Social Emotional Learning Skills and Career Development: The Roles of Teachers and School Counselors

Social emotional learning (SEL) skills that have positive influences on mental health and academic development based on empirical evidences contribute to career development of students thanks to being preventive, supporting strengths and adopting holistic development. Thus, this article based on literature review aimed to provide a conceptual framework of SEL skills, first and then address the influences of them on career development, readiness for higher education and world of work. In addition, the role of teachers and school counselors were proposed, mentioning the importance and necessity of the improvement of SEL skills through education. Thus, it is important to promote social emotional learning skills in order to support career development of students, considering holistic development of human being. In this regard, it is crucial to develop educational policies to foster social emotional learning skills in schools, to improve teachers’ competencies for teaching these skills to the students as well as integrating them into classroom curricula, to review of school counseling programs for integrating these skills into vocational guidance services, within positive youth development perspective. For effective and successful efforts, the collaboration between teachers and school counselors would have an essential role.