Epilogue: Towards an integrative view of social and emotional learning

The authors who contributed to the chapters in the present book volume expanded our horizons about the richness and variation in the ways of approaching the complex phenomenon of social and emotional learning (SEL) in the school context. They described in various ways, how readiness to teach SEL is essential in fostering human growth and flourishing in teachers, their students and in the whole community. In this last chapter, it is time to give an integrated perspective of the SEL theory and the challenges of the future. First, we look at the role of motivation in learning SEL. Writing this book place in the middle of Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore we also analyse the challenges that are posed to human interactions in the virtual and remote settings. It is also important to look ahead for the future, beyond the current situation. We apply the dual-processing theory to see, how developing expertise in SEL moves between automatic and conscious processes; we describe this spiral process and refer to the original ideas of Thomas Gordon. Finally, we conclude in the idea of how the concept of wisdom can be integrated in the theory of SEL to promote new understandings.