Giving Compass' Take:

• Getting Smart explores the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools to help students develop, but raises concerns that it's not getting enough attention.

• How many education initiatives incorporate SEL into their goals? Nonprofits in the space can look into better training for teachers who may not be familiar with the process.

• Here are ways to measure success when it comes to SEL.

Despite widespread access to education in most parts of the world, today’s children have massive variability in their skills. This reflects the context and environment in which children grow up, and in many cases, school may be the only place where any deficiencies in a child’s entire self-development can be addressed before they become an active member of society.

According to The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), social and emotional skills are the abilities that regulate one’s thoughts, emotions and behavior. These skills differ from cognitive abilities because they impact how people manage their emotions, perceive themselves and engage with others, rather than indicating their raw ability to process information.

In practice, social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, demonstrate empathy for others, maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Developing these core life skills through SEL is crucially important to a child’s development as it directly correlates to how socially, academically and professionally skilled that child will be as an adult.

Read the full article about social emotional learning and the future of education by Giancarlo Brotto at Getting Smart.