One critical factor about EQ life skills is that they can be taught – and taught at the earliest years of a child’s development, as well as over the course of life. Teaching these skills in their broadest sense tends to open the door to child and youth personal empowerment (educators and psychologists tend to call it “agency”) and to other educational and societal improvements.
Moreover, whenever developing such skills is prioritized from pre-school through high school, the positive effects on teachers, staff and on overall school culture and climate – as well as on student happiness and success – can be extraordinary.
Properly implemented, SEL programs are also cost-effective, saving $11 per student in other expenditures, according to a study undertaken by a team at Columbia University, and $15.66 per student according to a study of one particular program by the Washington State Institute of Public Policy.
We want all schools to be supportive, joyful learning environments dedicated to helping the whole child succeed in all aspects of life – to the benefit of children, teens, school outcomes, families communities, adults, workplaces and the economy and quality of life as a whole.
“I like it because it really helps the people in a classroom calm down and stop all the bullying. It really helped because a lot of bullying has stopped in the school.”