Around the globe, there is a growing awareness of the importance of addressing students’ social and emotional development and wellbeing during schooling. Although the bulk of the work in this area has been conducted in North America and Europe, there is now a burgeoning interest in this topic in Australia and the wider Asia Pacific. This book is the first ever to provide a timely and important collection of diverse perspectives on and approaches to social and emotional learning in the Australian and Asia Pacific context. Adopting a broad view of social and emotional learning, the book explores positive psychology, belonging, teachers’ professional development, pre-service training and post-initial training in Australia and in neighbouring communities such as China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Fiji, and other Pacific nations.

Frydenberg, Martin, and Collie have provided an incredible service by bringing together in a single well planned scholarly volume an incredible and well balanced group of senior and early career cutting edge researchers from Australia, Asia and the Asia Pacific area tackling approaches and key issues of social and emotional learning. Their much needed volume links research on key factors, such as differing perspectives, measurement issues, the identification of at-risk children, teachers’ social and emotional development, and these and other across the cultures of an increasingly vibrant and developing geographic region. It is indeed encouraging to gain the sense of depth and breadth of ongoing research that the volume gives.

John Roodenburg PhD FAPS MCEDP MCCOUNSP, Monash University Melbourne

Social and Emotional Learning is understood to be a crucial part of the school curriculum. This book covers the field, with a refreshing focus on work being done in Australia and in neighbouring countries. For school psychologists, the book helps us to understand how SEL can help at every level - from working with individuals, small groups, whole classes, or with the entire school. Our work with vulnerable students, individually or in small groups, is always more effective when embedded in the broader context of Social and Emotional Learning.

Paul Bertoia FAPS MCEDP, Senior School Psychologist

This collected volume of researchers from Australia and the Asia-Pacific provides a thorough review of important educational, social, and emotional development issues for practitioners and researchers around the world. Readers will greatly benefit from the breadth and depth of treatment in each of the topics covered. Kit-Tai Hau, PhD, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.