Social‐emotional learning and physical activity in schools: Practitioner perspectives and initial measurement development

Abstract

School mental health (SMH) practitioners and physical education (PE) teachers have been identified as key stakeholders in supporting the integration of social-emotional learning (SEL) and physical activity within schools. Authors of this study developed and administered a survey measure to delineate SMH practitioners' (i.e., school psychologists, school counselors; n = 219) and PE teachers' (n = 138) perspectives of socialemotional learning (SEL) and PA, and aligning these practices within their work. There were two forms of the measure developed, with one for each stakeholder group. The analytic procedure involved Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), descriptive statistics, and analysis of mean differences using independent sample T tests at the factor level. The SMH form brought forth three factors (linking practices, need for training, and current practices), and the PE form brought forth two factors (linking practices and need for training). Survey results suggest that both SMH practitioners and PE teachers agree that there is inherent value in youths' engagement in both SEL and PA and would like increased training to incorporate such practices within their unique roles. SMH professionals rate on average that they "neither agree nor disagree" that they integrate PA within their work. Implications are discussed for both research and practice.