Exploring the Implementation of Social and Emotional Learning to Support Elementary Students’ Social and Emotional Skills in Character Education

Social and emotional skills are essential to elementary students’ character development because they shape interpersonal relationships, emotional regulation, and readiness to learn. This study explored the implementation of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in supporting students’ social and emotional skills within character education at SDN Pekuncen, Pasuruan City, East Java, Indonesia. A qualitative approach was employed, involving 31 elementary school students and teachers directly involved in SEL implementation. Data were collected through observations and interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis, supplemented by descriptive percentages to summarize observed behavioral patterns. The findings indicated that students demonstrated social and emotional competencies through teamwork, confidence in speaking, respectful behavior, constructive conflict resolution, emotion management, and collaboration during classroom activities and social interactions. The findings also highlighted the role of teachers, curriculum materials, classroom learning, and extracurricular activities in supporting SEL implementation. The distinctive contribution of this study lies in providing a contextual description of how students’ social and emotional competencies are manifested in everyday classroom interactions while examining the role of classroom and school-level support in character education. The findings should be interpreted within the qualitative and descriptive scope of the study and not as evidence of statistical effects or causal relationships.