The impact of social and emotional learning lessons on career and technical students

ABSTRACT

Social emotional learning (SEL) has had a rich history in educating the whole child, yet schools still do not have (SEL) as part of their curriculum. Today's educators have a renewed perspective on what common sense always suggested when schools attend systematically to students' social and emotional skills, the academic achievement of children increases, the incidence of problem behaviors decreases, and the quality of the relationships surrounding each child improves. (Elias et al., 1997, p.1)Students have lost a considerable number of social skills during the pandemic, and many students are having difficulty expressing themselves in a healthy, positive manner. Many soft skills that schools routinely taught were abandoned during the COVID-19 era when many educational platforms moved to remote learning. The students attending Gloucester County Institute of Technology are no exception. These students are learning how to work towards attaining certificates in an array of careers, but soft skills and some social skills are still lacking. The purpose of this study was to expose the students to social emotional learning and determine if this instruction had positive benefits for students. Students in the Automotive and Construction programs received instruction and lessons on understanding healthy ways to express self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness. The students were also taught how to apply these skills to aspects of their personal and professional life. Using a pre- and post-survey, students in the study showed growth in understanding skills associated with social emotional learning and how these skills will help as the students move forward through life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)