Taking Stock of Programs to Develop Socioemotional Skills: A Systematic Review of Program Evidence

Abstract

This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved.

Muddy sensemaking: Making sense of socio-emotional skills amidst a vague policy context

“…Making sense of SEL skills and how to promote these skills in practice can be further challenged by the lack of clarity of the concept of SEL. Conceptual frameworks for SEL skills vary substantially across contexts and fields (Explore SEL, n.d.b;Sánchez Puerta et al, 2016) and have traditionally focused on efforts within the school systems (CASEL, 2018). To illustrate, consider the breadth of concepts.…”

“…To illustrate, consider the breadth of concepts. The concept non-cognitive skills is typically used in the field of economics; life skills is often used by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO); soft skills is typically found in the business and management literature; socio-emotional skills is typically found in the psychology and psychiatry literature; character skills is typically found in the psychology and economics literature; personality traits and temperament are found in the psychology literature, and 21st century skills have been found in the movement to prepare the next generation of laborers and citizens in a democratic society (Sánchez Puerta et al, 2016). These concepts have different foci-for example, 21st century skills focus on skills necessary for the workforce, while others focus on school and life success, and long-term SEL growth as well as psychological well-being (Explore SEL, n.d.d;Hagen, 2013)-but some argue that they refer to the same conceptual space (Explore SEL, n.d.b;West et al, 2016).…”

“…The response to the question depends on the SEL skills the program needs and/or hopes to promote. The field of education abounds with concepts and taxonomies to ascribe to these skills (Explore SEL, n.d.d;Osher et al, 2016;Sánchez Puerta et al, 2016), and researchers do not seem to agree which one should dominate the debate (see Duckworth & Yeager, 2015;National Research Council, 2012;Rowan-Kenyon et al, 2017;Shechtman, et al, 2013;West et al, 2016). Again, the existence of numerous SEL frameworks is not in and of itself problematic, but the lack of conceptual clarity in the field, policy, and practice can raise issues of misalignments that frustrate policy implementation and educational research on SEL.…”

“…First, the field lacks conceptual clarity around the terminology and frameworks describing SEL skills (Duckworth & Yeager, 2015;Explore SEL, n.d.c. ;Osher et al, 2016;Sánchez Puerta, Valerio, & Gutiérrez Bernal, 2016;West et al, 2016). Though some have attempted to provide conceptual coherence within and across frameworks and have developed different concepts and taxonomies to describe SEL (National Research Council, 2012;Rowan-Kenyon, Savitz-Romer, Weilundemo, Swan, & Liu, 2017;Shechtman, DeBarger, Dornsife, Rosier, & Yarnall, 2013), the concepts and taxonomies remain subject to criticism from peer researchers in the field (e.g., Duckworth & Yeager, 2015;Easton, 2013;Sánchez Puerta et al, 2016;West et al, 2016).…”

The Role of Education in Mitigating Automation’s Effect on Wage Inequality

“…Social and behavioral skills tend to be most malleable in adolescence (Almlund et al ., 2011). Several programs target social skills including youth programs in Latin America that tie socio‐emotional learning with technical skills (Sanchez Puerta et al ., 2016). Creativity, on the other hand, is a much more amorphous concept.…”