Kumakura, K. (1968）GeGeGe no Kitarō, [song]. N.D.

ge, ge, gegege no ge, we sleep in the morning/it's so much fun/we spooky ghosts don't have to go to school nor take tests at all/let's sing together/gegege no ge. (Mizuki, 1968).

A famous line from the lyrics written by Shigeru Mizuki, a Japanese manga artist and historian best known for the successful manga series GeGeGe no Kitarō, reflects how Mizuki himself hated tests. He had wanted to go to art school, but because he was never good at tests, it hinged him from passing any entrance exam. The secondary prep school which did not have an entrance exam, was the only school he was able to finish other than the compulsory education up to age 9. In his manga art, based on a mixture of indegenous folklore stories of ghosts and his imagination, he created a world of unique spooks where anything is possible (Mizuki, 2007). 

I was reminded of the song as it resonated with me in reflecting upon human development and educational psychology in the course EPSY 408. The song made me think about how to re-imagine new learning and dream in speculative thoughts on a completely unconventional learning community, inspired by the spooks depicted in the cartoon behaving no where near the norm or standard in the human society. 

My goal of this course to be able to be informed of the foundational theories in educational psychology so that I can connect and update my current understanding of new learning and how learning should be assessed.Through historical and conceptual overview of educational psychology, from behavorism, brain-developmentalism to social cognitivism, EPSY408 once again shed a spotlight on the impact they gave on assessment measures, from the angle of the advancement in understanding cognitive psychology behind how learners learn.

Mizuki eventually becomes a well-known manga artist, celebrated for his unique contributions and success despite his poor performance in tests and lack of credentials from art education institutions. Assessment measures such as tests play a central role in the student experience. Yet, tests do not encapsulate the ability of students to succeed in real life. Tests are peculiar artifacts in didactic pedagogy (Cope & Kalantzis, 2015, p.360). Some argue that scores of IQ, or intelligence quotient, taken from one of several standardized tests can be an indicator of success because it is a measure of a person's intellectual abilities and potential. A high IQ score indicates that a person has the ability to learn and understand complex concepts, and to think abstractly. This ability is important for success in many fields, including academia, business, and science (Ritchie, 2017). However, IQ is only one form of competence that can contribute to success in life; there are many others as well. Emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and creative intelligence are additional crucial kinds of competence. 

Advances in cognitive and psychological understandings necessitate the development of assessment tools. The Binet's intelligence test has a purpose to measure the intellectual capacity of a child who is brought to us in order to know whether he is normal or retarded (Binet, 1905). To observe and measure is among the characteristics of behaviorist approach. Modifications of behaviors through behaviorist approach were continously explored by the likes of Skinner, until it was dimantled by Chomsky. Gradually, the notion that learning is social come into place driven by advances in our understanding of the brain and its development, as well as by our increasing understanding of the social nature of human cognition.

Such educational psychology theories influence learning design practices. This work for EPSY408 is based on the idea that "learning is social" and looks at emerging practices that focus on improving social and emotional skills. More specifically, I will look at social emotional learning, restorative practices, an abolitionist teaching framework, culturally relevant pedagogy, and the pedagogy of care, while focusing on the importance of building "relationships," which reflects the idea of social cognitivism. My work will address structural racism and other forms of oppression that cause a multiplicity of marginalization through literature reviews in order to improve social emotional skills. I will also touch on Vygostky's social-cultural psychology in relation to the pedagogy of "care" in order to fill in on the practices of SEL: social emotional learning, in the hopes of addressing the gap in the conventional practices of SEL in tackling structural racism.

The number of students who identify with emotional and behavioral disorder has grown in recent years, and it is believed that this will have a negative impact on the creation of a safe learning environment. Furthermore, data suggests that if students' conduct result in delinquency, they will face disciplinary measures, which disproportionately affects BIPOC or minority pupils.

In order for diverse groups of students to succeed, this paper examines the theory of social and emotional learning skills. In the context of valuing social and emotional skills, I pay special attention to similar practices and pedagogy to create an inclusive, safe space for learning. Various approaches have been implemented in schools. Reviews of the literature reveal that the theory of social emotional learning implemented with a standardized approach may result in limited realization of building a safer, more equitable learning environment indicated by restorative practices, pointing out the need for incorporating ideas such as ethics of care and culturally relevant pedagogy when in practice.

According to Lane, et al., it is estimated that one in five students identify themselves with a mild to severe emotional or behavior disorder (Lane, et al., 2019). Students who exhibit externalizing behaviors may impede learning in the classroom, and lead to cycles of negative teacher-student interactions (Forsberg & Leko, 2021). Traditionally, when students' disruptive behaviors continues, teachers would respond with punitive consequences, which are often exclusionary, do not encourage students to take accountability for their choices.

