Social-Emotional Learning – Demystifying SEL

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) to the forefront of discussion and practice in education. While the world is striving to get back to normalcy, our partner organization Redbricks School in India realized that all of us (children and adults both) need to be equipped with the internal strength and emotional intelligence to build back the social infrastructure of learning. At Redbricks, a strong part of their mission is to nurture holistic individuals, and to advocate for best practices in education.

SEL Fest 22 was arranged by Redbricks School and focused celebrating Social & Emotional Learning. The aim was to spread awareness about SEL amongst educators, children’s families and caregivers as well as the larger community, during this crucial time in the history of education.

Are you familiar with Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)?

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is fundamental to human development and education. It is the process of developing critical social and emotional competencies which benefit a person academically, professionally, and socially. SEL can also lead to stronger and more inclusive communities.

The event SEL Fest 22 included a host of national and international experts from multiple disciplines such as Educational research and practice, Human development, Psychology and Counseling, Art and Design, Storytelling, and Child safety. There were plenty of key activities available for children, educators, parents, education leaders and college students.

Experts demystifying Social-Emotional Learning 

We were honored to be one of the experts and have the opportunity to share insights from Finnish education point of view. Learning Scoop´s Pedagogical Director Johanna Järvinen-Taubert was invited to a panel discussion together with Dr. Christina Cipriano who is the Director of Research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence in USA and has immense knowledge in the field of Social-Emotional Learning. The webinar was moderated by Renita Handa from India, who is an Ed.M. ‘22 candidate, Harvard University and Founder at Redbricks Education Foundation. The topic of the panel “Demystifying SEL: Insights from Global Educational Research and Practice” offered a great opportunity to explore the concept of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and its implication for children’s learning, development and education through high-quality international research and practice.

The initial feedback shared from attendees is that they loved the openness with which everyone shared their work and ideas. One of the successes was that the research was made so accessible for the audience; for example giving concrete examples contributed towards helping the audience understand and access these powerful ideas from research. It was also praised how the ideas  and principles of the Finnish education system were synthesized and presented it in such a convincing and concise manner for the audience. Hopefully that will initiate a change in the mindsets of many educators and parents for creating a better future for their children!

Thank you for the opportunity to be part of SEL Fest 2022! One powerful message by Dalai Lama summarizes the importance of SEL well:

“When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts.”