School staff: It introduces schoolwide SEL as a lever for achieving many of the school’s existing priorities and connects it to goals in the school’s continuous improvement plan.

Families: Families are a child’s first teacher and an essential factor in the cultivation of social and emotional competencies throughout a child’s life.

Community partners: They are key partners in shaping the social and emotional development of students and play an important role in ensuring that SEL becomes interwoven into the fabric of students’ lives both during and after school.

2. Engage all stakeholders in an introduction to SEL.

3. Establish structures to support consistent two-way SEL communication between the SEL team and all stakeholders.

4. Effectively planning for full-scale implementation of schoolwide SEL is driven by a collaborative process of continuous improvement that asks the SEL team to reflect on the following questions: where is the team now, where has the team been, where does the team want to go, how does the team get from where the team is now to where the team wants to be, is the team is moving in the right direction, what is the team learning on the journey.

2. Take an intentional approach to building strong relationships that enable authentic communication and partnership among all members of the school community and establish structures and practices that facilitate meaningful collaboration.

3. Adopt strategies for living out social and emotional competencies, mindsets, and skills in the way that school leaders and staff interact with each other, with students, and with families.

School: Align school climate, programs, and practices to promote SEL for students.

Classroom: Foster supportive classroom environments that provide opportunities for both explicit SEL skill instruction as well as integration of SEL throughout all instruction.

Family partnerships: Create meaningful partnership opportunities and two-way communication that invite families to understand, experience, inform, and support the social and emotional development of their students.

Community partnerships:  Develop and leverage strategic and aligned community partnerships that ensure students receive consistent SEL supports, increase access to a broad range of community services, and expand the professional learning opportunities for SEL.

Continuously improve schoolwide SEL implementation: Use a continuous improvement cycle to drive high-quality schoolwide SEL implementation.

Test innovative strategies: Use shorter continuous improvement cycles to refine new strategies.

Everything will be fine, so they should allow themselves to be patient and take things slowly. When they are patient with themselves, they can also be patient with the world.

1. Build awareness, commitment, and ownership, then build a plan. For example, prepare explicit SEL instruction and academic instruction at the school, district, city, state, and country levels.

2. Focus on adult SEL first, like educators, to teach and instruct students effectively.

3. Promote SEL for students: after adults comprehend SEL, they can use what they learn to support students through practices and learning activities in the classroom.

4. Practice continuous improvement: after schoolwide implementation of SEL, educators and policymakers can make adjustments to improve some inefficient practices.

Focus area 1A involves establishing SEL team, engaging all stakeholders with foundational learning, and establishing two-way communication between SEL team and stakeholders.

Once these activities are in place, the process moves to Focus Area 1B, which addresses key questions:

1. Where do we want to go? (Developing a shared vision)

2. Where are we now and where have we been? (take stock of current efforts and engage in a needs and resource assessments)

3. How do we get there? (Develop an action plan then align with the budget)

4. Are we moving in the right direction? what are we learning along the way?

1. Learn

• Professional learning about SEL

• Building on strengths and experience

• Reflecting on personal SEL

• Examining cultural competence

2. Connect and collaborate

• Among staff

• With students

• with families

3. Model

• Modeling SEL among staff

• Modeling SEL in interactions with students and families

• Modeling SEL as a school leader

This process involves several steps: planning and implementing action steps, tracking progress, analyzing outcome data, and making adjustments when necessary. Schools can integrate this approach into structured team meetings dedicated to reviewing and refining the SEL implementation plan. In addition, shorter improvement cycles can be introduced to test innovative ideas or approaches, helping maintain staff engagement and enthusiasm for SEL.

Key activities in this focus area include:

1. Continuously Improve Schoolwide SEL Implementation

   • Applying a continuous improvement cycle to strengthen the quality and consistency of SEL implementation across the school.

2. Test Innovative Strategies

   • Using shorter cycles to experiment with and refine new strategies before scaling them more broadly.

