SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING (Implementation in schools)

Column No : 2125

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING

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(Implementation in schools): **

7.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked the Minister for Education how will the Ministry be (i) implementing the Social-Emotional Learning component that has been highlighted as a crucial skill for students to acquire in school; and (ii) measuring the outcomes of such a learning component.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: MOE's aim is to provide children with a balanced and holistic education, which includes their social and emotional development. Schools have always had a myriad of programmes directed to this effort. We are building on these efforts to provide greater clarity in the competencies that we want to help students acquire, and to have a co-ordinated whole school approach in this aspect of character development.

MOE has developed a framework to guide our schools in social and emotional learning, as part of their overall efforts to develop strength of character in their students. The framework sets out the social and emotional competencies to be included for students to learn, such as self-awareness, self-management (including anger and stress management), social awareness (such as empathy and ability to see things from the other person's perspective), relationship management (like how to interact socially, work in a team, and resolve conflicts peaceably), and responsible decision making. The framework also sets out values as an integral part of social and emotional learning, and the importance of the school environment in supporting social-emotional learning.

MOE believes that a whole-school approach is important to social-emotional learning, and that students should be engaged in as broad a range of learning opportunities as possible while in school. This whole-school approach comprises several components, such as direct teaching of social-emotional competencies through a curricular approach, and infusion across existing academic subjects, such as Literature. In studying the people and events in their literature texts, for example, students learn about character, from how the different people reacted to various situations encountered in the plot. Students can apply a personal perspective to the characters they have studied and evaluate how they would have reacted in a similar situation.

A whole-school approach also involves the teaching and development of social-emotional competencies through the informal curriculum (such as co-curricular activities), and experiential learning (such as service learning projects in the community). Yet another strategy is to capitalise on teachable moments, which are incidental opportunities that arise in the students' daily experience in school, such as conflicts between students. Teachers seize these moments to teach social-emotional skills and impart values. Schools will also seek to collaborate with parents so that the students' social-emotional learning will be reinforced at home.

Apart from the development of the social-emotional learning framework, curriculum is also being reviewed to strengthen the teaching of social-emotional competencies in the Civics and Moral Education programme and other academic subjects. The new Civics and Moral Education (CME) programme, which will be implemented in 2007, will incorporate a significant component aimed at the teaching of the social emotional skills. CME will also comprise a more flexible curriculum framework, enabling schools and teachers to customise and inject their own elements to meet their students needs. Training will also be provided for teachers to sharpen their skills in this area so that they can be more effective in teaching the social emotional competencies and in providing an environment conducive to the acquisition of these competencies.

Schools will be given the autonomy to decide on how they modify existing programmes or re-design current programmes to support social-emotional learning. They will be encouraged to prototype parts of their programmes before implementing them school-wide. MOE will provide on-going consultation to schools while they prototype and consolidate their programmes.

MOE will be providing schools with a set of social-emotional learning benchmarks that students should attain by each grade level. For example, students at the primary levels would be expected to learn skills such as knowing how to work and play with others and demonstrate the ability to cooperate and work in groups. At the secondary levels, students would be expected to use communication and interpersonal skills to manage challenges in relationships and apply conflict management skills. Students practise and manifest the social and emotional competencies as they participate in learning activities in the formal and informal curriculum. Teachers can use these benchmarks to monitor their students' social-emotional development over time, and take appropriate actions to provide them with the relevant learning opportunities and experiences.

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