While many SEL frameworks are currently being developed and implemented, very few address the systemic inequities students face. Jagers et al (2019) propose a framework which aims to do just this; Transformative SEL emphasizes leveraging student, family, and community cultural assets to inform SEL curricula and instructional strategies.

According to Jones et al (2021), transformational SEL incorporates a social justice lens that builds on student’s interests and knowledge base to further their own identities and redirects their attention to existing systemic inequities. It empowers students to act against these inequities and to be sensitive to collective needs of the oppressed and marginalized. This SEL pedagogy includes (a) predictable and inclusive norms, structures, and routines; (b) cooperative and community-based learning; (c) participatory norm-setting; (d) restorative disciplinary practices; and (e) the use of multicultural and multimodal instructional materials, like storytelling and personal narratives, art, dance, and music that incorporate students’ histories, heritages, cultures, and experiences.

With these pedagogical principles as a foundation, transformational SEL focuses on four main developmental domains: identity, agency, belonging, and engagement. This is achieved through project-based learning and youth participatory action research. These approaches to learning have been shown to have positive impacts on academic, social and emotional outcomes for children and youth.

It is important that such approaches be integrated into current SEL programming at schools to promote student agency and voice. This is especially relevant as students are navigating systems of oppression, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis alongside the typical trials of adolescence. Now more than ever, students need the holistic support of schools and educators.

By Reshma Sreekala, Graduate Assistant at the Center for Social Development and Education