During the past two decades, socio-emotional (or ‘non-cognitive’) skills have gained currency in research on education. In this chapter we begin by introducing the reader to the concept of socio-emotional skills and identify core themes in the current body of evidence. We then review recent studies, including several from our own research groups, which illustrate research on each of these core themes. Using the Big Five framework of personality as a guidepost, and drawing on large-scale data, these studies shed light on three main issues. First, they show that socio-emotional skills contribute to educational outcomes (e.g., academic success and educational transitions) in childhood and adolescence – above and beyond cognitive skills and socioeconomic background. Second, they demonstrate that socio-emotional skills co-shape important life outcomes in adulthood (e.g., income, health and social participation) over and above formal educational attainment and cognitive skills. Third, they demonstrate that various educational factors (e.g., characteristics of educational systems such as school starting age, schooling intensity) contribute to the formation of socio-emotional skills in childhood and adolescence. We conclude by outlining future avenues for research on socio-emotional skills in the educational context that pays particular attention to enhancing causal inference and strengthening policy relevance.
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Front Matter
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Part I: Introduction
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Part II: Theoretical Foundations
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Part III: Methodological Problems
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Part IV: Modernization And Educational Expansion
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Part V: Organization of Education and Outcomes
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Part VI: Benefits of Education and Returns To education
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Part VII: Migration, Education and Social Integration
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Part VIII: Policy Implications of Research in The sociology of Education
