Are schools ready to be hubs of social
and emotional learning?
New findings of the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills
(SSES)
Hannah Ulferts
30 March 2023
Policy Analyst, OECD, Education and Skills

IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SKILLS
A key ingredient for the success and well-being of individuals and societies.

Importance for individual life success
Creativity
Curiosity
Sociability
Empathy
Stress resistance
Responsibility
Physical health
Well-being and
life satisfaction
Social Relations
Educational
attainment
Civic
engagement
Employment
prospects

> Cohesion in our societies
> A prosperous and peaceful future
Importance of social and emotional skills for societies
Top priority in many countries

Cities participating in the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills 2019

Dip in skills
Social and emotional skills dip as students get older.

Social and emotional skills dip as students get older (OECD, 2021)
7
Age differences (15 – 10-year-olds; international average)
-1.00
-0.60
-0.20
0.20
0.60
1.00
Responsibility
Persistence
Self-control
Stress
resistance
Optimism
Emotional
Control
Empathy
Trust
Cooperation
Tolerance
Curiosity
Creativity
Sociability
Assertiveness
Energy
Self-efficacy
Achievement
motivation
Standardised
Difference
10-year-old students report higher ...
15-year-old students report higher ...
Achievement
motivation
Emotional
Regulation
Collaboration Open-mindedness Engaging with others
Other
outcomes
Task performance
Note: All diff
sig in ≥ 5
cities.

cdf
Schools are perfect hubs of social and emotional learning
School offers opportunities to experience success, build trusting relationships, and learn that one’s success depends
on others.

cdf
Are schools ready?
…to acknowledge that academic achievements and social and emotional learning are two sides of the same coin.
Photo by Chris Curry on Unsplash

Schools acknowledge that the following is an important aim…
Percentage of students on schools whose principal agreed or strongly agreed that the following is an aim of their school
(international average)
Academic achievement Social and emotional skills
Photo by Stanley Morales from Pexels
94.5%
of 15-year-olds
≈
92.5%
of 10-year-olds
92.6%
of 15-year-olds
95.2%
of 10-year-olds
≈

…but schools assess social and emotional skills less.
Percentage of students on schools that…
11
…systematically record students’ test results
and graduation rates (across OECD, PISA 2018)
…assess social and emotional skills (across cities, SSES
2019)
66%
of 15-year-olds
75%
of 10-year-olds
<
Photo by Stanley Morales from Pexels
93%
of 15-year-olds

[…
[…
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Special classes as part of regular classes
Separate classes or activities
Extracurricular activities
School's disciplinary rules
Feedback and advice to parents
Objectives included in school educational plan
Teachers are requested to promote SES
General school practices
Teachers of 10-year-olds Teachers of 15-year-olds
%
Difference between
15- and 10-years-olds
12
Socioemotional education is mostly embedded into existing school practices
Percentage of students whose teachers reported that the development of students' social and emotional skills has been promoted in
their school by the following approaches (international average)
Note: Non-
significant
differences
between 10- and
15-year-old
students are not
shown.

[…
[…
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Special classes as part of regular classes
Separate classes or activities
Extracurricular activities
School's disciplinary rules
Feedback and advice to parents
Objectives included in school educational plan
Teachers are requested to promote SES
General school practices
Teachers of 10-year-olds Teachers of 15-year-olds
%
Difference between
15- and 10-years-olds
13
Socioemotional education is mostly embedded into existing school practices
Percentage of students whose teachers reported that the development of students' social and emotional skills has been promoted in
their school by the following approaches (international average)
Note: Non-
significant
differences
between 10- and
15-year-old
students are not
shown.
Parents and teachers are less involved in shaping
socioemotional skills of older students

[…
[…
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Special classes as part of regular classes
Separate classes or activities
Extracurricular activities
School's disciplinary rules
Feedback and advice to parents
Objectives included in school educational plan
Teachers are requested to promote SES
General school practices
Teachers of 10-year-olds Teachers of 15-year-olds
%
Difference between
15- and 10-years-olds
14
Socioemotional education is mostly embedded into existing school practices
Percentage of students whose teachers reported that the development of students' social and emotional skills has been promoted in
their school by the following approaches (international average)
Note: Non-
significant
differences
between 10- and
15-year-old
students are not
shown.
Teachers on schools that promote SE actively
report:
• higher self-efficacy
• better student-teacher relationships
• more use of active learning pedagogies.

“OUR ENGINES” OF SOCIOEMOTIONAL EDUCATION
For devoting thoughtful, sustained, and systematic attention to SE skills, teachers need sufficient training.
Photo by Max Fischer.

16
Teachers of 10-year-olds are more intensively trained for social and emotional education
Percentage of students whose teachers reported having had opportunities to deal with the following topics during in- and pre-
service training and professional development (international average)
Note: Non-significant differences between 10- and 15-year-old students are textured diagonally.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
10-year-olds
15-year-olds
10-year-olds
15-year-olds
10-year-olds
15-year-olds
10-year-olds
15-year-olds
10-year-olds
15-year-olds
Very much A lot Somewhat No/A little
%
Child Development
Student-teacher
interaction
Classroom management
Methods of teaching that
involve group activities
Developing social and
emotional skills in children
Teachers with significant training report:
• higher self-efficacy
• better student-teacher relationships
• more use of active learning pedagogies.

It is important to ensure …
> Inclusion of SE skills in evaluation and
assessment practices
> Sufficient time and attention to
socioemotional skill development
> A whole-school approach that includes
parents as partners of skill promotion
> Adequate support and training for
teachers
The Spotlight highlight the following:
Turning schools into hubs of social and emotional learning requires a holistic
approach

Hannah Ulferts, OECD Analyst, Education and Skills
Hannah.Ulferts@oecd.org
If you want to know more
Links
Contact
New Education Spotlight (No. 4) “Schools as hubs of social and
emotional learning - Are schools and teacher ready?”:
https://doi.org/10.1787/f6d12db7-en
For more information on the Survey on Social and Emotional
Skills (SSES): https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/social-
emotional-skills-study/