An Overview of Exclusionary Discipline Practices in Public Schools for the 2017-18 School Year (US Department of Education, 2021)

Additionally, there are equity issues in the practice of punitive measures. According to a report by NEAToday, black children are 3.5 times more likely than White pupils to be suspended or expelled. The racial differences begin at an astonishingly young age. Black preschoolers aged four and five make up just 18% of the preschool population but account for over half of those who have been suspended from school more than once, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. The article also details the data that students of color, LGBT youth, and youths with disabilities are more likely to experience suspension, expelled, or arrest for actions that are not dealt with in the same way as their White counterparts. (NEAToday, 2014).

Forsberg & Leko propose the use of restoractive practices along with social emotional learning curriculum so that educators will "develop student's social skills while addressing the effects of exclusionary disciplinary pratices that dispropotionately afffect marginalized students.

From here, I will examine the definitions of major conceptual frameworks and emerging practices in creating safe spaces and enhancing social emotional skills and reveal their limitations in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Various research indicates that implementation of SEL with fidelity prove improvements in prevention of creating safer and more inclusive learning environment (Education at Illinois, 2017), other researchers in critical race theories suggests limitations of approach based on SEL when it comes to combatting racism.

Leonard and Woodland investigate whether social and emotional learning applications can be used to dismantle and rebuild racist structures in K12 education, and indicated that mainstream SEL initiatives are not a strategy for dismantling white supremacy and systematic racism in schools(Leonard & Woodland, 2022, p. 213). They note that the common SEL framework fall short of describing how to contextualize SEL in regards to the existence of systematic racism and student exposure to trauma/toxic conditions (p. 215). More specifically, they suggest three strategies to dismantle systematic racism in school and improve student SEL by;

• Building and sustaining robust, effective school-based professional learning communities as levers for individuals and institutional change
• Providing teachers with time, space and support for critical dialogue about identity, implicit biases, and systematic oppression, so they can recognize and transform racist belief and practices
• Treating SEL and anti-racism not as initiatives but rather as transformative pedagogigcal approaches embedded within and essential to all aspects of teaching and learning (p. 220)

Building professional learning communities is relavant to the idea of community of practice by Wenger as illustrated in Fig.6, based on the theory that learning as social participation, he highlighted the need of becoming active participants in social community practices and developing identities in connection to these communities (Kalantzis & Cope, n.d.-b).

Fig.6: Components of a social theory of learning (Wenger 1998, p.5)

Limitations of SEL Standards

Clark et al. (2022) investigated a set of K–12 Social and Emotional Learning standard in Ohio using critical discourse analysis and concluded that SEL standard disregard opressions such as racism and ableism: prioritize civility over productive conflict; and focusing on behaviors over emotion, all of which negatively impact the experiences of multiply marginalized youth in schools. (Clark et al. 2022, p. 132). The Multiply marginalized youth is a term developed by Subini Annamma to describe youth at the intersections of multiple oppressions(Othering & Belonging Institute, 2019).

Informed by disability critical race theory, Clark et al. analyzed the truth claims in policy documents, and  revealed how the standards render the circulating forces of racism and
ableism as “neutral” and “invisible” and “uphold notions of normalcy” (p.140). For instance,  in the Ohio SEL standard, any response to conflict is prevention, no matter what root cause the conflict may be, since the SEL standard does not identify or address racism or ableism. In accordance with all of 'Competency B: Self-Management, any thoughts or sentiments in response to racism, ableism, or the weight of other western cultural standards are to be "controlled" and "regulated" (ODE, 2019, p. 12–14). Any social acts taken in response to these injustices are effectively null and void under the standards, limiting chances for "activism" and "resistance," as needed by disability critical race theory (Clark et al. 2022, p. 141).

SEL standard and Assessment

SEL sees success as an individual attainment individuals are responsible for. Marginalized students too would have to be "self-reliant" in order for them to succeed. Another important point raised by Clark et al. is that SEL standard focus on the individual over the collective (Clark et al. 2022, p. 144). There has been criticism on individualistic aspect of assessment in education (Cope & Kalantzis, 2015), especially given the understanding that learning occurs in social interactions. Clark et al.'s criticism on SEL standard in Ohio further expands on the issue in terms of the both individual and collective well being in the context of marginalized community. First, when SEL standard focuses on individual ability to manage their emotions, it diverts the attention away from larger, systemic issues of racism, ableism and inequality within and outside school. Secondly,  it weaken prospects for collective action and agency by insisting that each individual to be assessed only on to their own performance and requiring students to be conflict-free. This results in eliminating opportunities to hear from and learn from the voices of the marginalized, and sabotage collective action and resistance to structural oppression. 

Similarly, Demartino et al criticize not only traditional SEL but even transformative SEL for failing BIPOC, pointing out that traditional SEL perpetuates the status quo by further marginalizing BIPOC, and transformative SEL for being too conceptual for successful adoption in PreK-12 schools (DeMartino et al., 2022). Such criticism owes to the view that SEL promotes a white, Eurocentric view of emotions and our relationships with them, and is based on deficit theory.

