OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills

The OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills is an international survey that identifies and assesses the conditions and practices that foster or hinder the development of social and emotional skills for 10- and 15-year-old students.

NEW: Our latest OECD report, "Social and Emotional Skills for Better Lives", is now available.

Discover key insights from the 2023 Survey on Social and Emotional Skills, which evaluates crucial abilities in 10- and 15-year-olds across the globe.

Social and Emotional Skills for Better Lives presents results from the OECD’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2023. SSES is the largest international effort to collect data on these skills among 10- and 15-year-old students. The report explores how the following skills differ by socio-demographic groups and how they relate to key life outcomes: task performance skills (persistence, responsibility, self-control and achievement motivation); emotional regulation skills (stress-resistance, emotional control and optimism); engaging with others skills (assertiveness, sociability and energy); open-mindedness skills (curiosity, creativity and tolerance); and collaboration skills (empathy and trust). The results show that students’ social and emotional skills – or 21st century skills – are linked to better life outcomes, including academic success, greater life satisfaction, healthier behaviours, less test and class anxiety, and more ambitious career plans. The Survey also finds that these skills are inequitably distributed among students by age, gender, and socio-economic background. SSES 2023 was conducted in Bulgaria, Chile, Peru, Spain, Mexico, Ukraine, Bogotá (Colombia), Delhi (India), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Gunma (Japan), Helsinki (Finland), Jinan (China), Kudus (Indonesia), Sobral (Brazil) and Turin (Italy). Results are compared to SSES 2019, which took place before the COVID-19 pandemic.

To find out more, see the report.

Join SSES Round 3

In round 3, the SSES will continue to explore the social and emotional skills of school-aged students through an equity lens, along with the factors that promote or hinder these skills, and their relationships to key life outcomes, including academic achievement, job outlook, health and well-being.

In this round, the survey considers new topics of interest:

The well-informed, responsible, and safe use of AI, social media, and digital technologies
Attitudes of life-long learning and learning to learn
Civic and community engagement, and environmental responsibility
The social and emotional skills and knowledge of teachers

SSES Round 3 uses a more innovative approach to measuring skills and provides new optional support for policy and practice implementation.

If you are interested in participating, please do not hesitate to contact Hannah Ulferts at hannah.ulferts@oecd.org; cc sses.contact@oecd.org.

Latest publication

Read the new report Schools as hubs for social and emotional learning: Are schools and teachers ready?

Schools are perfect hubs for social and emotional learning, but are they ready for this task? To address this question, this Spotlight reports previously unpublished findings from the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills and discusses their implications for education policy and practice.

City reports

>> Access all reports

Data

You can download the data from the first round of the SSES:

• questionnaires administered to participants

• data from students, parents, teachers and principals

• codebooks for all the questionnaires

Watch now

Webinar: How to turn schools into hubs for social and emotional learning

WATCH THE WEBINAR

A panel discusses how schools and teachers can help students develop skills such as curiosity, creativity and empathy to ensure they can succeed in school, work and life.