#4. Building Positive Relationships

This is blog post #4 in a series of 6 posts about inclusion in classrooms and schools. This particular blog post focuses on the role of social and emotional learning (SEL) in an inclusive classroom. Here I will analyze the impact of SEL on student academic learning and well-being, the importance of considering student voice and resiliency, and the importance of social inclusion in structured and unstructured times at school.

The website CASEL SEL Framework is an American resource, yet it provides an example of a framework for communities to apply evidence-based SEL strategies in local contexts. The CASEL framework is also known as the “CASEL wheel,” and it helps cultivate skills and environments that advance students’ learning and development in five areas of social and emotional competence. The website also provides resources for schools, districts and others to implement the SEL framework effectively.

In the article ‘Does Your Classroom Cultivate Student Resilience?’, there are 5 ways to encourage resiliency and SEL skills. First, this includes a) promoting self-reflection through literary essays or small-group discussions where fictional stories are used to encourage students to reflect on the role resilience plays in life success. Teachers assign essays or organize small-group discussion exercises focused on heroes in literature. By discussing the hero’s strengths, challenges, and how others supported them, students can learn how to apply these traits to their lives. This is a great way to develop resilience by learning from others, especially for younger students.

A second way to cultivate student resilience is to help children and families learn from failures. Educators can help students learn from failure by creating a safe and supportive environment that promotes growth and learning. This includes teaching students how to cope with failure, encouraging them to take risks, and fostering a growth mindset that views setbacks as opportunities for growth. By helping students and families understand that failure is a normal part of the learning process, teachers can help build resilience that will last a lifetime.

Third, fostering supportive relationships is another strategy for building resilience. Families, educators, and caring adults play critical roles in building resilience in students. Educators can foster these relationships by creating a positive, supportive classroom environment, encouraging open communication, and being a supportive resource for students when they need help. This support can help students feel more confident and capable, which can help them develop resilience.

Finally, modelling resilient behaviours is essential to building resilience in children. Educators are role models for their students and can help cultivate resilience by modelling resilient behaviours. This includes responding positively to challenges, showing determination and perseverance, and being a source of support for others.

In the monograph, Bolstering resilience in students and teachers as protective factors, resilience is defined as the capacity to return to good mental health after challenging and difficult situations. Here, the authors argue that the first wave of resilience research assumed that youth who exhibited good coping skills in the face of high-risk factors could do so through some internal self-righting character trait. Still, it is now understood that resilience is a normal part of healthy development that can be enhanced with support. Research has consistently found that schools and teachers play a critical role in the development of resilience in children and youth, and the article outlines seven strategies that teachers can use to create environments that foster resilience:

1. Affirm relationships by getting to know students and their non-school environments.
2. Affirm relationships by seeking to understand individual strengths
3. Affirm relationships by encouraging students to know each other
4. Set high expectations and build clear boundaries for the learning environment
5. Provide opportunities for meaningful participation
6. Encourage positive self-talk and problem-solving skills
7. Model resilience and promote a growth mindset.

By implementing these strategies, teachers can support their students and help them develop the resilience they need to overcome adversity. Additionally, these strategies can support the development of social and emotional learning, which is critical for overall well-being and success.

Elena Aguilar is the author of Boosting Resilience through Creativity. In this article, Elena discusses the benefits of creativity for boosting resilience and argues that creativity is a habit and a disposition. This is often overlooked as a way to cultivate resilience. Studies show that creative activities like drawing, knitting, and journaling can help raise serotonin levels and decrease anxiety, which contributes to resilience. She also discusses ways to foster a creative mindset, such as asking questions, being curious, experimenting and failing, and taking notes. She concludes that creativity is a birthright and an important part of human expression that can make people more able to deal with challenges—a great reason to implement creativity into all learning in Ontario schools.

In the article, All children should feel like they belong at school, the authors share that the current approach to special education in Ontario is based on a model of exclusion. In this exclusion model, students with disabilities, mental health, intellectual, and learning disabilities are excluded. This approach leads to bureaucratic, confusing, and adversarial processes for families and students, and principals have the discretion to refuse to admit students that may harm the well-being of other students. This approach also reinforces ableism and undermines social inclusion for students with disabilities, leading to lower educational achievement and human rights claims. The Ontario Human Rights Commission has proposed a new policy on accessible education for students with disabilities, calling for system-wide barrier prevention, universal design, student-centred decision-making, training for educators, better accountability, and an end to exclusion.

In the article “10 Things You Can Do to Make Your Class Socially Inclusive“, strategies are shared to help educators to create an inclusive learning environment. The social curriculum is just as important as the academic curriculum but often goes unnoticed. By creating a classroom that intentionally facilitates social inclusion, educators can help remove barriers to full inclusion and support the social development of students. Strategies can include changing the seating plans, finding common ground through class games, using socially inclusive language, role-playing situations, setting expectations for inclusive behaviour, highlighting student strengths, providing effective communication methods, and creating spaces for interaction.

Finally, the article by Missy Pfaff, Social Inclusion is not Enough, argues that social inclusion is not enough in the classroom and that students need both social and academic inclusion to have a complete and meaningful learning experience. Social inclusion refers to being part of a group, but more is required as students also need opportunities to participate in academic activities. The author highlights that having students in the class for only social reasons may not meet their needs and that teachers must be careful to maintain students’ participation in the classroom based on social inclusion goals.