Over the last few years, social and emotional skills have been rising on the education policy agenda and in the public debate. Policy makers and education practitioners are seeking ways to complement the focus on academic learning, with attention to social and emotional skill development.

Social and Emotional Skills for Better Lives presents results from the OECD’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2023. SSES is the largest international effort to collect data on these skills among 10- and 15-year-old students. The report explores how the following skills differ by socio-demographic groups and how they relate to key life outcomes: task performance skills (persistence, responsibility, self-control and achievement motivation); emotional regulation skills (stress-resistance, emotional control and optimism); engaging with others skills (assertiveness, sociability and energy); open-mindedness skills (curiosity, creativity and tolerance); and collaboration skills (empathy and trust). The results show that students’ social and emotional skills – or 21st century skills – are linked to better life outcomes, including academic success, greater life satisfaction, healthier behaviours, less test and class anxiety, and more ambitious career plans. The Survey also finds that these skills are inequitably distributed among students by age, gender, and socio-economic background. SSES 2023 was conducted in Bulgaria, Chile, Peru, Spain, Mexico, Ukraine, Bogotá (Colombia), Delhi (India), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Gunma (Japan), Helsinki (Finland), Jinan (China), Kudus (Indonesia), Sobral (Brazil) and Turin (Italy). Results are compared to SSES 2019, which took place before the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is growing pressure on teachers and other educators to understand and adopt culturally relevant pedagogies as well as strategies to work with diverse groups of races, cultures, and languages that are represented in classrooms. Establishing sound cross-cultural pedagogy is also critical given that racial, cultural, and linguistic integration has the potential to increase academic success for all learners. The Handbook of Research on Race, Culture, and Student Achievement highlights cross-cultural perspectives, challenges, and opportunities of providing equitable educational opportunities for marginalized students and improving student achievement. Additionally, it examines how race and culture impact student achievement in an effort to promote cultural competence, equity, inclusion, and social justice in education. Covering topics such as identity, student achievement, and global education, this major reference work is ideal for researchers, scholars, academicians, librarians, policymakers, practitioners, educators, and students.

Students face a future filled with uncertainty and change. For education systems to continue to remain relevant, they must empower students to navigate these changes and succeed in the future by equipping them with the requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. Teachers are key enablers of this endeavour, and it is imperative that governments and teacher organisations collaborate to support teachers in exploring and enacting pedagogies, and designing learning environments that support student attainment of future-ready competencies, through policies, processes and teacher professional development.

This is one of five volumes that present the results of the eighth round of assessment, PISA 2022 – which was conducted during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Volume II, Learning During – and From – Disruption, focuses on resilience in education and analyses its relevance for education systems, schools and students.

The OECD’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2023 represents the largest global initiative to gather comparable data on the development of social and emotional skills - including creativity, empathy, achievement motivation, responsibility and collaboration skills - among 10- and 15-year-old students. The report - Nurturing Social and Emotional Learning Across the Globe - reveals striking disparities both within and between participating countries and subnational entities in how these critical skills are fostered in schools, homes and society. These findings offer insights into the relationship between educational environments and student outcomes, highlighting the urgent need for improvements. Key recommendations focus on enhancing school policies and practices (e.g. teachers’ feedback, training, preparedness and attitudes; teaching of these skills across subjects offline, digitally and remotely; and extra-curricular activities), improving school climates (e.g. student belonging; relationships; and handling of bullying and stress), and advancing gender equality (e.g. challenging stereotypes; and ensuring equitable access to careers and parental support for skill development). This report serves as a vital resource for policymakers and practitioners seeking to improve social-emotional learning worldwide.

In this book, we primarily focus on studies that provide objective, unobtrusive, and innovative measures (e.g., indirect measures, content analysis, or analysis of trace data) of SEL skills (e.g., collaboration, creativity, persistence), relying primarily on learning analytics methods and approaches that would potentially allow for expanding the assessment of SEL skills and competencies at scale. What makes the position of learning analytics pivotal in this endeavor to redefine measurement of SEL skills are constant changes and advancements in learning environments and the quality and quantity of data collected about learners and the process of learning. Contemporary learning environments that utilize virtual and augmented reality to enhance learning opportunities accommodate for designing tasks and activities that allow learners to elicit behaviors (either in face-to-face or online context) not being captured in traditional educational settings. Novel insights provided in the book span across diverse types of learning contexts and learner populations. Specifically, the book addresses relevant and emerging theories and frameworks (in various disciplines such as education, psychology, or workforce) that inform assessments of SEL skills and competencies. In so doing, the book maps the landscape of the novel learning analytics methods and approaches, along with their application in the SEL assessment for K-12 learners as well as adult learners. Critical to the notion of the SEL assessment are data sources. In that sense, the book outlines where and how data related to learners' 21st century skills and competencies can be measured and collected. Linking theory to data, the book further discusses tools and methods that are being used to operationalize SEL and link relevant skills and competencies with cognitive assessment. Finally, the book addresses aspects of generalizability and applicability, showing promising approaches for translating research findings into actionable insights that would inform various stakeholders (e.g., learners, instructors, administrators, policy makers).

This groundbreaking research volume addresses the topic of educational inequality from a global perspective. It includes 16 chapters from an international group of scholars who examine how well city school systems from around the world are preparing young people, particularly poor and minority students, with the skills they will need for further study, work, and life overall. While skills in key domains such as science, math, language, and civics have been center stage in international comparisons, there has been growing recognition of the effects that education has on the development of broader sets of capabilities such as social and emotional skills (also known as “noncognitive” or “21st-century” skills) that can affect the success of students in school and beyond. This volume aims to address the shortage of international data on the wide range of skills that students need to learn, enabling researchers to compare the types and causes of educational inequality in skills within and between cities.