Towards neuroparenting? An analysis of the discourses underpinning social and emotional learning (SEL) initiatives in English schools

Formal therapeutic initiatives have been increasingly implemented in English schools since the late 1990s in response to a widely perceived crisis of childhood well-being and growing concerns over adolescent mental health. More broadly, an emphasis on social and emotional learning (SEL) as one significant manifestation of therapeutic education has widened the remit and scope of psycho-emotional intervention. Allied to the rise of neuroscience and its understanding of the infant brain, focus has shifted to how parents might optimise their own children’s neural development. This article examines the complex relationship between SEL and neuroparenting by drawing on an in-depth qualitative investigation whose general aim is to uncover how SEL is constructed in text, talk and practice. This research project utilised an ethnographic approach at three school sites, comprising semi-structured interviews, observational methods and documentary materials. The data are taken from one particular fieldwork site featured in this investigation: an infant and nursery school located in a socially deprived part of the East Midlands region in England. I draw attention to two particular constructions of SEL to illustrate a neuroparenting theme: SEL as a response to dysfunctional parenting and SEL as a political solution. I argue that this discursive emphasis on neuroparenting in relation to SEL has a range of consequences for parents, teachers and education itself, whilst also shaping the direction of social policy.