March 2021 Newsletter
From Your Editor-of-the-Month
Joan Cole Duffell
A career SEL advocate, I've long believed in the power of policy change to support educators as we strive to integrate social and emotional learning into the very fabric of teaching and learning, In the words of Daniel Goleman, "The goal--nothing less than developing better human beings--is more critical to our world than ever."
Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of researchers, practitioners, students, parents and other passionate advocates, we are witnessing a seminal moment in SEL policy-making around the world. This sea change coincides with our collective struggle to address the needs of children, families and educators in current and post-Covid environments--setting the stage for a critical confluence of events that further highlights the vital importance of SEL.
After prolonged isolation, children will need to re-learn the basics of positive social interaction. Many will need caring, patient reminders of how to “do school,” while educators will need skills and support to change the way they have always “done school.” With children experiencing ever greater food insecurity, parental stresses, family losses, and in some cases, abuse or neglect, educators will need to focus now, more than ever, on trauma-informed practice. (See UNICEF’s latest release on the impact of COVID-19 on children’s education globally.)
While SEL is increasingly recognized as the bedrock response to these needs, it is ever more important to place the policy focus on what works, especially what works in situ. SEL must be imbued with cultural relevance and centered on equity. Rather than inserting trendy SEL words into existing policy documents, now is the time to seek fundamental change in education policy, with education equity as its purpose and quality SEL at its very core.
We invite you to hear from some of the bright lights in social-emotional learning as they share exciting policy initiatives taking place in 2021!
WORLDWIDE #SELday March 26, 2021
Join Fellow SEL Advocates Across the Globe!
The second annual International SEL Day is March 26, 2021! SEL Day is an opportunity to join thousands of organizations and people around the globe to spread the word about the importance and impact of social emotional learning. Working together, we can raise awareness for SEL, bring on new SEL stakeholders, create artifacts that demonstrate SEL in action, share SEL best practices… and more!
Learn more and join the global movement today: International SEL Day
Mexico's Education Ministries Give SEL High Marks
From Karanga Steering Committee Member Emiliana Rodriguez
Mexico was the second country in the world to introduce SEL as part of the National Curriculum. The Mexico-based organization AtentaMente played a key role in the design of the curriculum and today is working with the local Education Ministries of three states to implement and evaluate a strategy to train the teachers and leaders. In the state of Coahuila, AtentaMente is training 5000 educational leaders on its program "Educating for Wellbeing" and its working with 1000 teachers in Campeche. In Sinaloa the program is being evaluated with a Randomized Control Trial design on 2000 preschools. To learn more about AtentaMente, visit atentamente.mx. Or communicate directly to Emiliana Rodríguez emiliana@atentamente.mx
Invitation to a cycle of conference sessions: "Más allá de las etiquetas". a series of lectures and workshops focused on the values and socio-emotional skills that support dignity and the prevention of violence against women. All conversations will be in Spanish and will be live streamed from here or https://www.facebook.com/AtentaMenteMX. For more information write to: masalladelasetiquetas@gmail.com
OECD Study on SEL
Report Coming in 2021
The OECD Study on Social and Emotional Skills is an international survey that identifies and assesses the conditions and practices that foster or hinder the development of social and emotional skills for 10- and 15-year-old students.
The Study aims to:
• Provide participating cities and countries with information on their students' social and emotional skills.
• Identify factors in students' home, school and peer environments that promote or hinder the development of social and emotional skills.
• Explore how broader policy, cultural and socio-economic contexts influence these skills.
• Demonstrate that valid, reliable, comparable information on social and emotional skills can be produced across diverse populations and settings.
Learn more about the OECD study here!
SEL and Girls’ Education in Liberia:
Sexy Like A Book
From Karanga Steering Committee Member Patrice Juah
The Martha Juah Educational Foundation, through its Sexy Like A Book initiative, takes a social and academic approach to addressing some of the barriers to girls’ education in Liberia. Sexy Like A Book works to improve girls’ perspective on literacy and education by fostering creative expression and cultural awareness. Through creative writing, public speaking workshops, mentorship meet-ups, and social excursions, girls not only enhance their capacity to tackle academic rigor, but are equipped with the confidence and voice to write and speak about taboo topics in their communities. This approach of embedding SEL into girls’ education, empowers girls with the social emotional skills to think critically and make informed decisions, as socially conscious young leaders.
Check out Sexy Like A Book’s “Enchanting Voices” anthology, written by the first cohort of young writers.
US Grows SEL Support at Federal and State Levels
Jordan Posamentier, Committee for Children Director of Policy and Advocacy
The U.S. Congress has released its next round of COVID-19 emergency funding and is focusing on the 2021-2022 federal budget. In both efforts, there are funds explicitly available for supporting social-emotional learning. SEL is finding its way into federal discussions about student mental health, trauma, equity, and learning loss in light of the ongoing pandemic. U.S.-based SEL leaders will host a virtual congressional briefing on March 26 as part of theWorldwide #SELday. Watch live on youtube.
Committee for Children’s legislative maps show active federal and state-level social-emotional learning legislation.
New Zealand’s Curriculum Leads Initiative
Learner Wellbeing Grounded in Culture, Identity and Language
From Karanga Executive and Advocacy Committee co-chair Joanne McEachen
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Ministry of Education is implementing a nation-wide Curriculum Leads initiative that places student, teacher, whānau (family), and community wellbeing at the centre of educational policy. The Learner First, under the leadership of Karanga Executive member Joanne McEachen, is working with the ministry of education to design the Service Delivery Model for the Curriculum Leads initiative, which focuses on building the capability of teachers to develop learners’ wellbeing through positive decision making and quality curricula learning design. Developed as a national resource that is regionally based, the Curriculum Lead role strengthens the Ministry’s frontline curriculum resources while promoting the cultures, identities, languages, and wellbeing of all learners. By supporting teachers to weave and integrate the national curricula visions, with learners’ unique goals and aspirations, the initiative will empower teachers and learners to find pathways to success and wellbeing for all.
For further information on this or The Contributive Curriculum please contact Joanne@thelearnernerfirst.com
Lebanese Ministry Teams with Harvard
to Advance SEL
By Karanga Steering Committee Member Rolla Khaddage
The Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) with the Center for Educational Research and Development (CERD) have been working on introducing SEL into the Lebanese curriculum. They have worked with Harvard University on the SEL Framework Mapping project.
In response to the pandemic and the crisis in Lebanon, CERD developed a program for teachers, students and parents which is available online for everyone to access. The document is in Arabic and title translates to “Program for Social and Emotional Support in Times of Emergencies”. It includes learning activities which kids can do with their parents at home.
SEL GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SERIES
Thank you everyone who joined us on 10 March for the conversation with Joanne McEachen and the inspirational Linda Darling-Hammond.
We hope many of you will be able to join us on April 7th (11:00 EST) when Dominic Regester (Karanga) will be speaking with with Tony Jackson(Executive Director, Center for Global Education at Asia Society) and Leonor Stjepic (CEO of Montessori Group, Karanga steering committee). The Center for Global Education and the Montessori network both share a compelling vision of education that has curiosity, problem solving and community at its heart. Social and Emotional skills are a core part of this kind of education approach, one which looks at education for the common good rather than for competitive advantage. Registration details here.
Recordings of previous SEL Global Leadership conversations are on our YouTube channel.
“It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
Our mission is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities...
We are prophets of a future not our own.”
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Karanga is an alliance of individuals and organizations committed to advocating for and supporting social and emotional learning programs within formal and non-formal education. Our vision is of a thriving world where all learners are enabled with the skills to succeed in school, work, and life.