About Us
- What is IMPROVA?
- Who is part of IMPROVA?
- What are the goals of IMPROVA?
This information is connected to the eSano teacher’s module on "Social and emotional learning: boosting students' wellbeing". SEL teaches valuable skills that help students manage their emotions, build positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
In the eSano module, you’ll discover a variety of strategies for integrating these principles into your classroom. These strategies can help your students develop healthy self-esteem, build strong friendships, and navigate social situations with confidence.
What is IMPROVA?
Therefore, IMPROVA represents a leap forward in the field of adolescent mental health and wellbeing.
Teens, teachers, parents, experts, and policymakers all work together to improve mental health and wellbeing, early detect and prevent mental health issues and fight stigma and social inequalities related to mental health.
Who is part of IMPROVA?
What are the goals of IMPROVA?
The main objective of IMPROVA is to promote the mental health and well-being of adolescents. In addition, we want to detect and prevent common mental health problems among adolescents early and help them find the right support.
IMPROVA plans on empowering adolescents and families to make better decisions regarding their mental health and providing schools and the community with tools to achieve a society with better mental health and lower stigma.
The IMPROVA program will offer a wide range of comprehensive tools designed to detect early signs of mental health problems, to promote mental health and prevent common issues that affect young individuals. The contents of the IMPROVA program will be accessible from any device (phones, computers and laptops, tablets, etc) and will be delivered via the digital training platform eSano (app and webpage based).
IMPROVA will be implemented in school settings and will include components for teachers, adolescents, parents, and other school staff in complementary and synergistic modules.
We understand that each person is unique, so IMPROVA will include components for adolescents, parents, teachers, and school staff. By involving everyone in the support system of the adolescent, we can create a holistic approach that promotes their overall well-being.
Youth mental health matters and we are committed to empowering adolescents, their families, and the educational system to make informed decisions about the well-being of adolescents.
Social and Emotional Learning
- What is Social Emotional Learning?
- Why does Social Emotional Learning matter?
- How can schools promote social emotional learning?
What is Social and Emotional Learning?
All learning is emotional and social. Therefore, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an integral part of education and human development. It can be described as a process through which young people and adults learn to cope with their emotions, form healthy identities, develop effective and healthy communication habits, and achieve goals. SEL also helps them become more empathetic, establish and maintain healthy relationships and make responsible choices.
The CASEL framework, developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), provides a comprehensive approach to social and emotional learning (SEL). The framework comprises five core competences: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
Social and emotional learning is an integral part of education and human development. A process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to:
- develop healthy identities (self-awareness)
- manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals (self-management)
- feel and show empathy for others, (social awareness)
- establish and maintain supportive relationships (relationship skills)
- make responsible and caring decisions (responsible decision making)
Key Settings
Classrooms: Students spend most of their school day in classrooms, where they learn and practice SEL through explicit instruction, trusting relationships, and academic integration.
Schools: Schools, in partnership with families and communities, support students’ social and emotional development. Schoolwide SEL includes adult SEL support, youth voice and leadership, supportive discipline systems, student support services, and strong family-school relationships.
Families: Families are crucial in promoting SEL. Strong family-school connections enhance SEL skills, and evidence-based SEL programs are more effective when extended into the home. Families should be involved in planning, implementing, and improving SEL, aligning school norms and values with their own experiences.
Communities: Community organizations partner with schools and families to support SEL through trusting relationships and enriching out-of-school activities. Adolescents are influenced by diverse peer groups and community interactions, including sports teams, community organizations, and healthcare providers.
For optimal effectiveness, SEL should be seamlessly integrated across all aspects of students’ learning environments and experiences.
The Five Core Competencies
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness involves understanding our emotions, thoughts, and their impact on our actions, including reflecting on our identities and biases. It encompasses having a healthy sense of identity, self-reflection, and finding purpose.
By improving our understanding and regulation of emotions, self-awareness enhances emotional intelligence. It also boosts self-confidence and resilience by helping us recognize our strengths and weaknesses, making it easier to navigate challenges.
Self-management
Self-management is the ability to control emotions, thoughts, and actions in various situations to achieve goals. This includes delaying gratification, managing stress, and feeling motivated to accomplish personal and collective objectives.
It helps achieve goals by enabling adolescents to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and actions effectively. It also builds resilience by helping them cope with stress, delay gratification, and stay motivated, fostering perseverance
Social Awareness
Social awareness is the ability to understand different perspectives and empathize with others. This includes feeling compassion, understanding social norms, and recognizing resources in family, school, and community settings.
It fosters empathy by helping individuals understand diverse perspectives, promoting compassion and kindness. It also cultivates community connections by helping adolescents recognize and utilize support systems within their families, schools, and communities
Relationship Skills
Relationship skills are the ability to build and maintain connections with others. This includes clear communication, active listening, cooperation, collaboration, constructive conflict resolution, navigating diverse social settings, providing leadership, and seeking or offering help.
It enhance adolescents’ ability to communicate and listen effectively, fostering meaningful connections and positive relationships. They also promote conflict resolution by providing tools to navigate conflicts, negotiate differences, and resolve disputes, leading to healthier interpersonal dynamics.
Responsible Decision Making
Responsible decision-making involves making caring and constructive choices for us and others. This includes analyzing the impact of our actions and identifying solutions that support collective well-being.
