4. Social and Emotional Domain
| Overview | Formal delivery |
| Areas of interest | Informal delivery |
Social and emotional development is generally approached with the broad definition that includes the child’s health and well-being, along with the knowledge and abilities that young people need to succeed in school and later in life.
Promoting social-emotional development is vital for three interrelated reasons:
- Positive social-emotional development provides a base for life-long learning.
- Prevention of future social and behavioral difficulties is more effective than later remediation.
- Social skills and emotional self-regulation are integrally related to later success in both school and work life.
A major developmental task of the first five years of life is the development of self-regulation in its broadest sense. This self-regulation process begins in infancy as babies learn to regulate their crying, sleeping, and other behavior patterns. It extends during the early years to more complex self-regulation (e.g. the ability to control emotional states, to learn to delay gratification, to build relationships with other people, etc.).
These developmental tasks are best attained as early as possible within the developmental phase because building positive social skills and healthy emotional relationships in young children is much easier than later trying to correct behavior and adjustment problems.
In the school years social-emotional development is linked to academic success. Generally a child who is socially and emotionally healthy and school-ready is confident and friendly, has good peer relationships and is able to tackle and persevere at challenging tasks. The child will also has sound communication skills and the ability to listen to instructions.
Promoting social-emotional development is a major responsibility of any educational or developmental program. Steps such as providing warm, positive relationships with adults, developing positive peer reationships and enhancing their interests and abilities are important in these programs.
Students flourish within caring relationships with teaching/learning teams who are willing to listen to them and encourage their ongoing growth. In such an emotional climate, they are likelier to achieve well at school and will be empowered to form close relationships with each other.
Social development and the resulting social competences is more than mere knowledge of skills. It requires insight into the right time and place to use a skill, based on awareness of the social context and the needs of others. The development of the social aspects of this domain requires more than instruction in a wider repertoire of behaviours.
It is about ensuring that the learning and social environment facilitates positive social behaviour and enhances emotional resilence. How this is achieved will differ for students of different ages, although in the main they involve instruction, rehearsal, feedback, reinforcement of appropriate behaviour and repeated opportunities to practise social skills.
Within this domain there are sub-sets that you will need to consider, especially in planning your interactions with learners so as to build capacity within the sub-set. These sub-sets include:
Self-awareness
Identifying and recognising emotions; recognising personal interests and strengths; maintaining a well-grounded sense of self-confidence
Self-management
Regulating emotions to handle stress, control impulses, and motivating oneself to persevere in overcoming obstacles, setting and monitoring progress toward the achievement of personal and academic goals; expressing emotions appropriately.
Being able to take the perspective of and empathise with others; recognising and appreciating individual and group similarities and differences.
Relationship skills
Establishing and maintaining healthy and rewarding relationships based on cooperation and resistance to inappropriate social pressure, preventing, managing, and constructively resolving interpersonal conflict; seeking help when needed.
Responsible decision-making
Making decisions based on a consideration of all relevant factors, including applicable ethical standards, safety concerns, and social norms; the likely consequences of taking alternative courses of action; evaluation and reflection.
 |
Here is an alternative perspective of the various elements within social/emotional development. You will notice great similarities between the two models. |
Should there be formal delivery of learning programs that focus on developing the social/emotional domain?
Generally within an educational setting, there are few formal learning programs directly associated with social/emotional development. Where ever it does occur it should be delivered within the context of the school's curriculum framework and courses of study.
|
Research the availability of commercial learning programs that explicitly focus on social and emotional growth. (Example: http://www.bounceback.com.au) Share your findings in the course's wiki. |
One of the most powerful teaching tools in this area is the modelling of behaviour that is carried out by members of the teaching/learning team.
|
Tips on 'modelling' to support social/emotional growth |