Overview and Insight from the China Research Report on the Global Youth Survey of Social and Emotional Skills by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Abstract

Social and emotional skills are important for students in 21st century study, life, and future work. In 2018, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) officially launched the first round of social and emotional skills tests for 10-year-old and 15-year-old students worldwide. After 3 years of research, the first round of global data collection ended and at the end of 2019 the OECD published the Social and Emotional Ability Assessment International Report. As one of the participating cities, Suzhou, China, successfully completed the first round of testing and released a series of reports. This article summarizes the research work of the OECD and China on social and emotional capabilities of students and discusses a few insights from the data.

Which Matters More, Cognitive or Non-cognitive Ability?

“…The results of the research show that students' social and emotional abilities have a major impact on their academic performance, expectations for their education and careers, psychological wellbeing, and levels of creativity and curiosity. According to research results based on a sample from China, Chinese students perform exceptionally well in reading and mathematics, but there is great potential for development in their sense of belonging to and happiness with the school, as well as in their self-efficacy and self-regulation (Zhao et al, 2021).…”

Non-Cognitive Abilities: The Indispensable Contributor to Adolescents’ Development

“…The current issue of the Best Evidence in Chinese Education (BECE) focuses on the research and evaluation of the development of adolescents' social and emotional abilities, and shares the results of Chinese scholars' research on the SSES evaluation of their own adolescents. Gao et al (2021) analyzed the performance of Chinese adolescents from the perspective of task ability; Liu et al (2021) On this basis, Zhao et al (2021) gave an overview of China's participation in the OECD global youth social and emotional competence assessment, introduced and analyzed the significance and value of OECD's global youth social and emotional competence and the progress of related research. Meanwhile, they gave a more detailed account of the development of youth social and emotional competence assessment in China, and discussed the social and emotional competence testing.…”