A phenomenological study of instructional coaches and teachers’ perceptions of social emotional learning (SEL) and culturally responsive practices (CRP)
Embargo Date
2025-07-21
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research study was to investigate educators' perceptions of social-emotional and culturally responsive teaching practices.
The problem of practice that this research investigated is we do not know the extent to which teachers use SEL and CRP as an integrated approach, nor do we know the extent to which teachers are trained to operate from this perspective, either as part of their formal training or as part of any professional development activities. To maximize students' potential, it is crucial to address every child's social and emotional needs in a culturally sensitive manner. Currently, SEL and CRP are viewed as two separate frameworks because they originated from two separate philosophical camps, and they are often presented to teachers in separate professional development. SEL originated from the mental health field, and CRP originated from social sciences.
Although SEL has a different research basis than CRP, it is critical to recognize that the two must be integrated or cross-pollinated (Donahue-Keegan et al., 2019). Some early SEL research and practice focused on teaching or fixing children rather than examining the cultural environments in which they lived. Integrating SEL's focus with CRP helps to broaden this lens because CRP's socio-political awareness aids in cross-pollinating SEL with a more equity-based mindset. When educators engage in SEL and CRP separately, they diminish the power each framework holds. Engaging in an integrated SEL and CRP mindset/pedagogy prepares all students to disrupt oppression and racism (Simmons, 2021; CASEL, 2020). This work can begin with teachers. This study sought to understand how teachers use SEL and CRP in an integrated manner if they do. The specific questions explored were: Research Question 1 (RQ1): How do teachers perceive social-emotional learning? Culturally responsive teaching? Research Question 2 (RQ2): How have teachers experienced social-emotional learning? culturally responsive teaching? Research Question 3 (RQ3): If teachers have experienced implementing integrated SEL and CRP, what are their experiences of implementing integrated SEL and CRP?
The participants' voices informed this study; therefore, a qualitative study specifically using a Phenomenological Research design was conducted. Purposive sampling of eight instructional coaches and five classroom teachers from a large urban school district were interviewed for this research. Interviews were transcribed, given to each interviewee for accuracy, then underwent extensive data analysis manually and through NVivo to discover themes. The findings that emerged were: RQ1: Our Common Humanity, CRP/SEL are the same thing, Misconceptions RQ2: Modifying frameworks for instruction, Modeling SEL/CRP practices, Engaging Families RQ3: Cohesive Buy-in, Ad-Hoc professional development, Addressing a Fixed vs. growth mindset, emerged from the data analyzed to respond to the three research questions of this study.
Suppose SEL and CRP are to have the transformative impact indicated by the findings of (CASEL, 2021). How can districts and school leaders provide and support educators to understand better how the two practices can be integrated?