Teacher Perspectives on Essential Social Emotional Learning Skills and Barriers to Accessing Resources in Elementary Schools

Background and Purpose: Social emotional learning (SEL) skills in early childhood are critical for student success and are linked to reduced rates of mental illness (Domitrovich et al., 2017; MacCann et al., 2020). Teachers recognize the importance of these skills and express interest in supporting SEL skill development among their students. However, SEL is comprised of a broad array of skills and school stakeholders do not always agree on which components within SEL are most important to prioritize. Prior research to date on teachers’ beliefs about SEL have largely captured their perspectives on SEL globally. The purpose of this mixed method study was to respond to documented gaps in the research by examining teachers’ beliefs, involvement in decision-making, and barriers to accessing resources around implementing SEL.

Methods: Two schools from one southeastern state were selected and recruited to participate in the study based on their prior working relationships with the university research team. All teachers from kindergarten through third grade in those schools were eligible to participate in the study. Participants completed surveys at two different time points, in August (time point #1) and then November (time point #2), during the 2021-2022 academic year. The surveys included open-ended questions, self-reports of each SEL domain and skill (EASEL Framework, 2024), and the SEL Beliefs Scale (Brackett et al., 2012). The SEL Beliefs Scale is a valid and reliable measure, was used to assess teachers’ comfort, commitment, and culture for SEL on a Likert scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree) with one item reverse-coded. Quantitative data were entered into SPSS (29.0.2.0) and analyzed descriptively. Qualitative data were analyzed in MaxQDA (22.7.0).

Results: A survey of 33 elementary school teachers about their SEL beliefs revealed that two-thirds of respondents report emotion regulation as the most important SEL skill for their students to master. Teachers expressed a critical need for students to manage or handle emotions (52%, n = 12) and to understand their feelings and emotions (48%, n = 11). Further, analyses show that teachers are aware of and value SEL (M = 4.5, SD = 0.46), but demonstrate lower levels of confidence in teaching SEL skills (M = 4.3, SD = 0.54) and school culture that supported SEL (M = 4.1, SD = 0.67). Yet, a majority of teachers were not involved in any SEL school-wide teams (n = 21, 78%) or decision-making around the types of SEL supports, programs, and resources for students and teachers alike. Teachers relied on school-based mental health professionals and administrators to access SEL resources for themselves and their students, and faced significant time barriers to implementing SEL in the classroom.

Conclusions and Implications: This study provided insight from a small sample of teachers into which SEL skills they thought students should be taught and the barriers to implementing and accessing resources to address SEL outcomes in schools. Implications for school social work research, providing more comprehensive supports and interprofessional training to leverage and implement SEL in schools, and interprofessional collaboration will be discussed.