Social and emotional learning is increasingly recognized as playing an important role in the promotion of positive mental health in schools. In 2012, the Mental Health Commission of Canada identified child and youth mental health as a priority for the transformation of mental health systems in Canada. To this end, comprehensive efforts to promote positive social and emotional development in schools and to foster safe and caring school environments are urgently needed. This paper highlights the multi-faceted approach undertaken in British Columbia over the past decade to promote positive mental health through social-emotional learning in schools.

Social and emotional competence are intricately linked, both developmentally and functionally. This entry begins with an overview of social competence, and then reviews several influential models of emotional competence, from which key components of emotional competence that are critical for effective social functioning are identified. How these components, which include emotional understanding and emotion regulation, develop in childhood, and how they contribute to successful social development, are explored. The role of early social experiences in the development of emotional competence, and how emotional competence in turn contributes to the development of social competence, directly and indirectly through enriching the social landscape, are described. Finally, opportunities and strategies for supporting the development of social and emotional competence at home and in school are considered.

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