Social Emotional Learning for Social Emotional Justice: A Conceptual Framework for Education in the Midst of Pandemics

Authors

Zoe Higheagle Strong, Washington State UniversityFollow
Emma M. McMain, Washington State UniversityFollow

Keywords

Social Emotional Learning, Social Justice, Indigenous, Students of Color, Pandemic

Abstract

US education is situated not only in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic but also in longstanding “pandemics” of oppression, including but not limited to systemic racism. In this paper, the authors critique the oppressive aspects of traditional SEL and introduce the concept of Social Emotional Learning for Social Emotional Justice (SEL-SEJ). An emergent concept for re-imagining SEL, SEL-SEJ is explicitly oriented toward social justice. Drawing on a decolonial understanding of “resilience,” SEL-SEJ builds from principles of reciprocity and relationships. SEL-SEJ can help educators support students, communities support educators, and school systems support communities.

DOI

10.15760/nwjte.2020.15.2.6

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/34117

Recommended Citation

Higheagle Strong, Zoe and McMain, Emma M. (2020) "Social Emotional Learning for Social Emotional Justice: A Conceptual Framework for Education in the Midst of Pandemics," Northwest Journal of Teacher Education: Vol. 15 : Iss. 2 , Article 6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15760/nwjte.2020.15.2.6