OECD Director shares Survey on Social and Emotional Skills at Salzburg Global’s Education for Tomorrow’s World program
From birth to age 16, children and young people spend more time outside of school than they do inside. The importance attached to social and emotional skills is increasing, as is understanding about how they can be developed, both inside and outside the classroom.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been at the core of Salzburg Global’s education programming since 2016. As part of its multi-year series Education for Tomorrow’s World, which Salzburg Global Seminar organizes in partnership with ETS, Microsoft, and Qatar Foundation International, it proudly presented two webinars called Beyond the School Gates: Developing Social and Emotional Skills Outside of Formal Education on October 12, 2021.
In both sessions, Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, presented initial results from the OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES), and then joined a panel discussion with leaders from different organizations whose work offers different opportunities for developing social and emotional skills outside the classroom.
COVID-19 Impact
As the COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on children’s education, it made one thing all the more clear: it requires more than just books, a classroom, and a teacher for children to learn and grow. Social and emotional skills are increasingly critical to young people’s chances of success in education, work, and relationships throughout their lives and the pandemic has led educators and policymakers to rethink long-standing approaches to formal education and to look beyond traditional expectations.
As children’s education was disrupted, whole child development and child-centered learning have become key in the discourse on what education should be able to achieve in the future.
With depression and other mental health conditions being the biggest threat to the health and well-being of under 30-year-olds, hope and resilience are crucial skills for children and youth today. “Hope is a strong and desirable character trait among our children,” said Maritza Trejo, Education Programs Director at Glasswing International, a non-profit organization working with low-income communities with high rates of school dropout and gang-violence in Latin America. In the second session of the series, she talked about how hope and optimism are often the deciding factor for children to lead a responsible life, and thus, children themselves perceive it to be a desirable skill to have.
Similarly, mentoring programs and the use of role models help enhance a sense of hope and optimism among children and youth, explained Marko Kasic, Chief Executive Officer of FundLife during session one of the series. His organization supports children from predominantly poor families in the Philippines by organizing sporting programs and other play-based activities. “We use the stories of famous sports men and women, who started from very similar backgrounds as these children and really unpack their potential,” said Kasic. Moreover, FundLife works with community champions. Young leaders who volunteer some of their time to support other children in their communities through mentoring and setting good examples.
This approach not only fosters hope and drive to break through what has often been generations of poverty. It also creates a sense of self-worth and belonging among the mentors, taking on responsibility for their communities.
Socioeconomic Impact
The SSES confirms this correlation between the social background of children and SEL: “On average, socio-economically advantaged students reported higher social and emotional skills than their socio-economically disadvantaged peers in all cities participating in the survey.” (Report: Beyond Academic Learning. First results from the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills, page 9) Thus, while a child’s disadvantaged background is often their greatest barrier to SEL, particularly when it is part of after-school activities, building social and emotional skills it is often also the solution to their disadvantages, said Schleicher.
Alia Alzougbi, Incoming CEO at Shubbak and Outgoing Head of Global Learning London talked about a similar experience of creating a sense of belonging, particularly with migrant communities in London. “Working with young people who feel disconnected from their communities [Alzougbi explained] they crave a sense of connection, and they want to be able to take ownership of their own narrative.”
The discussions throughout both sessions also highlighted the importance of safe spaces, where children feel comfortable expressing themselves without fear of judgment. With Tamkeen Community Foundation for Human Development, Karima Kadaoui works to create such safe spaces within communities throughout Morocco. During the first session, the Co-Founder and Executive President of Tamkeen talked about how children and youth come together in community centers after school to help each other with projects and homework. “Sometimes a child would ask another for help, and the other wouldn’t know the answer to their question. Instead, it would say, ‘Let’s go, find out together!’.” Education being relational rather than transactional is what Schleicher added to Karima’s statement.
Justin Edwards, Director of Learning Programmes with Minecraft Education Edition at Microsoft, explained how, for many children, video games often act as similarly safe space to children, particularly for those who may otherwise feel socially excluded. While video games are often perceived to be counter-productive to children’s development, Edwards argued that games like Minecraft often help to strengthen skills such as communication and teamwork. Moreover, they create a safe space for children to make mistakes and fail, teaching them that failure is often a way to success.
While Schleicher partly countered, arguing that many video games can often have the opposite effect on many children, he did agree with the potential they have in positively supporting children’s development. Ultimately, he praised the efforts of panelists to provide SEL to children beyond classrooms but called for an overall holistic approach: “We should be banning the word ‘extracurricular’ and instead look at what actually belongs in the curriculum.”
Beyond the School Gates: Developing Social and Emotional Skills Outside of Formal Education was part of Salzburg Global’s multi-year series Education for Tomorrow’s World, which is organized in partnership with ETS, Microsoft, and Qatar Foundation International. For more information, please visit: Education for Tomorrow's World. You can find the recordings for both sessions, as well as Andreas Schleicher's presentation, on the program page.