What are the theories and practices that can be applied to in order to bridge the gap in addressing school-based racism while improving social emotional skills? Researchers have suggested that both SEL and anti-racism requires need to be truely rooted in the learning community, rather than expert-led add-on initiatives (Leonar & Woodland, 2022,; Clark et al., 2022; ). 

Demartino et al. propose incoporating abolitionist teaching framework in conventiona SEL curriculum (DeMartino et al., 2022). They suggest TASEL: Transformative Abolitionist Social Emotional Learning as follows;

(1) Commit to the framework for abolitionist teaching;
(2) Create a TASEL task force to track​ ​data as well as name the systemic barriers students encounter; and
(3) Actively address systemic barriers with faculty and community members by creating action plans to enact TASEL, such as guest speaker engagements, workshops, skilled facilitators, critical reading and reflection circles, and brave educator learning communities.

Learning Community​ 
The implementations of TASEL can be embodied through establishing what they call a "brave educator learning community​". In essence, this is based on the understanding that learning is social, as shown in the diagram proposed by Wegner. Effective approach of establishing a learning community to improve social emotional skills while advancing anti-racism, is similarly proposed by Leonard and Woodland through the building of robust professional learning communities, or PLCs.

Components of a social theory of learning (Wenger 1998, p.5)

In analyzing the implications of professional learning communities, Leonard and Woodland looks at the relationships among learners including students and teachers, noting research indicates people value the emotional and informational support that can only come from "strong ties.", and that complex innovations also do not spread quickly through weak ties, but rather emerge and develop over time through a social system of defense, before becoming more widely accepted (p.220).

Fostering Relationships

The idea that learning communities supports social emotional learning that tackles racism is echoed by other researchers as well., in emphasizing social interactions and relationships.Frosberg and Leko also note on the importance of teacher-student relationship, indicating that the core restorative practices is strengthening relationships, collaborative problem solving, and giving voice to the person harmed and the person causing the harm, taking restorative practices as a method for integrating all element of school connectedness --including school bonding and attachment, school engagement and school climate-- into a single framework that provides supports to students in need (Frosberg & Leko, p.40).

Another theory in educational psychology we can lend to analyze the implications of proposed abolitionist transformative social emotional learning, is Lev Vygostky. 

Tappen, analyzes value propositions implicit in Lev Vygostky's sociocultural perspective on learning and development in comparison to Nel Noddings' ethics of care. Nel Nodding's four central components of a caring pedagogy are; modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation all rooted in the idea of a caring relation. Tappen takes Vygostky's zone of proximal development as something that highlights the importance of relation existing in between intermental functioning of educational experience, and intramental functioning in a given socio-cultural context, and relates to Nodding's idea of dialogue. 

Entirety, Not Add-ons

Tappan also support that moral education must not be a simple add on but rather must pervade both curriculum and the entire teaching-learning process (Tappan, 1998). This proposal not only follows the analogy by the likes of John Dewy's  "we learn what we do" and Marshal McLuhan's "the medium is the message", but is based on the analysis of both Vygostky's Zone of Proximal Development where learning process gradually internalize a repertoire of caring activities in cooperation with others. LEonard and Woodland also echoes, suggesting that SEL and anti-racism should not be treated as initiatives but rather as transformative pedagogigcal approaches embedded within and essential to all aspects of teaching and learning (Leonard & Woodland, 2022, p. 213).

​Literature review suggests three key directions towards potentially filling in on the gap between fighting against racism and improving social emotional learning skills of learners; 1) fostering learning communities 2) with an emphasis in building relationship of strong ties and 3) promote entirety rather than add-ons, to embody pedagogy of care that spans across all aspects of teaching and learning.

Both restorative practices, abolitionist teaching framework incorporates creation of learning community as a core component that enhance social emotional learning skills as well as grounding mechanism to enable restorative culture in the learning environment, rather than expert-led, compartmentalized, episodic instrutional sessions with an aim to enhance SEL.

Transformative SEL in hopes to serve a more "just" world, just as much as any other ​social justice movement in countering systematic racism, sexism, xenophobia and other forms of oppression seek realization of justice. ​However, the limitations to ethics of justices have long been argued, mostly in the context of medicine and healthcare (Annatjie, 2000) more recently expanded to the field of automated decision making by AI​ and ethics (Tanaka, 2020), in comparison to the ethics of care./n trying to achieve equitable action, ethics of justice rely on principals and rules whereas ethics of care value the relationship, the people involved. Just as the literature suggests the limitations of implementation of social emotional learning as a set of standards to assess how well one is doing emotionally in the face of systematic oppression, the significance of care should be taken into consideration in implementing SEL for racial equity which can be embodied in the value of relationship in caring pedagogy.

While both restorative practices and the abolitionist teaching framework use the notion of "healing"and emphasize stronger relationships by fostering the learning community, the feminist approach of caring pedagogy can potentially bridge the gap that needs to be filled in the practices of actual methods in practicing SEL and equity.

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