Supporting School Personnel with SEL During Times of Uncertainty and Stress

To support the psychosocial health and well-being of educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, the YCEI, with funding from Dalio Education (#19-07517) developed a free online certificate course for school personnel. This 10-hour course launched on October 1st and provides school staff with the knowledge, skills, and strategies to understand and manage their emotions Course participants begin by learning about why social and emotional learning is an important component of education. Then, they explore how to identify and manage emotions, including how to support their students with their emotions in scientific and culturally responsive ways. Participants complete “Weekly Action Plans” to build a comprehensive and personalized guide for lasting change. As part of the course experience, participants are invited to participate in a short survey study to inform the scientific and educator practitioner communities about their emotional experiences, impacts, and opportunities for cultivating resilience in both educators and students during this time of crisis. To support the real-time dissemination of findings and to offer support to educators as we continue to move through the challenges of pandemic teaching, we present results from the surveys in white papers here for dissemination