Teacher expectancies and student social emotional learning post-pandemic

Abstract

The integration of social and emotional learning (SEL) in P-12 classrooms may impact student psychological, social, behavioral, and academic outcomes. The present paper examined teachers’ beliefs about SEL, their perceptions of student SEL skills pre and post pandemic, the expectancies they hold for student SEL development, and the implementation of SEL in their post-pandemic classrooms. A 45-item online survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 19 experienced teachers. The survey contained 34 Likert scale items and closed and open-ended questions to allow the participants to share their thoughts, perspectives, and beliefs about SEL. An exploratory analysis of the data using descriptive statistics, data visualization, and thematic analysis suggested that teachers perceived a decline in student SEL skills post-pandemic. Furthermore, teacher perceptions about SEL, expectancies for student post-pandemic SEL development and SEL classroom implementation varied by a teacher’s age and school level taught. This study begins to illuminate questions regarding teacher beliefs, practices, and perceived barriers to SEL teaching for future studies.