What students say about emotional learning programs actually works
A new analysis of children's own accounts reveals that social and emotional learning programs do improve mental health—but only when schools design them based on what students actually experience. For policymakers and educators, the finding suggests that listening to student feedback, not just measuring test scores, should drive program investment.
Originaltitel: Promoting mental health with programs for social and emotional learning: children’s experiences according to a qualitative evidence synthesis
<p>Mental health is a challenge for many children globally. Universal programs for socialand emotional learning (SEL) have convincing evidence for improving mental well-beingand academic achievement. In a recent qualitative evidence synthesis, teachers showedappreciation of these programs. This study explores the children’s experiences througha qualitative synthesis consisting of five studies. Riks for bias and confidence in thefindings were assessed. The results showed that children experienced that SEL programsimproved their self-esteem and self-confidence, fostered their close relationships andenhanced their socialisation and conflict management skills, which in turn improvedthe school environment. Although most participants had positive experiences of theSEL-programs, some of the participants perceived the programs as rigid, boring andrepetitive. It is thus important to involve the students, making them co-creators whenimplementing a SEL-program, to minimize risks of negative experiences. In all, there arescientific evidence from both quantitative and qualitative research supporting thedissemination of universal school-based SEL interventions.</p>