It encourages thoughtful choices that benefit everyone. It fosters accountability, helping individuals take ownership of their actions and seek solutions that support their community’s well-being.
If you want to better understand the changes your students experience during adolescence and learn how to support them through this critical phase, explore the eSano module "Understanding Adolescence Development: Navigating Change".
If you’re looking for ways to foster resilience and a positive learning attitude in your students, check out the eSano module "Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Students".
Why is social and emotional learning important for mental health and wellbeing?
Emotional and Mental Wellness: SEL addresses the complete development of children, fostering resilience and emotional intelligence crucial for learning and thriving.
Building Protective Factors: SEL nurtures crucial protective factors like responsive relationships and safe environments, aiding in managing mental health challenges.
Enhancing Social and Emotional Skills: Research shows that SEL equips students with skills like stress management, positively impacting mental health.
Universal Preventative Support: SEL serves as a universal support system, promoting a supportive school environment for all students.
SEL helps foster “protective factors” that mitigate the effects of mental health challenges: responsive relationships, emotionally safe environments and skills development.
Research shows that developing social and emotional skills such as coping with stress and understanding emotions can positively benefit one’s mental health. That said, SEL should not be a replacement for mental health services for students who may need additional support. SEL is not therapy - but a universal, preventative support for every student.
Why is Social and Emotional Learning particularly important for adolescent’s teachers?
Academic Success: Research has shown that social and emotional competencies are strongly correlated with academic achievement and to a positive learning environment. Students who possess strong SEL skills are better equipped to manage stress, focus attention, and engage in learning and these effects are long-lasting.
Life Skills development: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) equips students with vital life skills beyond academics. It helps them understand and manage emotions, set and achieve goals, show empathy, build relationships, and make responsible decisions. These skills lead to positive life outcomes, including educational attainment, workplace success, future earnings, and reduced likelihood of violent behaviour, crime, and substance use.
School climate: SEL improves students’ perceptions of school climate, safety, and sense of belonging, helping to create positive school climates promote academic achievement, future educational attainment, mental wellness, and positive relationships. Studies show that students with strong relationships with teachers and peers are more motivated, engaged in learning, willing to tackle challenging material, persist in difficult tasks, and seek help for bullying and threats of violence.
Behavioural management: By fostering SEL skills like self-regulation, impulse control, and conflict resolution, teachers can prevent behavioural issues and create a supportive classroom climate where all students feel valued and respected.
Mental health: Students participating in SEL programs experienced fewer behavioural problems, decreased emotional distress and improved prosocial behaviours.
Does SEL have some benefits for adults too?
Research shows that social and emotional learning benefits adults, too. Educators with higher personal well-being and stronger social-emotional skills are better equipped to prevent burnout, feel more effective at managing behaviours and report lower job-related anxiety. They achieve this by fostering nurturing relationships with students, modelling positive behaviour, and managing their own emotions effectively.
They also demonstrate higher levels of patience, empathy and healthy communication. Importantly, these abilities, especially emotional regulation, are most effective when teachers feel supported by their school principals.
How can schools promote Social Emotional Learning?
The CASEL 5, developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), is an evidence-based framework that defines SEL and is applicable across different age levels and cultures. It is used globally by school districts, states, and countries to set learning standards and enhance students’ social and emotional learning. The framework emphasizes the collaboration of families, teachers, and communities to support students’ social and emotional development.
Schoolwide SEL is a comprehensive approach that integrates social and emotional learning throughout the school day, in all classrooms, during school and out-of-school activities, and involves administrators, staff, families, and communities.
Practicing social and emotional skills, like reflection and collaboration, during academic lessons, such as working in groups on how to approach a math problem.
Opportunities for students to build supportive relationships with peers and adults, such as a “morning meeting” or a quick check-in with a staff mentor.
Learning about and practicing social and emotional skills with age-relevant instruction, such as lessons on being a good friend or coping with stress.
Adults modelling social and emotional skills and proactively looking for ways to support students.
Families, educators, and students working together to plan and discuss strategies for promoting SEL.
Adolescents must feel safe and part of a supportive and motivating community. Relationships between teachers and students are built in a positive way.
SEL should also be incorporated through academic instruction. This means that students can practice and improve their SEL skills during lessons.
- Example: Think back to a math classroom and imagine a student is working on an algebra problem they can’t solve. With strong self-awareness they can recognize and label that emotion as frustration. They can use self-management skills to calm themselves down. And their relationship skills can be used to ask a teacher or classmates for help.
- The SEL instruction needs to be explicit for the adolescents to cultivate and reflect social and emotional competencies. Teaching social and emotional skills explicitly with a curriculum where social and emotional skills and attitudes are taught and practiced in developmentally, contextually, and culturally responsive ways.
Top 3 take-aways about SEL to remember
Social and emotional learning is a foundation for many of our most pressing priorities: SEL helps young people – and adults – learn and practice skills that set them up for academic success, fulfilling careers, healthy relationships, and responsible civic engagement.
The research is clear: Social and emotional learning in schools leads to positive outcomes, including better academic performance, and decreases in stress and anxiety.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach: Social and emotional learning brings families, schools, and communities together to make sure every child has caring relationships and what they need to learn, grow, and thrive.
For more information, also see:
CASEL page – a webpage to promote SEL: pg.casel.org