ABSTRACT
Social-emotional learning (SEL) has gained attention in education. Awareness of student social-emotional health concerns increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and with this increased awareness, stressors for educators have also increased. However, educators have noted that, despite the significance of social-emotional needs and SEL program implementation in schools, there is a lack of effective educator preparation, knowledge, and support. Despite the growing attention on student social-emotional health, there is - to this researcher's knowledge - little research focused on educator needs when attempting to address student social-emotional health. The question for this research was: In what ways does collaboration and "build time" help to develop capacity for educators to design better social-emotional supports for students? The purpose of this action research study was to explore how collaboration and build time following training help to develop capacity for educators to design better social-emotional supports for students. Participants included seven educators who had taken part in the organization's training and who were separated into two levels. Using their organizational training and experiences, participants collaborated to co-construct materials. Participants completed individual and collaborative feedback forms, constructed materials for an organizational repository and their school sites, and took part in semi-structured interviews, which were member-checked. The researcher recorded notes and analytic memos throughout the study as well. The data collected was coded using in-vivo, process, and descriptive coding procedures and then analyzed. Findings from this study suggest that (1) supporting educators' learning through additional learning opportunities is necessary to help to address student needs, (2) collaboration is critical in education, and (3) supporting educators' well-being is critical. Study implications include (1) supporting and training educators to address student social-emotional health and development, (2) developing systems and establishing environments that ensure student and staff needs are met, which may build capacity for social-emotional learning, and (3) addressing professional and personal needs through collaborative opportunities beyond professional development and training opportunities. To fully address student social-emotional health and development, the lens cannot be solely on students, but, instead, the educational, social-emotional, and mental needs of educators must also be addressed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)