Nick Haisman-Smith

Executive Director of the Institute for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

Workshop Information:

This session speaks directly to the theme of Innovate by challenging outdated assumptions about boys and emotional development, and introducing fresh, practical SEL approaches that reflect the realities boys face today. 

Rather than relying on one-size-fits-all programs, it offers creative, movement-based, and relational strategies that reimagine how we engage boys in emotional learning—rooted in empathy, identity, and belonging. 

These are the kinds of innovative practices that shift culture, not just curriculum.

Stereotypes, biases, and misconceptions about boys’ emotional health and wellbeing remain pervasive in our school and wider cultures. 

From shifting societal pressures to harmful narratives of masculinity,  it is imperative that all schools work to advance transformative SEL that adapts to the shifting needs of boys. 

This session offers three practical, evidence-led SEL strategies that participants can take away to improve boys' engagement and wellbeing, alongside case studies from schools.

Session Outcomes:

1. Deepen understanding of the social and cultural forces shaping boys’ emotional development and sense of belonging in schools—and explore how shame, humor, and peer dynamics impact their engagement with SEL.

2. Experience and adapt practical, empathy-centered SEL strategies—like movement, perspective-taking, and reframing emotional language—to foster emotional accessibility, strengthen connection, and support belonging for all students.

Biography:

Nick Haisman-Smith (he/him) is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Institute for Social and Emotional Learning and a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Bristol, focusing on SEL and Educator Belonging. Nick supports schools and districts around the world to activate evidence-led best practices for SEL. At the core of his vision for SEL in education are the beliefs that SEL must be rooted in equity and school culture, and that schools must take a whole-community approach to make SEL sustainable. Prior to co-founding IFSEL in 2009, Nick taught upper-elementary through to high school in the UK, South Africa, and the USA.

He has presented and given keynotes at conferences around the world, including The Sunday Times Festival of Education (UK), Talks at Google (UK), Practical Pedagogies (Germany), Future of Education Now (China), National Association of Independent Schools (USA) and the CASEL SEL Exchange (USA). He is a Zinc Inflection Fellow, and Member of the British Psychological Society. Nick’s latest publication is “Building and Sustaining a Whole-Community Approach to Equity-Rooted SEL.” in Social-Emotional Learning: Strategies, Development and Educational Impact, edited by S. Riley Ordu, 105–124. New York: Nova Science Publishers.