Social and Emotional Learning- Empathy Through Education

Table of Contents

Social and Emotional Learning – Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education.
GS Paper 4:
- Ethics and Human Interface- Role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values;
- Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an important facet of education in India as mentions in the latest National Education Policy (NEP-2020).

Definition of Social and Emotional Learning: SEL is the process of learning to recognize and manage emotions and navigate social situations effectively.
Importance of SEL: It supports skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity among students which is as important as numeracy and literacy (central aims of NEP 2020).
- SEL is foundational for-
  - Human development,
  - Building healthy relationships,
  - Having self and social awareness,
  - Solving problems,
  - Making responsible decisions, and
  - Academic learning.
- Research finds that students with greater social skills and emotional regulation are more likely to have success.
Key Elements of SEL: Key elements of SEL include cultivating ‘empathy’ and ‘theory of mind’.
- Empathy: It is the ability to understand another person’s emotions and be aware of why they might be feeling those emotions from their perspective.
- Theory of Mind: It is the ability to understand others’ intentions, knowledge and beliefs and recognize that those might be different from your own.
Impact of Covid-19 led school closure:
- Negative Impact: school closures reduced opportunities for students to deepen social relationships and learn collaboratively in shared physical spaces.
- Positive Impact: Remote learning gave parents the opportunity to discover their children’s social and emotional lives.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) should be integrated with the larger curriculum rather than just being added as a chapter in it.
- It is vital to consider that the learning process is a social and emotional experience.
Develop an Indian SEL framework: This should be based on the following-
- Application of SEL practices should be based on students’ socioeconomic backgrounds,
- SEL strategies of caretakers and educators must align with one another,
- Long-term success requires SEL to be based on scientific evidence.
Role of Policymakers: policymakers have to ensure that future changes prioritize “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”