The Relationship Between High School Teachers' Self-Reported Social and Emotional Competencies and Teacher Social and Instructional Teaching Practices and the Implications for Professional Learning

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among high school teachers' self-reported social and emotional competencies (SECs), social interaction teaching practices, and instructional interaction teaching practices. Yoder's (2014) research suggests to successfully implement social-emotional learning (SEL) practices, teachers must have strong social and emotional competency skills (Brackett et al., 2009; Jennings and Greenberg, 2009). This study included a quantitative descriptive method to examine the anonymous survey data collected. Additionally, the data were examined for possible correlations between social, and instructional interaction teaching practices to identify areas of strength or weakness and suggest professional learning options for teachers related to their scores. This study sought to answer the following research questions:

1. What is the relationship among high school teachers' self-reported social, and instructional interaction teaching practices that influence students' social, emotional, and academic skills?
2. What is the relationship between educators' self-reported self-efficacy of their social and emotional competence and how it influences their ability to implement social, and instructional interaction teaching practices?
3. What is the relationship between teachers' overall social interaction score and their overall instructional interaction score?
4. What do the scores from the overall social interaction score and the overall instructional interaction score suggest about the professional learning needs of the participating high school teachers?

High school teachers in this study who reported a higher self-efficacy in positive social interactions had a higher self-efficacy in social interactions influencing students' social, emotion, and academic skills. High school teachers with a high self-efficacy in Teacher SEC: Social Interaction Teaching Practices strongly correlated to a higher self-efficacy of Teacher SEC: Instructional Interaction Teaching Practices. Furthermore, high school teachers with a higher self-efficacy in their Overall Social Interaction to that of their self-efficacy of their Overall Instructional Interaction also strongly correlated. Conversely, high school teachers who reported higher self-efficacy with instructional interaction did not report the same level of self-efficacy of their social interaction, albeit the finding was deemed small. The study suggests division and school leaders could prioritize supporting teachers' development of their self-efficacy of their social and emotional competence.