ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to expand on the second principle, which indicates that [s]ocial and emotional readiness and wellbeing can be formally or informally measured to yield data and inform interpretations about what is in the best interest of students. Students are rights holders in their own learning. These data can be used to facilitate children’s acquisition of social and emotional competencies, attributes and/or skills in classrooms. I elaborate on this principle by introducing a children’s rights approach for creating a classroom designed to support students’ social and emotional wellness for learning. I begin the chapter with the premise that any social and emotional program initiative, including assessment, does not implement itself. The teacher who executes the delivery needs to operate from a framework that includes children’s rights to voice and participation. This is aligned with the pedagogical alliance. Children need to be actively included in deciding what is happening to them in the classroom, especially since social and emotional competencies are designed to help them become strong and resilient learners. Although children’s voices and participation have been largely neglected in decisions about social and emotional programming, their inclusion is necessary in order to model consistency in the social and emotional lessons taught to students. I also outline how teachers can implement aspects of social and emotional learning programs and assessments within a children’s rights approach.
