Unboxing Social and Emotional Learning
Unboxing Social and Emotional Learning
Podcast Description
We are a group of friends, educators, and scholars (but hopefully not the gate-keeping kind) who use podcasting to speak critically, honestly, and open-mindedly about the excitements and concerns we have about social and emotional learning (SEL). What happens when sociality and emotionality, two things that have always been a part of learning, become seen as measurable in a world of marketized and self-managed education? How can we bust SEL out of any boxed-in definitions, and how might we unpack its complexity? Join us in asking questions without easy answers and taking the time to peel back layers of education that are often left undisturbed.Contact us at: [email protected]
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Centers on critical perspectives about SEL, covering topics such as the interplay of SEL with politics, cultural appropriation in practices like mindfulness and yoga, human-nonhuman relationships, settler colonial impacts, neoliberal influences, and societal crises. Episodes examine how SEL intersects with educational politics and cultural issues, like the contentious debate around SEL as a 'Trojan Horse' for various ideologies.
We are a group of friends, educators, and scholars (but hopefully not the gate-keeping kind) who use podcasting to speak critically, honestly, and open-mindedly about the excitements and concerns we have about social and emotional learning (SEL). What happens when sociality and emotionality, two things that have always been a part of learning, become seen as measurable in a world of marketized and self-managed education? How can we bust SEL out of any boxed-in definitions, and how might we unpack its complexity? Join us in asking questions without easy answers and taking the time to peel back layers of education that are often left undisturbed.
Contact us at: [email protected]
In this final (for now) episode of Unboxing Social and Emotional Learning, we look back on the podcast project as a whole—sharing favorite moments, discussing recurrent themes, and imagining what may come next for the pod and for SEL. Listeners who have been with us since Season 1, Episode 1 may recall some of the quotes and moments we return to, and those listening for the first time may wish to go back and start from the beginning! As we explain with the episode title, the end to one thing is often the beginning to another. “SEL,” as we have expressed time and time again across our conversations, should not be seen as the be-all-end-all for learning to be social and emotional in a complicated world.
Participants:
Melvin Chan, BSc, MA, York University
Jinan El Sabbagh, PhD, Oklahoma State University
Adishi Gupta, MA, Independent Scholar
Emma McMain, PhD, University of Arkansas
Tonje Molyneux, PhD, University of British Columbia
Editor: Adam Engelbrecht
References and Resources:
- McMain, E. M., Chan, M. C.-H., Edwards-Schuth, B., Molyneux, T., El Sabbagh, J., Gupta, A., & Engelbrecht, A. (Online First). Podcasting as a critical methodology: Reflections from a social and emotional learning podcast project. Cultural Studies ←→ Critical Methodologies. https://doi.org/10.1177/15327086251395813
- Montagne, A., Rousseau, C., & Gómez-Carrillo, A. (2026). The fine line between the cure and the illness: the risks of prescriptive emotionality and sociality for youth mental health. The Lancet Regional Health–Americas, 53. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(25)00321-7/fulltext
- Clark, C. T., Chrisman, A., & Lewis, S. G. (2021). Using picturebooks to teach with and against social and emotional learning. Language Arts, 98(5), 246-259. https://doi.org/10.58680/la202131212
- The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House (Audre Lorde): https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308596/the-masters-tools-will-never-dismantle-the-masters-house-by-lorde-audre/9780241339725
- Safir, S., Bagsik, M., Jaber, S., & Watson, C. M. (2026). Pedagogies of voice: Street data and the path to student agency. Corwin. https://pedagogiesofvoice.com/
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