Promoting Social Acceptance and Social Skills in The Classroom
Promoting social acceptance in the classroom has been brought to the forefront of education recently. Educators, parents, and communities are recognizing the need to broaden the education agenda to not only improve academic performance but also to enhances students’ social-emotional competence, character, health and civic engagement (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Many famous European educators from the past such as Johann Pestalozzi, Rudolf Steiner, Janusz Korczak and others were the forbearers of social learning and promoting social acceptance. The need to provide these skills is critical to promoting social acceptance in our communities and our society. Students with disabilities will need special attention in this particular area. Social-emotional competence and social skill development will promote social acceptance for not only students with disabilities but also all students in the classroom.