This process involves several steps: planning and implementing action steps, tracking progress, analyzing outcome data, and making adjustments when necessary. Schools can integrate this approach into structured team meetings dedicated to reviewing and refining the SEL implementation plan. In addition, shorter improvement cycles can be introduced to test innovative ideas or approaches, helping maintain staff engagement and enthusiasm for SEL.

Key activities in this focus area include:

1. Continuously Improve Schoolwide SEL Implementation

   • Applying a continuous improvement cycle to strengthen the quality and consistency of SEL implementation across the school.

2. Test Innovative Strategies

   • Using shorter cycles to experiment with and refine new strategies before scaling them more broadly.

Step 1: Two-way communication between the SEL team and stakeholders ensures that information, feedback, and ideas flow in both directions, keeping all parties engaged and informed.

Step 2: Collaboration takes place within the school community, among staff members, between staff and students, and between staff and families, to foster shared responsibility for SEL.

Step 3: Interaction extends to families and the wider community to build supportive partnerships that strengthen SEL and create consistent support for students across different settings.

2. Classroom (teachers and students)
Classrooms play a central role in both explicit SEL instruction and integrating SEL throughout academic learning.

3. Family Partnerships
Families are essential partners in sustaining SEL. Schools can create meaningful opportunities for two-way communication and collaboration, allowing families to understand, experience, and support their children’s social and emotional development.

4. Community Partnerships
Strategic partnerships with community organizations help extend SEL beyond the school walls.

In terms of the first activity – the SEL team – it is considered a bridge to connect stakeholders. Moreover, the team takes responsibility and plays a role in building a strong plan to ensure that SEL implementation does not become fragmented. Secondly, engaging stakeholders or commitment contributes to the introduction of SEL for the community and increases SEL’s reliability and quality. The last key is two-way communication, which means supporting the connection between SEL and stakeholders. 

These activities help to create a strong plan for the beginning.

However, to create a supportive staff environment, it’s necessary to follow three sections: learn, connect and collaborate, and model. Firstly, learning is related to professional learning about SEL, experiences, social and emotional skills, and cultural competence. Secondly, adults have to build strong relationships among staff, students, and families. Lastly, teachers can adopt strategies for SEL skills and mindsets to support modelling among staff, students, families, and school leaders.

At school, the following can support students’ SEL, such as fostering a healthy school climate, adopting an evidence-based program, elevating students' voices, integrating SEL into student supports, and ensuring discipline policies and practices that promote equitable outcomes.

In terms of the classroom, teachers can build a supportive classroom environment to promote SEL for students, including emotional safety and student-centred discipline. Besides, the way the teachers give explicit instructions, explain, foster academic mindsets, and use interactive pedagogy can promote students’ SEL. 

Family partnerships: Family plays an important role in promoting SEL for their children. Because SEL can help family members understand, experience, inform, and support their children regarding social and emotional development. 

Finally, the increase in access to a broad range of community partnerships can ensure that students receive SEL support and expand professional learning opportunities for SEL in the future.

When schools adopt an SEL plan, there might be obstacles that can hinder the process of SEL. So, when we observe and reflect on outcome data and results, we can make adjustments as necessary to increase the effectiveness of SEL.  

• At school, the following can support students’ SEL, such as fostering a healthy school climate, adopting an evidence-based program, elevating students' voices, integrating SEL into student supports, and ensuring discipline policies and practices that promote equitable outcomes.

• In terms of the classroom, teachers can build a supportive classroom environment to promote SEL for students, including emotional safety and student-centred discipline. Besides, the way the teachers give explicit instructions, explain, foster academic mindsets, and use interactive pedagogy can promote students’ SEL. 

• Family partnerships: Family plays an important role in promoting SEL for their children. Because SEL can help family members understand, experience, inform, and support their children regarding social and emotional development. 

