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Social and Emotional Intelligence Based Education

In a recent posting on the website Edutopia.org, they mention that “According to the World Economic Forum’s 2016 report titled New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning Through Technology, “To thrive in the 21st century, students need more than traditional academic learning. They must be adept at collaboration, communication, and problem solving, which are some of the skills developed through social and emotional learning (SEL).”

This study seems to suggest that our ability to know our own feelings and thoughts, solve problems, and establish and sustain positive, constructive relationships will drive success in future careers.

One of the key points reinforcing this point is brought out in that same article in an interview with Jessica Berlinski, an educational technology entrepreneur and consultant in SEL, where she states: “To succeed at work, people must be able not only to analyze problems without the benefit of an instruction sheet but also to communicate their findings to others, across borders and time zones. Jobs of the future certainly will continue to require routine manual abilities. However, the résumés of successful candidates will need to include social and emotional proficiency.”

And while not everyone agrees that SEL should be a foundation in our learning models, the debate is a healthy one.  The rapid change in the work environment, the rise in technology and the fact that most of our children will work in jobs that do not even exist today make it clear that the tools for success will be different from what was required in the past, and these tools will have at least some foundation in SEL.