Social and Emotional Learning As Foundation for Future Readiness : Translating Research to Practice

The book offers a global perspective on social and emotional learning skills (SEL) by summarizing findings from a collaborative multi-national and cross-cultural study of educator perceptions regarding the nature and value of SEL skills conducted by career development researchers from 19 countries. In addition to promoting success in education, SEL skills serve as the “durable,” human skills that support success in the world of work. 

The chapters explore research from three key regions: the Global South, Asia, and the Global North. Alongside comparative analyses of SEL, the book highlights strategies for designing culturally responsive interventions to develop SEL and future-readiness skills. Each region provides tailored recommendations for implementing SEL and career development programs and services.

This collaborative research effort offers a unique opportunity to reexamine assumptions underpinning career development theory and practice. It presents a transformative research model that conceptualizes SEL skills policies and practices that are responsive to the diverse sociopolitical contexts and cultural values found in different regions around the world.

• Chong Myung Park is a Research Scientist in Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development at Boston University, USA. Dr. Park’s research focuses on designing and evaluating career development programs and services in K-12 and post-secondary settings, for high-need, high-opportunity youth populations. Her research interests include college and career readiness, employability skills, SEL, career pathways to STEM occupations, and Individualized Learning Plans. Dr. Park facilitated the research activities of the SEL International Research Network (officially recognized by WERA), including webinars, conference presentations, and publications.
• Lea Ferrari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy, and Applied Psychology, University of Padova, Italy. Her research focuses on the study of successful career paths from childhood to adulthood with attention to contextual factors using a preventive focus, develops instruments, designs and tests the efficacy of intervention programs. Dr. Ferrari is involved in two European projects: CONNECT! which aims to link career guidance and counseling with HR practices and psSMILE which aims to promote SEL competences in primary schools. She is a board member of the University Network for Innovation in Guidance Foundation (NICE) and serves as editor of the Turkish Journal of Education for the counseling and guidance field.
• Andreea-Diana Scoda is a researcher in the Laboratory of Policy Analysis, Development and Educational Evaluation at the Unit of Research in Education, under the National Centre for Policies and Evaluation in Education, Bucharest, Romania. Her research focuses on career guidance and social and emotional learning topics. Dr. Scoda participated in writing the three-volume book ‘Programmes and activities of counselling for the development of students’ socio-emotional skills: Guide for school counsellors’ (2020) for elementary education, lower secondary education, higher secondary education, and VET students. She was an Associate Professor at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Department for Teacher Training (DPPD) (2016-2017) and a member or expert for non-governmental organizations in the field of education (Council Europe, UNICEF, WERA).
• Nurten Karacan Ozdemir is an associate professor in the Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Hacettepe University, Türkiye. Dr. Karacan-Ozdemir’s research interests include career counseling and guidance, program development and evaluation in career guidance, ethics in counseling, and multicultural career counseling. She was a team member of a project supported by North Carolina State University and Research Triangle Institute – International entitled Career Builders, which involved a study of policymakers, researchers, and practitioners worldwide engaged in youth unemployment interventions.
• Gloria Marsay is a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa, a registered educational psychologist, a special needs teacher working in private practice, and a consultant to schools and NPOs. Dr. Marsay’s research explores effective ways to assist people to enter the world of work in the South African context. She has developed the “Hope for Sustainable Livelihood Intervention” using constructs of Hope, as well as Social and Emotional Learning skills, to empower people who are unemployed to enter the world of work and earn a sustainable livelihood. She is a published author of the book entitled “Career? Sorted!” and several papers in academic journals.

V. Scott Solberg is a Professor at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, USA. Dr. Solberg is working internationally and nationally on the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective career development programs and services for high-need youth populations, including youth with disabilities. In addition to numerous peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Solberg is author of the book “Making School Relevant with Individualized Learning Plans: Helping Students Create Their Own Career and Life Goals” was published by Harvard Education Press, ScholarCentric, a resiliency program available from Intellispark, co-editor of the “Handbook of Career and Workforce Development: Research, Practice and Policy” from Routledge, and co-editor of “Careers for Students with Special Educational Needs: Perspectives on Development and Transitions from the Asia-Pacific Region” from Springer.