Effectiveness of interventions adopting a whole school approach to enhancing social and emotional development: a meta-analysis

Abstract

This article presents findings from a meta-analysis which sought to determine the effectiveness of interventions adopting a whole school approach to enhancing children and young people's social and emotional development. Whole school interventions were included if they involved a coordinated set of activities across curriculum teaching, school ethos and environment, and family and community partnerships. A total of 45 studies (30 interventions) involving 496,299 participants were included in the analysis. Post-intervention outcomes demonstrated significant but small improvements in participants' social and emotional adjustment (d = 0.220), behavioural adjustment (d = 0.134), and internalising symptoms (d = 0.109). Interventions were not shown to impact on academic achievement. Origin of study and the inclusion of a community component as part of a whole school approach were found to be significant moderators for social and emotional outcomes. Further research is required to determine the active ingredients of whole school interventions that we can better understand the components necessary to achieve successful outcomes.

Can social and emotional learning improve children’s academic progress? Findings from a randomised controlled trial of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum

“…Previous research on the impact of SEL interventions on academic outcomes has evidenced small but nonetheless practically meaningful effects (Corcoran et al 2018;Durlak et al 2011;Goldberg et al 2018;Sklad et al 2012;Wigelsworth et al 2016). The null ITT and subgroup findings of the current study may therefore appear incongruous.…”

“…The meta-analyses noted above support these assertions, indicating that SEL interventions have a small but nonetheless practically significant impact on academic performance (effect size ranges from d = 0.19 to d = 0.46) (Corcoran et al 2018;Durlak et al 2011;Goldberg et al 2018;Sklad et al 2012;Wigelsworth et al 2016). However, the evidence base is much less developed than for other domains (e.g.…”

“…SEL interventions seek to develop children's social and emotional skills, typically through the implementation of a taught curriculum, modifications to school ethos/climate and/or work with families and communities (Humphrey 2013). Four recent meta-analyses have demonstrated that high-quality SEL interventions can impact positively on a range of outcomes, including social and emotional skills, mental health, school attitudes and academic performance (Corcoran et al 2018;Durlak et al 2011;Goldberg et al 2018;Sklad et al 2012;Wigelsworth et al 2016). A fifth has demonstrated that these effects are maintained over time, albeit with some attenuation (Taylor et al 2017).…”

“…However, the evidence base is much less developed than for other domains (e.g. mental health), with fewer than 20% of SEL intervention studies assessing academic outcomes and a lack of use of standardised assessment measures (Goldberg et al 2018). Given the primacy of SEL in education systems worldwide, there is a clear and distinct need for further research in this area.…”

Factors affecting the implementation of a whole school mindfulness program: A qualitative study using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research

“…A meta-analysis of universal social and emotional skill-based interventions found that interventions with a high quality of implementation produced larger expected outcome effect sizes compared with interventions with a low implementation quality (17). A more recent meta-analysis of whole school social and emotional learning programs also found that implementation quality was positively associated with program outcome related effect sizes (22).…”