The purpose of the Study is to:

• Provide participating cities and countries with information on the social and emotional skills of their students
• Provide insights on how to support students to develop social and emotional skills
• Demonstrate that valid, reliable, and comparable information on social and emotional skills can be produced across diverse populations and settings.

‌

L‌ike all OECD surveys, the Study on Social and Emotional Skills is organised as a project with a complex management structure and multiple stakeholders, involving national and international institutions, policy makers, researchers, experts and administrators.

The Study has 5 phases. Please see the Study Timeline for a detailed view on which phase the Study is currently in.

‌

The Study will gather information on:

• Student’s social and emotional skills
• Family, school and community learning contexts
• Background characteristics of students, teachers and parents.‌

“Social and emotional skills” differ from cognitive skills, such as literacy or numeracy, because they mainly involve how people manage their emotions, perceive themselves and engage with others, rather than their ability to process information.

In order to assess these skills, the Study draws on a well-known framework in the field of social and emotional skills – the Big Five model.

The model includes a cluster of mutually related social and emotional skills within five broad domains. For example, the domain of collaboration encompasses empathy, trust and co-operation. Apart from showing their mutual similarity, these groupings also ensure a systematic, comprehensive and balanced consideration of individuals’ social and emotional skills.

Out of the 19 skills that were assessed in the Study’s Field Trial in 2018, a broad and balanced set of 15 skills were chosen for the Main Study based on their policy relevance, validity and reliability.  Two indices, a compound skill (self-efficacy) and achievement motivation, are also included, created from items that are used to evaluate other skills in the assessment. 

OECD Study on Social and Emotional Skills - Skills to be included in the Field Test