Educators’ implementation and use of social and emotional learning early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease of 2019 has had multifaceted effects on students, their families, and the educators who support their learning. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most notable changes for schools was the sudden move to distance learning-an unprecedented disruption to academic, social, and emotional instruction. Social and emotional learning (SEL) skills play an important role in human development by supporting academic success and overall well-being, including skills for effectively coping with stressors such as those imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on previous work, we created the Crisis Response Educator SEL Survey (CRESS) to examine predictors of SEL implementation during the pandemic. Structural equation models (SEMs) were used to predict: (a) educators' reported challenges implementing SEL during distance learning; (b) educator SEL implementation with students and use of social and emotional (SE) strategies for themselves; and (c) educator self-judgment and emotional exhaustion. Predictors included school/district guidance to support SEL, school/district support of educator SE needs, and the priority on SEL for the school and the educator. Our sample consisted of 219 educators committed to SEL who reported on their experience with SEL during distance learning toward the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Findings suggest that school/district support of educator SE needs predicts lower levels of challenge implementing SEL during distance learning and lower levels of educator burnout and self-judgment, whereas greater school/district guidance to support SEL was associated with more SEL implementation with students and more educator use of SE strategies for themselves. Impact and ImplicationsSchools and districts are prioritizing social and emotional learning (SEL) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that prioritizing SEL, without guidance and support for educators' social and emotional needs, is insufficient in overcoming challenges implementing SEL during this crisis. In this study, educators whose schools or districts provided social and emotional support and SEL guidance to their staff reported fewer challenges implementing SEL during distance learning, less self-judgment and emotional exhaustion, and used SEL with their students more.

Teachers Using Social Emotional Learning: Meeting Student Needs during COVID-19

“…The pandemic created a wide range of learning needs among students in classrooms and further complicated the task of teaching. Through the use of personalized, small-group and individual meetings, tutoring sessions, and written feedback, teachers continued an individualized focus on students' needs (Zieher, et al, 2021).…”

“…Similarly, teachers and administrators across the country had to deal with new challenges of teaching during the pandemic, learn new technologies, and develop skills to address social and emotional wellbeing of students in addition to supporting academic needs (Decker & Beltran, 2021;Zieher et al, 2021).…”

Perceptions of the <i>Book Creator</i>’s role as a forefront of SEL during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Responding to this goal is part of the literary demand for additional studies that will allow delving into and revealing the effects of the change in teaching methods because of emergency remote education (Corcuera & Alvarez, 2022). Moreover, this examination can widen the limited theoretical literary knowledge (Zieher et al, 2021) regarding all facets of SEL components in teacher-training institutions during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when there was extensive use of digital tools. In addition, the study will aid in broadening knowledge regarding how students cope with distance learning in teacher-training institutions and a summons to rethink how lecturers integrate digital tools in emergency remote education, which became the essence of teaching (Gurukkal, 2021).…”

“…This journey includes activities in which students learn to control their behavior, activities that allow the exploration of other people's perspectives, activities that encourage collaboration, creativity critical thinking, and activities that reduce emotional stress and increase a sense of belonging to school and more (Ferreira et al, 2011). Students who participate in a teaching program that emphasizes SEL tend to experience less anxiety, to function better academically, to be more attentive, less hyperactive, and less aggressive in school (Zieher et al, 2021).…”

“…Online learning requires students to exercise a series of skills such as self-regulation and navigating in online learning, balancing between studies, and taking care of one's well-being and the family, sharing physical space with the family. Each of these factors alone and all of them combined, diminish the ability of lecturers to teach in a way that promotes SEL (Kamei & Harriott, 2021;Oyarzun et al, 2021;Schmidt-Crawford et al, 2021;Zieher et al, 2021). These considerable interferences that emerged during the COVID-19 lockdowns often disrupted student routine, impeded social interaction, and negatively affected their psycho-social health (Basaran & Yalman, 2022;Schmidt-Crawford et al, 2021).…”