There has been an increased interest in moving away from exclusive dependence on academic attainment toward strategies that involve students' social and emotional learning processes within educational systems today. Integrating Critical Pedagogy and SEL will help develop the student's self-awareness, efficient communication, and healthy relationship skills while nurturing sensitivity toward pertinent social issues. In turn, conscientization by Freire (1970b), which is viewed as the development of critical consciousness, parallels principles in SEL related to developing in students the capabilities of understanding and managing emotions, being empathetic toward others, and making choices ethically and responsibly (Gimbert et al., 2023). In this case, school practices within SEL can nourish the realization of Critical Pedagogy at school.

SEL consists of five essential elements: self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making (Durlak & Weissberg, 2011). These elements strongly align with the equity-based, inclusive, and democratic principles of Critical Pedagogy. SEL builds students' interpretative and critical thinking skills. More than this conceptual consonance, this research brings to light the functional facet of Critical Pedagogy through tools and strategies based on SEL. In essence, the implementation of SEL principles allows educators to apply Critical Pedagogy in a more systematic way, with its democratic, participatory, and transformative objectives becoming more achievable in daily educational practices.

Several pedagogical tools and strategies may support this integration, including restorative circle practices, reflective thinking, and a self-directed learning process (Ward-Seidel et al., 2022). Restorative circles, for example, give students a safe space to share their views freely while also listening to those of others. Self-awareness and reflective thinking practices help students understand and assess their feelings and thoughts (Pavlovich et al., 2009), while social awareness strategies like role-playing and empathy mapping let students take up the perspective of others and understand collective responsibility (Brown, 2012). Furthermore, self-directed learning helps students set academic goals, monitor progress, and assess their development, enabling them to develop autonomy and self-regulation (Rager, 2009). The basis of project-based learning is among the main instructional approaches meeting the principles of both SEL and Critical Pedagogy (Tierney et al., 2020). Students in such a context can proceed with inquiry-based learning, working out authentic problems that will enable deep reflection, peer collaboration, and meaningful feedback from the educator. In project-based learning, learners develop knowledge, problem-solving skills, social engagement, and critical awareness of societal issues. In integrating the strategies of SEL into Critical Pedagogy, educators will be able to operationalize critical rumination and education that orients itself toward social justice so that it may be relevant and feasible in different learning environments.

The transformative SEL approach conceptualizes SEL as a means of fostering equitable relationships, designing meaningful learning experiences, and empowering school-family-community partnerships, according to Jagers et al. (2019). A framework based on this theory aims to construct strong relationships, collaborative learning, and the critical interrogation of systemic inequities. Among other approaches to SEL, such as Critical Pedagogy, Transformative SEL shares the following core competencies: building a sense of student identity, disrupting systemic inequities, and creating a just society. They aim to empower students to be active participants in their learning processes and communities. This study uses a theoretical analysis of existing literature to establish the conceptual linkages between SEL and Critical Pedagogy. Foundational works on Critical Pedagogy, including those of Freire (1970a), Giroux (1988), and McLaren (2000), provide insights into the role of education in fostering critical consciousness and social transformation. Similarly, foundational literature on SEL by Zins and Elias, 2007; Jagers et al., 2019; and also, CASEL's framework (Borowski, 2019), would explain how these principles of SEL could be put into practice toward enabling critical engagement at schools.

This theoretical paper seeks to study how the principles of SEL can best be harnessed to enhance critical pedagogy within education. The reflections are expected to show that SEL is not only a tool for personal development but also a mechanism for social justice and activism. This research, therefore, places the integration of SEL into Critical Pedagogy and presents a holistic approach to education that focuses on individual growth and collective responsibility. Another valuable contribution of this paper is the emphasis on applicability it provides, demonstrating that SEL represents, somehow, a concretization of how educators can actually put Critical Pedagogy into practice. The SEL provides the educator with a structured tool to systematically introduce principles of dialogue, reflection, and democratic participation into everyday educational settings. The study has aimed to show that guided reflection, collaborative discussions, and projects related to social responsibility are some SEL-based practices that can make Critical Pedagogy not only an ideal but also a reachable and sustainable educational model. Additionally, this study hopes to underscore how schools must turn toward adopting a critical perspective in their approach toward SEL, shifting from a skills-based approach to one focused on student agency and social transformation that fosters equity. The study will also provide ways in which schools can implement SEL amidst diverse resources and student populations in a manner that upholds the principles of Critical Pedagogy. Doing this will seek to contribute to the conversations on democratic education and social justice within today's educational policies and practices.

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