Putting social and emotional skills at the heart of education policy

Research by IOE, UCL’s 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.

Skills such as motivation, perseverance, self-control and resilience are critical elements of a young person’s 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 ‘non-cognitive’, ‘soft’ 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: “Our research has significantly influenced UK and global policy, focusing attention on the importance of social and emotional skills, both in terms of how children’s development is understood, and the levers used to support educational attainment.” 

Skills for life 

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 ‘agency’ doing better.  
 
The concept of student ‘agency’ informed the OECD 2030 Education and Skills Framework, which has been adopted and implemented across 40 countries worldwide.

Professor Schoon’s work in this area also underpinned the OECD’s 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’s Commissioner that measures and monitors vulnerability in children.  

Improving policy for the future 

In addition to the impact on education policy frameworks, Professor Schoon’s work has influenced policy developments in the UK, including via a parliamentary briefing note on ‘Developing non-academic skills’, 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’s report on ‘Building children’s and young people’s resilience in schools’.

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

Links

• Professor Ingrid Schoon's academic profile
• Education Endowment Foundation website 
• Building children’s and young people’s resilience in schools 
• OECD 2030 Education and Skills Framework 
• IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society
• UCL Institute of Education REF 21

Image 

• Image credit: Picsea via Unsplash