The OECD recommends teaching social skills to children

Educate the emotions It is fundamental when you want to form the person completely. This is the result of a research carried out by the OECD experts, in the report Skills for social progress: The power of social and emotional skills.

In this report it is clear that social and emotional skills are powerful drivers of wellbeing and social progress and help people to improve their education, career, health and well-being, which should be part of the teachings taught and evaluated in schools. This is the conclusion of the OECD experts after analyzing the results of different projects and research in this field developed in Belgium, Canada, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.


Data from the OECD research in different countries

1. Belgium. Working on their social and emotional skills benefits Belgian Secondary students in extraversion, self-esteem and awareness, which leads to a higher probability (thirteen points more) of reaching university.

2. Canada. The study finds that promoting self-efficacy, sense of mastery and self-esteem at age 15 is directly related to having completed university studies and have more income at 25 years.

3. New Zealand. Working perseverance, responsibility and social skills from the age of 8 significantly reduces behavioral problems (drinking, smoking, substance abuse, violence and fighting) by the time they reach 16 years of age.


4. United Kingdom, United States and Switzerland. The results of these 3 countries coincide in indicating that children with a greater social life and emotional abilities have less risk of depression and more feeling of happiness when they reach adolescence and youth.

5. Korea. The conclusion of the studies in this country suggests that the teaching of social skills gives rise to children with better social or emotional capacities, and they accumulate more cognitive abilities.

OECD recommendations on emotional intelligence

The OECD experts consider it important to recommend schools, families and communities an active role in the development of social skills in children. The responsibility for improving teachers' motivation, self-esteem and emotional stability falls on teachers as they become mentors and facilitators of children's learning. For their part, parents can provide a warm environment and support through daily activities or routines, and local communities should do everything possible to provide opportunities for children to participate in social projects that serve them as informal learning.


There are methods to measure this type of skills and identify the social and emotional strengths and weaknesses of each child. Teaching emotional intelligence is possible, according to the OECD experts and among the skills that can be taught include perseverance, empathy and self-esteem.

Marisol New

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- The expression of emotions from 6 to 12 years

Video: 未来をつくるのは子どもの想像力と創造力: Nanako Ishido at TEDxTodai


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