GANDHINAGAR: The global education system is experiencing a significant shift, with Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) emerging as essential pillars of well-rounded student development. This report offers a comprehensive overview of international SEL policy trends leading up to 2025, spotlighting key nations and important initiatives that are embedding emotional intelligence into school curricula.
Major international organizations like UNESCO, CASEL, and the OECD are instrumental in shaping frameworks, conducting research, and providing guidance for systemic SEL implementation.
While a growing body of evidence underscores SEL’s significant benefits—from improved academic outcomes and mental well-being to enhanced employability and civic engagement—implementation varies globally, marked by both innovative national policies and persistent challenges in teacher preparedness, funding, and ensuring equitable access.
The report highlights a critical shift towards education that equips students not just for exams, but for life in a dynamic, multicultural world.
1. The Growing Imperative of Social and Emotional Learning
The integration of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) into educational systems worldwide represents a significant reorientation of pedagogical priorities. This shift is driven by compelling evidence demonstrating the profound benefits of these competencies for individual well-being, academic success, and societal progress.
1.1 Defining SEL and Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is fundamentally the process through which individuals acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for developing healthy identities, managing emotions, achieving personal and collective goals, showing empathy for others, fostering supportive relationships, and making responsible decisions. Emotional Intelligence (EI), a critical component of SEL, specifically refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one’s own emotions, as well as to respond appropriately to the emotions of others.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) provides a widely recognized framework, often visualized as the “CASEL wheel,” which identifies five broad and interrelated areas of competence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
This framework serves as a foundational guide for SEL implementation across diverse educational settings. This comprehensive approach integrates cognitive, social, emotional, and relational aspects of learning, moving beyond a singular focus on traditional academic subjects.
It is increasingly recognized as a vital, often “missing piece,” in education, essential for preparing individuals for the complexities of a dynamic, interconnected, and multicultural society. The emphasis on SEL signifies a fundamental redefinition of education’s core purpose. The traditional model, which often prioritizes rote learning and academic scores, is increasingly seen as insufficient for the demands of the modern world.
This deep, systemic shift in educational philosophy is driven by evolving global needs and challenges, aiming to foster resilient individuals and build more cohesive, peaceful, and sustainable societies, rather than solely focusing on economic productivity or academic credentialing.
1.2 The Evidence-Based Benefits of SEL for Students, Educators, and Society
Hundreds of independent studies across multiple fields consistently confirm that an education promoting SEL yields significant positive outcomes for students, adults, and school communities. These benefits extend across various critical domains:
- Improved Academic Achievement: SEL is directly linked to enhanced academic performance, including higher grades, better test scores, increased attendance, and reduced dropout rates. Research indicates that SEL interventions can improve students’ academic performance by as much as 11 percentile points compared to students who do not participate.
- Enhanced Mental Wellness and Well-being: Participation in SEL programs correlates with decreased emotional distress, more positive attitudes, and fewer behavioral issues. SEL cultivates crucial “protective factors,” such as caring relationships and supportive environments, which buffer against mental health risks and can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in the short term.
- Positive Social Behavior and Relationships: SEL strengthens emotional and relational dynamics within classrooms, schools, and broader communities. It contributes to significant reductions in bullying and aggression, fostering a safer and more inclusive school climate.
- Future Readiness and Employability: Stronger social and emotional skills are predictive of positive lifetime outcomes, with impacts observed up to 18 years later. These outcomes include higher rates of high school graduation, postsecondary enrollment and completion, and stable, full-time employment. Employers globally increasingly prioritize these “21st-century skills” over purely technical ones, recognizing their fundamental importance in the modern workforce.
- Economic Returns: Analysis demonstrates that the benefits of SEL significantly outweigh the costs. For every dollar invested in SEL, there is an estimated USD $11 return, positioning SEL as a wise financial investment for nations. This quantifiable economic advantage, coupled with the demand for SEL skills from employers and their link to long-term employment stability, provides a robust justification for national policy prioritization. Furthermore, SEL’s proven ability to reduce social costs associated with mental distress, bullying, and even violence positions it as a public health and safety measure, reinforcing its status as a strategic national investment.
- Educator Well-being and Effectiveness: The focus on SEL also directly benefits adults within the education system. Educators with strong social and emotional competence report higher job satisfaction, less burnout, and feel more effective in their roles, leading to lower job-related anxiety and stronger relationships with students.
