香港六合彩中特网

XClose

Research Impact

Home
Menu

Putting social and emotional skills at the heart of education policy

Research by IOE, 香港六合彩中特网鈥檚 Faculty of Education and Society academics has enhanced education for millions of children in more than 40 countries, informing crucial curriculum strategies and global reports.

Father reading to child

12 April 2022

Skills such as motivation, perseverance, self-control and resilience are critical elements of a young person鈥檚 development and are increasingly recognised as being important for educational and employment outcomes. In recent years, policy-makers have paid growing attention to how such 鈥榥on-cognitive鈥, 鈥榮oft鈥 skills can be developed in children and young people.

Professor Ingrid Schoon, at IOE, has identified key soft skills associated with valued outcomes across education, work, health and social relationships and their connection with cognitive outcomes.

She said: 鈥淥ur research has significantly influenced UK and global policy, focusing attention on the importance of social and emotional skills, both in terms of how children鈥檚 development is understood, and the levers used to support educational attainment.鈥澨

Skills for life听

In a review commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and in collaboration with the Cabinet Office, Professor Schoon and colleagues clarified how best to frame and measure social and emotional skills. They demonstrated that cognitive and non-cognitive skills need to be developed in combination and that the school environment is an important space for such skills to develop.

The team went on to demonstrate the links between cognitive, social and emotional competencies and life-course development, with students who are supported in their specification of goals and in planning their attainment 鈥榓gency鈥 doing better. 听

The concept of student 鈥榓gency鈥 informed the OECD 2030 Education and Skills Framework, which has been adopted and implemented across 40 countries worldwide.

Professor Schoon鈥檚 work in this area also underpinned the OECD鈥檚 development of the Learning Compass that has turned the concepts into practice. It allows students to help orient themselves and navigate through uncertainty towards wellbeing.

At a national level, the research has informed a framework developed by the Office of the Children鈥檚 Commissioner that measures and monitors vulnerability in children. 听

Improving policy for the future听

In addition to the impact on education policy frameworks, Professor Schoon鈥檚 work has influenced policy developments in the UK, including via a parliamentary briefing note on 鈥楧eveloping non-academic skills鈥, providing recommendations on how social and emotional competencies can be developed and maintained over time through education and training.

The research also informed Public Health England鈥檚 report on 鈥楤uilding children鈥檚 and young people鈥檚 resilience in schools鈥.

The four key aspects of socio-emotional competencies the team identified - motivation, perseverance, self-control and resilience - are also reinforced in Ofsted鈥檚 inspection framework launched in 2019.听

Research synopsis

Putting social and emotional skills at the heart of education policy听

Research by IOE, 香港六合彩中特网鈥檚 Faculty of Education and Society academics on the importance of social and emotional skills in education has informed strategies for curriculum development included in the OECD 2030 Education and Skills Framework and the UNESCO 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report. The evidence underpins major UK initiatives to promote 鈥榗haracter鈥 education and has enhanced education for millions of children in more than 40 countries.

Links

Image听

  • Image credit:听