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mornar et al. ■ students’ social, emotional and intercultural competencies ...
programmes might rely on multiple theories. This implies that the theo-
retical frameworks guiding the development of existing programmes tend
to be fragmented and diverse, requiring further refinement and compre-
hension. Moreover, intercultural competencies have so far not been in-
cluded in SEL programmes, although a rising number of interventions
have sought to foster these disparate, yet related competencies, thereby re-
quiring integration and conceptualisation on the SEI level.
Evidence reviews of effective school-based interventions conducted
by leading researchers in the field suggest that a key characteristic of an ef-
fective SEL programme is that it has a strong basis in theory (Weissberg,
Resnik, Payton, and O’Brien, 2003). Simultaneous to this, the theoreti-
cal framework guiding existing programmes is not always clear. While re-
viewing the programmes, we noticed that universal school-based social,
emotional and intercultural learning programmes which mention their
rationale as for programme development, design and implementation are
founded on a variety of theoretical approaches, such as: child development
and neuroscience (Anderson, Weimer and Fuhs, 2020), bioecological sys-
tems theory and ecocultural theory (Garner et al., 2014), temperament
theory (McCormick et al., 2015), mindfulness theory (Schonert-Reichl et
al., 2015) and incremental theory of personality (Yeager, 2017), to name a
few.
According to Sklad et al. (2012), most programmes cite social learn-
ing theory (Bandura and Walters, 1977) as the foundation for their activ-
ities and goal achievement, while Brackett, Elbertson and Rivers (2015)
categorise relevant theories that may be useful for SEL content develop-
ment and implementation strategies into: systems theories, learning theo-
ries, child development theories, theories of information processing, and
theories of behaviour change. All of the above-mentioned theories are rel-
evant for certain aspects of social, emotional and intercultural learning,
and worth considering while developing or adapting SEI programmes.
Still, significant thought must be put into determining which theories are
appropriate for which aims and how their insights can be applied to dif-
ferent elements of the programme.
The development of intercultural competencies builds on social and
emotional competencies (e.g. self-awareness, social awareness, empathy),
expanding them to a wider context and directing them to concepts like
stereotypes and prejudice, which can inhibit or impede intergroup com-
munication (Leiprecht, 2001), as well as individual communication be-
tween people of different cultures. Moreover, developing intercultural
competencies cannot be reduced to simply “learning about other cultures”
(Auernheimer, 2003). It instead needs to be seen as context-dependent,
121
programmes might rely on multiple theories. This implies that the theo-
retical frameworks guiding the development of existing programmes tend
to be fragmented and diverse, requiring further refinement and compre-
hension. Moreover, intercultural competencies have so far not been in-
cluded in SEL programmes, although a rising number of interventions
have sought to foster these disparate, yet related competencies, thereby re-
quiring integration and conceptualisation on the SEI level.
Evidence reviews of effective school-based interventions conducted
by leading researchers in the field suggest that a key characteristic of an ef-
fective SEL programme is that it has a strong basis in theory (Weissberg,
Resnik, Payton, and O’Brien, 2003). Simultaneous to this, the theoreti-
cal framework guiding existing programmes is not always clear. While re-
viewing the programmes, we noticed that universal school-based social,
emotional and intercultural learning programmes which mention their
rationale as for programme development, design and implementation are
founded on a variety of theoretical approaches, such as: child development
and neuroscience (Anderson, Weimer and Fuhs, 2020), bioecological sys-
tems theory and ecocultural theory (Garner et al., 2014), temperament
theory (McCormick et al., 2015), mindfulness theory (Schonert-Reichl et
al., 2015) and incremental theory of personality (Yeager, 2017), to name a
few.
According to Sklad et al. (2012), most programmes cite social learn-
ing theory (Bandura and Walters, 1977) as the foundation for their activ-
ities and goal achievement, while Brackett, Elbertson and Rivers (2015)
categorise relevant theories that may be useful for SEL content develop-
ment and implementation strategies into: systems theories, learning theo-
ries, child development theories, theories of information processing, and
theories of behaviour change. All of the above-mentioned theories are rel-
evant for certain aspects of social, emotional and intercultural learning,
and worth considering while developing or adapting SEI programmes.
Still, significant thought must be put into determining which theories are
appropriate for which aims and how their insights can be applied to dif-
ferent elements of the programme.
The development of intercultural competencies builds on social and
emotional competencies (e.g. self-awareness, social awareness, empathy),
expanding them to a wider context and directing them to concepts like
stereotypes and prejudice, which can inhibit or impede intergroup com-
munication (Leiprecht, 2001), as well as individual communication be-
tween people of different cultures. Moreover, developing intercultural
competencies cannot be reduced to simply “learning about other cultures”
(Auernheimer, 2003). It instead needs to be seen as context-dependent,
121
