Supporting social and emotional needs of highly able learners

Social and emotional skills (SES) have been shown to influence many important life outcomes, but also to influence the development and use of cognitive skills and have attracted renewed interest from policy makers and researchers. These skills determine how well people adjust to their environment and how much they achieve in their lives (oecd.org). The quality of people’s social and emotional skills has value for overall wellbeing and happiness. The skills are connected to a range of long-term health and employment outcomes. For example, they help buffer the impact of adverse life experiences, protecting against poor mental health and providing young people with the tools to manage issues such as anxiety.

Overall evidence shows that having strong social and emotional skills enables students to create the foundations to become successful learners and this leads to improved academic gains. In 2021 a review by the Education Endowment Foundation suggested that successful SES interventions in schools may drive, on average, up to four months of progress in academic outcomes. The academic attainment gap between socio-economically disadvantaged pupils and their peers is mirrored in part, by an SES disadvantage gap (EEF, 2021).

Social and emotional learning (SEL) refers to the lifelong process of developing social, emotional and behavioural skills which allow individuals to manage their internal emotional states and navigate the social world. The Chicago based Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) defines SEL as:

“The process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions” (CASEL, 2020)

CASEL groups social and emotional skills into five categories:

● Self-awareness: To know and understand oneself

● Self-management: To regulate, manage and motivate one’s actions and emotions

● Social awareness: To understand those around us

● Relationship skills: To interact with others in a positive and effective way

● Responsible decision-making: To make decisions and take actions as a member of society with rights and responsibilities

Similarly, Doherty (2020) identified the skills of SEL as life skills and important for:

• Being able to regulate emotions
• Managing stress
• Cooperating with others
• Self-awareness
• Building self-confidence
• Impulse control
• Responsible decision-making

Very able students have extra layers of social and emotional complexity to negotiate in their home life as well as in schools. An idea at the core of many philosophies is that the child identified as gifted is measurably different from age peers on one or more traits (e.g., intelligence, achievement, creativity, or task commitment). Gifted children vary in their abilities and often their patterns of growth differ from their age peers.  Research shows that some gifted and talented children develop asynchronously. That is to say, when their social, emotional, physical, intellectual or creative aspects develop on a trajectory that is outside of norms and at an uneven rate. An example is the young gifted child may cognitively understand difficult concepts such as social justice, but may not have the life experience to manage such a concept.  Or the 5 year old with a 12 year old’ s cognitive capacity wants to draw and write like a 12-year-old, but their motor skills are undeveloped.

A related factor to the experience of gifted students are the responses of those around them, both to their abilities and to any label such as gifted. There is substantial literature to suggest that students who are identified as gifted are disproportionately prone to a list of socio-emotional concerns (Mendaglio & Peterson, 2006). Gifted students can have a more difficult time finding and making friends. Far from conclusive, there are reported high incidences of depression in gifted populations. Very able students can succumb to unhealthy perfectionism through a combination of external labelling and their own sense of identity.

Other findings on the social and emotional traits of gifted students have shown a greater perceived amplitude of experience among these students, often described as ‘overexcitability’. Unsurprisingly, underachievement is a dominant thread of recent research in gifted education and there is some indication that achievement in the gifted responds predominantly to personal factors, such as motivation, emotion, and perception of the school (White, Graham, & Blaas, 2018).

Conclusion

Social and emotional learning (SEL) involves gifted students having opportunities to learn and practice important social skills such as: cooperation. managing conflict and recognising and managing their own feelings.  It helps students regulate their emotions, communicate with others, use compassion and empathy to understand the needs of other people, build relationships and make good decisions. Social and emotional learning provides a foundation for safe learning and enhances students' ability to succeed in school, their careers and in life.

References

CASEL (2020) Fundamentals of SEL overview. Refocus on the SEL roadmap. Actions for a successful second semester.

Doherty, J. (2020) How can Edtech support the vital field of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools? Steve Wright polls five SEL experts. Roundtable: the social network

Education Endowment Foundation. (2021). Social and emotional learning toolkit. Moderate impact for very low cost based on very limited evidence. Education Endowment Foundation.

Granada, G., Hallgarten, J. & Hasset, A. (2022) Catalysing social and emotional learning in schools in England. A policy and practice review. London:  Centre for Education and Youth

Mendaglio, S., & Peterson, J. (2006). Models of counselling gifted children, adolescents, and young adults. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

White, S. L., Graham, L. J., & Blaas, S. (2018). Why do we know so little about the factors associated with gifted underachievement? A systematic literature review. Educational Research Review, 24, pp. 55–66.