From needs to design: teachers' perspectives on core components of culturally responsive SEL in Türkiye

= 171). Data were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis, supported by strategies of credibility, dependability, and confirmability. The findings reveal that teachers view SEL not as abstract skill lists but as interdependent capacities enacted within daily school practices. Four interconnected clusters of need were consistently prioritized: (1) emotional awareness, expression, and regulation; (2) communication, cooperation, and adaptation; (3) self-regulation, responsibility, and problem-solving; and (4) empathy, compassion, and respect. Teachers further underscored systemic preconditions for effective SEL, including teacher capacity, alignment between home and school expectations, and whole-school coherence. The study contributes to global SEL scholarship by offering contextualized evidence from a non-Western setting and by demonstrating how teachers actively negotiate between universal SEL discourses and local educational realities. Implications are discussed for the design of culturally responsive SEL curricula, teacher professional development, and policy initiatives in comparable contexts.