As we approach International SEL Day 2025 on March 3, we’re taking a moment to recognize that learning is an inherently social process, best developed and applied in collaboration with others. Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing skills to understand and manage emotions, build positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
SEL helps create an inclusive environment where every student can feel valued and respected, playing a crucial role in promoting equity in education. Microsoft Education is committed to helping educators build experiences that support SEL. Discover SEL activities, curriculum, and professional learning opportunities that offer innovative ways to help students develop a growth mindset, understand their emotions, and build a foundation for success.
Essential academic and career skills
SEL is proven to favorably impact academic outcomes and provide several life-long benefits to individuals, communities, and economies. When students engage in SEL, they not only improve academically but also build essential life skills like resilience, empathy, and collaboration. This helps create learning environments where all students feel seen, heard, and supported—laying the groundwork for equitable access for educational success.
Social-emotional skills are crucial to ensuring students are set up for success—both in the classroom and in their future careers. Our emotions act as gatekeepers to cognition, motivation, and attention, and [they] impact how we navigate our own thoughts and actions and interact with the world around us.
Paige Johnson, Vice President Public Sector, Financial Services and Media, Microsoft
School leaders and educators recognize SEL’s transformative power in enhancing communication, managing emotions, and navigating complex thoughts. These concepts extend beyond the classroom into the workplace. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) identifies self-control, stress resistance, cooperation, sociability, and curiosity as skills that support academic achievement, well-being, and job performance. It’s clear that from the classroom to the workplace, SEL serves as a foundation for equitable opportunities and lifelong achievement.
To learn more about integrating SEL into your classroom, take the learning path in the Microsoft Learn Educator Center.
Explore SEL in your classroom with Reflect
Support your students in developing essential social, emotional, and academic skills using Reflect. This Learning Accelerator offers opportunities for every student to feel heard while developing skills to identify, understand, and manage emotions. Reflect provides access to:
- Intentional emotional check-ins: Quickly survey students about their feelings and help them develop their emotional vocabulary with age-appropriate reflection.
- Ready-to-use activities: Explore a variety of fun activities for you and your students to practice well-being skills.
- Data-driven insights: Understand the emotional patterns and needs for each student and the whole class so you can better support their well-being and academic success.
- Easy access and seamless integration: Access Reflect through your web browser (sign in required), via the Windows app, Microsoft Teams for Education, and through integrations into learning management systems (LMS) like Canvas, Schoology, Moodle, Blackboard Learn, and more.
Easily set up regular check-ins and access a wide range of activities to support SEL with Reflect. Engage students in a series of mindful movements that help them unwind, uplift, and reconnect during stressful times. Explore SEL themes and skills through engaging stories with nature-themed art activities. Play curated classical music focus timers designed to support a calm learning environment. Get started with Reflect today!
Supporting SEL with innovative solutions
Reflect regularly introduces features and tools to help support SEL skills development, promote equity, and enhance academic success. Reflect Compass is one of the latest tools to help you navigate student check-in results by targeting evidence-based strategies to enhance well-being, engagement, and a sense of belonging. It’s built on the expertise of Challenge Success and grounded in over 20 years of research at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education.
Reflect Compass provides a framework to help you understand recurring themes and patterns in student responses to Reflect check-in questions. You can use it to identify areas of focus for SEL based on student feedback data. Reflect Compasses are designed to work across different types of schools and age groups. They help build SEL into the school community whether you have a formal program you’re using or just beginning your SEL journey.
To further enhance the understanding and application of SEL data, use the Microsoft Graph API for Reflect. You can create a centralized system for both analyzing and taking action on SEL assessment data from students across your educational organization. Use these data-driven insights to analyze trends and identify gaps, inform district-wide strategies, and design impactful professional development that fosters inclusive, emotionally supportive classrooms.
Explore more ways to use Reflect in your classroom in the learning module in the Microsoft Learn Educator Center.
Foster SEL skills with Minecraft Education
Minecraft Education is a game-based learning platform that promotes skill building, teamwork, and problem-solving. It provides students with a safe space to express themselves, collaborate and practice empathy, and navigate their emotions in a low-stress environment.
The Minecraft Education Social and Emotional learning pathway brings together experiences and challenges designed to help your students develop their SEL skills. Use these activities and worlds as they are, or as a starting point to adapt to your students’ needs.
Get started with Reflect World where your students can practice emotional processing strategies, encourage teamwork, and visualize the representation of emotions to develop empathy and self-awareness.
Explore more SEL experiences in these Minecraft Education lessons:
- Welcome to the community: Build valuable social and emotional skills by processing emotions, sharing, and supporting others through a shared experience.
- The Mindful Knight: Understand the benefits and basic concepts of mindfulness and encourage students to set aside a few minutes each day to practice.
- The mystery of the Budokan: Embark on quests to build a better future based on judo’s core values: courage, friendship, self-control, modesty, sincerity, respect, politeness, and honor.
SEL is more than a classroom strategy, it’s a foundation for equitable student opportunities. International SEL Day 2025 is the perfect moment to consider the role of SEL in your classroom and explore activities and curriculum from Microsoft Education. Together, we can foster equitable learning environments that prioritize student well-being and academic success.
