Understanding and Promoting School Climate, Bullying, and Social-Emotional Learning: Transdisciplinary and Transnational Science Advancing Positive Youth Outcomes

School climate is an important part of school improvement efforts, capturing student engagement, connectedness, safety, and relationships. A positive school climate is associated with more prosocial behaviors, academic achievement, reduced engagement in risky behaviors, teacher retention, and reduced burnout. With growing interest and attention to the research of social and emotional learning (SEL), the definitions and conceptualizations of social and emotional learning have expanded significantly across the past few decades. Understanding the intersection between students’ identities, their educational experiences and their academic, social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes is a necessary precursor to being able to strategically and systematically identify and implement universal and targeted supports to meet the overlapping and unique needs of students. To achieve true equity in education, interventions supporting the needs of all students, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds must be identified and appropriately vetted. A transnational understanding of the structural patterns and the association between these variables is critical for both the development of culturally sensitive SEL and bullying prevention programs and the transnational adaptation and applications of effective programs that promote a positive school climate. Articles featured in this special issue advance transdisciplinary and translational research by contributing high-quality studies focusing on the impact of bullying and/or SEL programs and interventions on school climate. These articles bridge the research-to-practice gap, including empirical papers with important implications for theory, research, practice, and policy.Impact StatementPromoting school climate and social and emotional learning are important to support student success at school and beyond. Transdisciplinary and transnational research provides valuable information to understand and implement supports that are culturally sensitive and responsive. While school climate and social and emotional learning are often studied separately, both are necessary for students to thrive.