- Broader Societal Impact: SEL contributes significantly to the transformation of education for wider societal goals, fostering peace, justice, inclusion, equality, and sustainability. This directly aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. The integration of SEL plays a crucial role in addressing societal challenges such as racism, discrimination, and hate speech, reinforcing its role in building a more just and peaceful world.
The consistent affirmation of SEL’s effectiveness “across cultural contexts” and “demographic groups” indicates its universal applicability. However, it is simultaneously emphasized that SEL is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution and is “most effective when the intervention is designed with a specific context or culture in mind”.
This highlights a crucial balance: global policy frameworks, such as those from the OECD, can establish common goals and competencies, but successful national and local implementation requires significant adaptation, cultural responsiveness, and community engagement to resonate with specific societal values, educational structures, and student needs. This implies that tracking global SEL policy must consider not only
if countries are teaching emotional intelligence, but also how effectively and contextually they are doing so.
2. Global Frameworks and Initiatives Driving SEL Policy
Several influential international organizations play pivotal roles in shaping, promoting, and monitoring the integration of SEL into education systems worldwide. Their collaborative efforts create a robust ecosystem for advancing emotional intelligence education.
2.1 UNESCO’s Vision for Mainstreaming SEL
UNESCO stands as a leading global organization actively tracking and promoting SEL policy within education systems. Since 2015, its efforts have focused on reimagining education for broader societal transformation, emphasizing peace, justice, inclusion, equality, and sustainability.
In 2024, UNESCO launched a comprehensive policy guide, “Mainstreaming Social and Emotional Learning in Education Systems,” co-produced with the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP).
This guide offers preliminary guidance to policymakers on conceptualizing and integrating SEL across all facets of their national education systems to foster long-lasting peace and sustainable development.
UNESCO explicitly links SEL to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), highlighting its role in equipping learners with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values for positive social change.
UNESCO actively supports national efforts, such as joining forces with Viet Nam to mainstream SEL in early childhood classrooms (scheduled for July 2025) and collaborating with Lao PDR on disability-inclusive data workshops to advance inclusive education (July 2025).
2.2 CASEL’s Influence on SEL Implementation
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is a highly influential organization that provides foundational definitions, in-depth guidance, and resources for effective schoolwide SEL implementation. Their widely adopted “CASEL wheel” framework, detailing five core social and emotional competencies, serves as a comprehensive guide for learning and development.
CASEL champions evidence-based SEL programs, offering a “Consumer Reports-style guide” on effective programs and their impact. They advocate for “SAFE” instruction, emphasizing Sequenced, Active, Focused, and Explicit approaches to build competencies within nurturing, safe environments characterized by positive relationships. CASEL’s Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) plays a significant role in guiding supportive legislation and creating conditions for SEL implementation at the state level within the United States.
They also engage in federal policy advocacy, actively countering misrepresentation of SEL. CASEL underscores SEL’s integral connection to critical educational and societal priorities, including school safety, mental health, civic learning, and workforce preparation, framing SEL as essential for developing future-ready students and engaged citizens.
2.3 OECD’s Global Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES), representing the largest global initiative to collect comparable data on the development of social and emotional skills in 10- and 15-year-old students. The SSES 2023 report, “Nurturing Social and Emotional Learning Across the Globe,” provides crucial insights into how these skills are fostered across diverse school, home, and societal environments.
The OECD’s conceptual framework for social and emotional skills is organized around the “Big Five” personality traits, encompassing a broad range of cognitive, social, and emotional skills deemed essential for success in modern life and addressing 21st-century challenges.
Skills measured include task performance (persistence, responsibility, self-control, achievement motivation); emotional regulation (stress resistance, emotional control, optimism); engaging with others (assertiveness, sociability, energy); open-mindedness (curiosity, creativity, tolerance); and collaboration (empathy, trust).
The SSES is designed to provide actionable understandings on individual, family, and school factors that either foster or hinder skill development across diverse student populations and settings. Its findings highlight disparities in skill distribution based on age, gender, and socio-economic background, directly informing policy interventions.
The OECD’s SSES signifies a critical movement towards empirical measurement and data-driven policy in SEL. This approach moves beyond mere advocacy to systematic assessment of skill development, identifying disparities, and understanding the factors that promote or impede SEL.
The SSES’s focus on “policy-relevant” skills and its ability to compare data across diverse sites implies a push for evidence-based decision-making and accountability in national education systems.
This allows countries to benchmark their progress, identify specific areas for intervention (e.g., teacher training gaps, gender disparities), and refine strategies based on empirical evidence, leading to more targeted and effective policy interventions.
2.4 INEE’s Role in Emergency Contexts
The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) focuses on the critical integration of Psychosocial Support (PSS) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) within Education in Emergencies (EiE) settings.
This specialized focus addresses the profound psychological and emotional distress experienced by children, parents, and teachers in situations of violence, loss, and displacement, recognizing SEL’s vital role in recovery and healthy development.
INEE developed the PSS-SEL Toolbox, a comprehensive online resource featuring interactive data tools that allow users to explore PSS-SEL approaches currently utilized in over 50 countries and EiE settings.
This toolbox facilitates the comparison of SEL domains, frameworks, and terminology, and provides guidance for adapting SEL programs to local contexts. The INEE QELO Mapping Project specifically aims to identify and analyze existing SEL/PSS measurement tools and global guidance documents to shape global policy by fostering a shared understanding of learning outcomes in emergency contexts.
While UNESCO, CASEL, OECD, and INEE each have distinct mandates and operational focuses, their efforts are highly complementary and mutually reinforcing. UNESCO provides the overarching global policy vision, linking SEL to peace and sustainability. CASEL translates this into detailed, evidence-based frameworks and practical implementation guidance.
The OECD provides rigorous, comparative data to inform and validate policies, and INEE extends SEL’s application to the most challenging, crisis-affected environments. This synergistic relationship suggests a robust and comprehensive global commitment to SEL.
This collective effort enhances the legitimacy, reach, and sustainability of SEL integration worldwide, indicating that SEL is a deeply embedded and enduring trend in global educational policy, supported by diverse expertise and resources.
Furthermore, UNESCO explicitly frames SEL as essential for “building long-lasting peace and sustainable development” and addressing the resurgence of “conflicts and violence, from racism and discrimination, to hate speech and armed conflicts”.
INEE’s dedicated focus on PSS-SEL in “Education in Emergencies” directly links SEL to humanitarian response and post-crisis recovery. This connection elevates SEL beyond a purely academic or psychological domain into a critical tool for global stability and human security.
This expanded role means that SEL policies are not just about individual well-being or academic success, but also about fostering societal resilience, preventing conflict, and promoting social cohesion in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, thereby integrating education policy with broader geopolitical and human rights agendas.
3. Countries Integrating Emotional Intelligence in Schools: A 2025 Snapshot
Assessing the global landscape of emotional intelligence education reveals a varied but growing integration of SEL into national and subnational education policies and practices. The OECD’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2023 provides a crucial comparative snapshot, complemented by specific national initiatives.
3.1 OECD SSES 2023/2025 Findings: Policy and Practice Highlights
The OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2023 offers the most current and comparable data on SEL implementation, covering 16 participating sites, including 6 countries and 10 subnational entities. These include:
- Countries: Bulgaria, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Spain, and Ukraine.
- Subnational Entities: Bogotá (Colombia), Delhi (India), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Gunma (Japan), Helsinki (Finland), Jinan (China), Kudus (Indonesia), Sobral (Brazil), and Turin (Italy).
Key findings from the SSES 2023/2025 reports provide valuable insights into the state of SEL policy and practice:
- Teacher Feedback and Learning Opportunities: While teacher feedback positively correlates with higher SEL skills, it requires improvement, particularly for 15-year-olds and girls. Notably, over 80% of teachers in Bogotá (Colombia), Delhi (India), Kudus (Indonesia), and Peru provided ample learning opportunities for emotional regulation and engagement with others.
- Teacher Preparedness and Training: A significant challenge across many sites is that teachers, especially in lower secondary education, often feel underprepared and report a lack of adequate training in SEL teaching tasks. More extensive training was observed in Delhi (India), Dubai (UAE), Jinan (China), and Kudus (Indonesia). The use of official SEL resources by teachers was more widespread in Bulgaria, Delhi (India), Peru, and Ukraine.
