Who we are

Social-Emotional and Ethical Learning UK (SEE Learning UK) is the outcome of a unique collaboration between The Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion (DLCC) based in Oxford, UK and Emory University’s Centre for Contemplative Sciences and Compassion base Ethics based in Atlanta, USA. In the UK, the project is supported by a team of professionals, trustees and advisors with experience in the education, commercial and charity sectors. Further information about the DLCC team can be found here.

In 2021 both organisations partnered to bring the SEE Learning curriculum to the UK, adapting the project learning resources for use in English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish national curriculums and schools internationally teaching to the UK curriculums. The DLCC also brings its experience producing high-quality media resources, accessible lesson plans and scalable education projects to UK educators.

The basis for SEE Learning

A desire to support children to develop the wisdom and resilience to flourish in the face of the challenges presented by the modern world underpin the project. His Holiness the Dalai Lama identified a need for education in ethics that was universal and secular to enable children to develop a greater grasp of key components of what it means to be a human being, our responsibilities and moral journeys. Further details of His Holiness’ vision for secular ethics education can be found in this extract from this book ‘Ethics for a New Millenium’.

Alongside secular ethics, applying modern scientific techniques from contemplative sciences such as compassion training, mindfulness and attention training were seen as relevant to supporting academic and personal development of young people. The expertise of leading psychiatrists and psychologists helped to ground this work in the well-developed work of social and emotional learning lead by CASEL over the past 30 years.

Finally, compassion is the central theme of SEE Learning uniting secular ethics, social and emotional learning aspects. Compassion offers a way of exploring our relationships with ourselves, others and the world around us with kindness and the alleviation of others’ suffering at its core. It also offers the opportunity to explore wisdom, courage, diversity, happiness and other themes. Inspiring children, young people and educators to live their lives with compassion as the basis of their thoughts and actions can only lead to a more just, fair and kinder world.

The excellent ‘Education of the Heart’ website, compiled by the Mind & Life Institute, chronicles the initial discussions between the Dalai Lama and leading researchers in fields such as ethics, psychology, education and neuroscience. From these initial discussions formed the initial concepts underpinning SEE Learning and many other ethics and emotional learning projects.

In the UK context, social and emotional learning has started to be seen by the Education Policy Institute and Early Intervention Foundation as a scalable and impactful way of supporting young people to develop proactive skills and knowledge of their wellbeing and social skills.