• Finally, the increase in access to a broad range of community partnerships can ensure that students receive SEL support and expand professional learning opportunities for SEL in the future.

• Students: they play a main role in SEL development, because SEL is used for promoting their social and emotional learning. So, the better the students’ social and emotional skills are, the more effective SEL is.  

• Teachers play a role in teaching and instructing SEL for students, so they act as a bridge to support students and encourage positive relationships among them.

• Schools and educators: provide resources for SEL.

• Families support students at home to build relationships among members and collaborate with teachers.

• Communities can provide public services and create opportunities to expand SEL. 

• Policymakers: make adjustments and policy as necessary.

Establishing a shared vision and values—Ensuring a shared understanding and consensus on the importance of SEL among school leaders, teachers, families, and the community.

Forming a dedicated SEL team—A cross-departmental or cross-grade implementation team is established to coordinate resources, monitor progress, and address issues.

Conducting a needs assessment and resource inventory—Identifying the school's existing SEL resources, strengths, and weaknesses to ensure a realistic plan.

Encourage self-reflection and peer learning, allowing teachers and staff to share experiences and strategies within a support network.

Integrate SEL principles into daily work processes to ensure that educational practices align with SEL values.

Create a positive classroom and school climate where safety, inclusion, and respect become daily norms.

Expand SEL through extracurricular and community activities, strengthening the connection between learning and real-life experiences.

To ensure sustainability, schools offer ongoing professional learning, support staff wellbeing, and build leadership skills. When all staff share responsibility for SEL, it becomes a lasting part of the school culture—even as people or programs change.

Schools also create a safe, supportive environment where students feel respected and included. SEL is connected to academics, behavior, and relationships. Students are given chances to lead and share their voice, which builds ownership and keeps SEL relevant and meaningful. This ongoing, student-centered approach helps make SEL a lasting part of the school culture.

This helps schools make smart changes, stay on track, and respond to new needs. By using data often, SEL becomes stronger over time and remains a key part of the school’s long-term plan.

Self-Awareness、Self-Management、Social Awareness、Relationship Skills、Responsible Decision-Making.

The CASEL framework (developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) focuses on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

• Self-Awareness – recognizing one’s emotions, values, strengths, and limitations.

• Self-Management – regulating emotions, managing stress, self-discipline, and goal setting.

• Social Awareness – empathy, respect for others, understanding social norms and diverse perspectives.

• Relationship Skills – building healthy relationships, teamwork, clear communication, conflict resolution.

• Responsible Decision-Making – making ethical, constructive choices about personal and social behavior.

1. Classroom teachers as stakeholders provide key elements of the CASEL framework through multiple channels including effective explicit instructional learning, modeling behaviours and collaborative partnerships.

2. Students as stakeholders in SEL play a role by engaging with SEL, developing competencies and growing these competencies outside the school environment.

3. Out of school care providers can provide extended SEL environments with different contexts with opportunities to re-enforce positive SEL behaviors.

4. Administrators and persons in team leadership as stakeholders have roles in co-ordinating effective integration and embedment of SEL, and supporting a positive culture for SEL.

5. Communities and families are necessary stakeholders in developing sustainable school wide SEL through active partnerships to support SEL competencies and enable safe, caring, respectful environments.

6. Policy makers are stakeholders in school wide SEL implementation when there is positive supportive engagement. They may provide avenues for additional funding, greater time allocation, enhanced cultural safety supports or more flexible learning opportunities.

Two aspects relate to self: Self-awareness where children can understand about themselves for example their preferences, dislikes and likes, emotions, feelings and so on. Self-management is when children can self-regulate their emotions, and respond them to helpful ways that help them achieve their goals. Social awareness emphasises when students exercise their empathy and use it to interact with others, how their behaviors can affect others, and relationship skills are when students develop cultural competency, help or stand up for others and so on. The last is responsible-decision making when children exercise the skill how to decide thoughtful and kind choices about themselves and others