SEL Done Well – Advancing best practices in social-emotional learning at school  

Last updated: September 16, 2024

Students spend a large part of their day at school and as a result learn a great deal about social and emotional functioning in the school setting. Schools are places of learning where students learn subject-specific content and skills and have an important role in helping bolster and develop social-emotional skills. Social-emotional learning (SEL) can be explicitly supported through curriculum or programming that is taught independently of other subjects and can also be woven into everyday learning that strengthens students’ social-emotional development.

Context

Given the expectations outlined in PPM 169, advancing SEL best practices is a priority for school boards throughout the province. To assist boards with effectively implementing SEL, we have recently updated information on the SMH-ON website to consider the conditions, capacity, and cautions related to SEL in Ontario’s schools.

Through many inputs including the SEL project in 2022, we’ve learned that:

1. SEL positively impacts mental health, well-being, and academic success — SEL is associated with a range of positive outcomes, as determined by research globally. Young people who engage with high-quality SEL have better mental health and academic outcomes compared to students who do not.
2. SEL for every student — While building skills in social-emotional learning at school can yield important benefits related to mental health, well-being and academic achievement, significant and serious concerns have been raised about the impact of social-emotional learning on students who are racialized, marginalized and underserved by the education system when SEL is delivered without attention to student identity.
3. Identity matters in social-emotional learning — Social-emotional learning from a culturally responsive and identity-affirming perspective is focused, developmentally appropriate teaching and practice of individual and group social-emotional skill-building that centres students’ strengths and abilities based on who they are.  
4. SEL for collective well-being — Traditional social-emotional learning approaches can be individualistic in nature and rooted in personal skill development, which may be incompatible with worldviews that prioritize collective and community forms of care. 
5. Key considerations for effective SEL at school — To truly reach its potential for every student and to avoid harm, SEL must be delivered with explicit and caring attention to how staff are supported with adult SEL, the creation of anti-oppressive and mentally healthy learning environments, culturally responsive and identity-affirming resources used, and explicit and implicit SEL instruction. 

Learn more

Review our updated webpage for more information about SEL in Ontario schools.

Mental Health Leadership Teams can look to SMH-ON for support on the implementation of culturally responsive, identity-affirming SEL in Ontario schools throughout  the 24-25 school year.