Social and emotional competences and development for children aged 0 to 7 years old : European assessment measures : Compendium

Abstract

Social-emotional learning is defined as a process in which children, young people and adults adopt certain behaviours, thoughts and attitudes to develop their identity in a healthy way, set goals, manage their emotions and develop/ maintain quality relationships with others (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning [CASEL], 2020). Therefore, socioemotional learning promotes and provides people with skills to deal with different life situations, whether positive or negative (Greenberg et al., 2017). Several studies analyze the impacts of social-emotional learning in different areas of individuals’lives. In the case of children and adolescents, research shows that the inclusion of social-emotional learning in academic curricula promotes not only the academic success of students, but also the adoption of prosocial behaviours (e.g. Taylor et al., 2017; Wiglesworth et al., 2016). In addition, the acquisition of socio-emotional skills seems to be related to the reduction of disruptive behaviours and the improvement of the classroom climate (Durlak & Mahoney, 2019). For this reason, education has come to recognize the importance of socio-emotional learning in students' academic and personal success. In this sense, we currently observe an increased interest in the development of programs to promote socio-emotional skills and the realization that socio-emotional learning can function as a public health approach in education (Greenberg et al.,2017). However, despite the growth of socio-emotional learning, the continuous emergence of new intervention programs and instruments that assess their effectiveness or the acquisition of socio-emotional skills (Denham et al., 2010; Ohio Department of Education et al., s.d.), many of these instruments are not validated for the European population. Therefore, it is urgent to identify and characterize these instruments, so that it is possible to implement programs and understand their effectiveness and impact on children and adolescents. Thus, the EU-SELF project – Development of social and emotional skills in early childhood education and care in Europe (ERASMUS+:2019-1-BG01-KA201-062593), provides in this compendium a list of measures used across Europe for the assessment of children from 0 to 7 years of age for assessing the core socioemotional skills defined by CASEL, as well as general socioemotional development.
Vera Coelho, PhD, Editor