Exploring social and emotional learning in physical education and classroom settings at a rural elementary school

With a growing interest in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in education (Goldberg et al., 2019; Gordon et al., 2016; Todd et al., 2022), schools have been positioned as effective settings for SEL development of students (Nielsen et al., 2015). As the potential of Physical Education (PE) to promote student learning in social and affective domains has long been discussed and proved in the previous literature (Bailey, 2006; Bailey et al., 2009; Casey & Fernandez-Rio, 2019), recent empirical studies in the field are starting to pay attention to SEL experiences of students and teachers in school-based PE programs (Dyson et al., 2019; Dyson et al., 2021a; Dyson et al., 2021b; Hemphill et al., 2021). However, there has been limited explanation on how PE can act as a catalyst to work with classroom settings collaboratively for effective and sustainable SEL development, especially at a rural elementary school. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate perspectives and experiences of students and teachers for SEL in PE and classroom settings at a rural elementary school located in North Carolina. Three research questions guided this study: 1) What SEL pedagogies do teachers implement in PE and classrooms at a rural elementary school? 2) What experiences do students have about SEL in PE and classrooms at a rural elementary school? 3) What contributing factors do teachers and students perceive important for SEL experiences in PE and classrooms at a rural elementary school? Previous literature on social and affective domains of learning in elementary PE, current SEL frameworks, a whole school approach to SEL, and perspectives of students and teachers in rural education have worked as conceptual backgrounds for this study. Socio-ecological theory, symbolic interactionism, and social constructivism were adopted as theoretical frameworks. Adopting a case study design (Merriam, 1995), this research was conducted at Marigold elementary school, a Title I school located in a rural area of North Carolina. Using purposive sampling methods (Patton, 2003), 13 teachers and 31 elementary school students with diverse backgrounds participated in this study. Five types of qualitative data were collected in this study: 1) Class observations, 2) Individual interviews, 3) Student focus groups, 4) Photovoice, and 5) Researcher’s reflexive journals. Inductive qualitative data analysis with constant comparisons was implemented in this study (Miles et al., 2014). Trustworthiness of this study was enhanced by triangulation, member checks, peer debriefing, negative case analysis, and clarification of researcher positionality (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Miles et al., 2014). This study provided in-depth information on how PE can be positioned as one of the significant strands of a whole-school approach to SEL. Exploring SEL pedagogies and experiences in PE and classroom settings helped to identify collaborative pedagogies that can be used across different subject settings to enhance students’ SEL development at a rural elementary school more sustainably