face technological advances and prepare for a more sophisticated future with sensitivity and empathy.

Geetha Gopinath and Ameen Omar Shareef are Faculty of Economics, National Institute of Technology, Kozhikode.