Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is more than a buzzword: it's the foundational process through which young people develop the crucial skills needed for healthy identities, goal achievement, empathy, and responsible decision-making. Recognised globally as a key determinant of pupil success and lifelong socioeconomic outcomes, the importance of SEL has never been clearer. While the US has seen compelling evidence that universal SEL programmes boost pupil attitudes, academic performance, and reduce stress, the conversation in the UK is only now intensifying. A recent confluence of policy shifts and escalating youth mental health concerns, especially in the long-term wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, has pushed SEL from a desirable feature to a core professional mandate for every teacher.

A growing focus on SEL and Teachers’ own social and emotional competencies is supportive of UCET's statement for the intellectual base of teacher education (IBTE) to include trainees becoming “competent and confident professionals”. Teachers can learn from both research and their own practice, as well as from their peers, effective pedagogy to deliver SEL.

The Policy Pivot: SEL Becomes a Core Expectation

Following significant curriculum policy change in schools, the Department for Education’s revised 2025 ITTECF guidelines now explicitly require new teachers to not only understand but effectively "teach and model social and emotional skills." This is now enshrined as a core professional expectation under Standard 7, which links effective behaviour management and a safe learning environment directly to a pupil's social and emotional development. However, there is a fundamental challenge: is ITE ready to meet this mandate? Experts note that SEL is often "fragmented" or "squeezed out" within schools by the intense pressure to cover subject knowledge and core management techniques. If true, this would leave less opportunity for trainees to deliver or observe SEL in practice. While developing social and emotional skills is seemingly a large part of a teacher's actual day-to-day job, the support and explicit training to develop this pedagogy is seemingly, less informed, perhaps due to its inconsistent positioning within schools.

The Foundation: Teacher Social-Emotional Competence (TSEC)

For teachers to effectively teach social and emotional learning skills, they must first possess them. A teacher’s own Social-Emotional Competence (SEC), which encompasses complex skills like empathy and emotional regulation, is a prerequisite for effective instruction, providing the essential skills for their own well-being and resilience. Teachers with higher SEC are better equipped to regulate their own emotions in challenging classroom situations. This personal resilience fosters a positive classroom environment and allows them to build the warm, supportive teacher-pupil relationships that are critical for learning. This, in turn, leads to tangible pupil benefits: greater emotional support, improved academic engagement, and better mental health outcomes. Simply put, teachers are vital role models, demonstrating prosocial behaviours and communication every day. The critical issue is the potential discrepancy between a teacher’s self-reported SEC (what they think they can do) and their behaviour in the classroom (what they actually do). This highlights the urgent need for training that focuses on the application of skills, not just the acquisition of knowledge.

Assessing Competence: Beyond Knowledge

While current ITE performance metrics ensure a level of competence, Teacher Social and Emotional Competencies (TSEC), which encompasses complex skills like empathy and emotional regulation, requires a specialised and multi-pronged assessment approach. A promising instrument for measuring the applied knowledge component of TSEC is the TRUST (Test of Regulation in and Understanding of Social Situations in Teaching) questionnaire. This situational judgment test (SJT) presents trainees with realistic classroom scenarios, probing their understanding of emotion regulation and relationship management strategies. Crucially, higher TRUST scores correlate with better teacher-pupil relationships in practice, making the questionnaire a valuable predictor of an emotionally supportive learning environment. However, no single tool can capture the full breadth of TSEC. The TRUST questionnaire, if adopted, should be part of a holistic assessment framework, used in conjunction with:

• Observational tools: where trained mentors assess real-time behaviour and the application of skills in the classroom.
• Pupil-report measures: offering invaluable pupil perspectives on the emotional support they receive.
• Self-report measures: used primarily for trainees' personal reflection and identifying areas for growth.

The conclusion is clear: ITE programmes must systematically integrate TSEC into their curricula as a core, continuous component of training. By combining robust assessment tools—such as the TRUST questionnaire, structured mentor observations, and reflective practice—we can evaluate both a trainee’s knowledge and their application of these critical skills. This approach allows for targeted support and deliberate practice in areas requiring further development. The critical next step is ensuring ITE curricula include overt TSEC seminar time and evidence-based practices that benefit both trainees and their pupils. Ultimately, this builds a generation of more competent, resilient, and supportive teachers. The remaining challenge lies in collaborating with partner schools to create dedicated practice spaces for TSEC and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL).