Beyond SEL: Social Emotional Learning, Literacy, and Life Skills 4 ALL
What is SEL, and what it isn’t. This blog will focus on SELLLS, Social-Emotional Learning, Literacy, and Life Skills. SELLLS is not a standalone attribute but a myriad of intersecting attributes. SELLLS fuels the human spirit. In this blog, we will explore the truth and share research-based evidence about SELLLS. As many of the researchers have pointed out, you cannot have whole human learning without SELLLS. Social-Emotional Learning happens all the time; SELLLS are every minute, every day, everywhere, and with everyone. SELLLS is NOT just for K-12 kids.
SELLLS is NOT the same as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, although SELLLS competencies may apply some of the words and concepts in DEI. It is NOT about using pronouns, although one must be self-aware and understand our unique human identity.
Across the US, we can no longer say these three letters, S-E-L. Why? Many entity groups have misinterpreted the tenets of S-E-L as evil, indoctrination, brainwashing, and teaching about LGBTQ and transgender.
Instead, SEL and SELLS include the necessary communication skills, necessary life skills, and workforce competencies. Twenty-five years ago, the US Labor Department created a workforce development report, Secretary’s Commission on Necessary Skills (SCANs Report, 2000), https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED332054 “SCANS examined the demands of the workplace and whether young people were capable of meeting those demands.
Specifically, SCANS determined the level of skills required to enter employment. In this report, fundamental changes in the nature of work were identified; these changes were found to hold implications for the kinds of workers and workplaces, changes that the nation must create and still need to create.
“Three major conclusions were reached: (1) all U.S. high school students must develop the competencies and foundation skills; (2) the high-performance qualities of the most competitive companies must become the standard for most companies, and (3) the nation’s schools must become high-performance organizations. For more information, you can access the entire report at: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED332054
What’s happening? Well, instead of focusing on large-scale problems to develop our workforce, develop 21st Century Learning skills, teach durable skills, and model critical thinking through human systems, engage in the 5 C’s hotlines are reporting teachers who teach students relationship building, decision-making, self-awareness, social awareness, and self-management (CASEL, 2019). According to the World Economic Forum, there is an ever-increasing relevance of complex problem-solving in the workplace which drives many findings in the 2023 Future of Jobs Report.
Prominently featuring our 5Cs of learning, they identified the top core skills required by workers as well as the fastest-growing required skills. Download this 36-page report from America Succeeds on the need for durable skills: https://americasucceeds.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AmericaSucceeds-DurableSkills-NationalFactSheet-2021.pdf