- Mindsets and Systemic Structures: Formal integration of SEL teaching across subjects is common, but a consistent shared mindset among all teachers and principals regarding the teachability of SEL skills is not universal. This shared mindset was more prevalent in Emilia-Romagna and Turin (Italy), Helsinki (Finland), and Spain. Similarly, a shared sense of teacher responsibility for SEL was more common in Dubai (UAE), Helsinki (Finland), and Kudus (Indonesia).
- School Environment and Relationships: Students who reported a greater sense of belonging and more positive emotions at school also reported higher SEL skills, particularly emotional regulation. Stronger relationships with teachers and peers were consistently correlated with higher SEL skills.
- Addressing Gender Equity: The survey highlighted gender stereotypes, with many boys (especially in Bulgaria, Dubai, Helsinki, Kudus, and Ukraine) believing leadership and economic resources are more important for men. Promoting shared responsibilities at home correlated with fewer gender stereotypes and stronger SEL skills. Girls in Peru, Spain, and Ukraine who disagreed that boys are better at technology were more likely to pursue STEM careers, indicating the role of tackling stereotypes.
- Leveraging Digital Technologies: Most teachers perceived online teaching as a challenge for delivering social and emotional learning, indicating a need for improved strategies and resources for digital SEL delivery. Peru was an outlier, where most teachers saw opportunities in this area.
- Impact of Global Crises: Data from Helsinki (Finland) and Bogotá (Colombia), which participated in both 2019 and 2023 SSES rounds, showed a decline in most social and emotional skills among both 10- and 15-year-olds in 2023 compared to 2019. This suggests a negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SEL development and highlights the need for resilience-building policies.
The following table provides a granular, comparative snapshot of SEL implementation across diverse global contexts, detailing how and where specific practices and challenges are observed.
Table 1: Key SEL Policy and Practice Highlights Across OECD SSES Participating Sites (2023/2025 Data)
| Site/Country | Key SEL Policy/Practice Area | Specific Finding/Observation (Qualitative Summary) |
| Bogotá (Colombia) | Opportunities for Emotional Regulation | Over 80% of teachers provide ample opportunities. |
| Teacher Feedback | Teachers provide more feedback than other sites. | |
| School-Family Partnerships | Most parents view persistence/emotional regulation as important as literacy/numeracy. | |
| Observed Pandemic Impact on SEL Skills | Decline in most SEL skills (2023 vs. 2019). | |
| Delhi (India) | Opportunities for Emotional Regulation | Over 80% of teachers provide ample opportunities. |
| Teacher Preparedness/Training | More training provided; widespread use of official resources. | |
| Teacher Feedback | Teachers provide more feedback than other sites. | |
| Bullying Overlap | Highest overlap between perpetration and victimization. | |
| Gender Equity at Home | Domestic tasks more often female family members’ responsibility. | |
| Dubai (UAE) | Teacher Preparedness/Training | More training provided. |
| Shared Mindset on Teacher Responsibility | Shared mindset about teachers’ responsibility is common. | |
| Teacher Feedback | Teachers provide more feedback than other sites. | |
| Gender Stereotypes | Many boys believe leadership/economic resources are more important for men. | |
| Gender Equity at Home | Domestic tasks more often female family members’ responsibility. | |
| Emilia-Romagna & Turin (Italy) | Shared Mindset on SEL Teachability | Shared mindset on teachability is common. |
| Site-Specific Negative Emotions | Students are more anxious than motivated. | |
| Helsinki (Finland) | Shared Mindset on SEL Teachability | Shared mindset on teachability is common. |
| Shared Mindset on Teacher Responsibility | Shared mindset about teachers’ responsibility is common. | |
| Observed Pandemic Impact on SEL Skills | Decline in most SEL skills (2023 vs. 2019). | |
| Gender Stereotypes | Many boys believe leadership/economic resources are more important for men. | |
| Jinan (China) | Teacher Preparedness/Training | More training provided. |
| Teacher Feedback | Teachers provide more feedback than other sites. | |
| Kudus (Indonesia) | Opportunities for Emotional Regulation | Over 80% of teachers provide ample opportunities. |
| Teacher Preparedness/Training | More training provided. | |
| Shared Mindset on Teacher Responsibility | Shared mindset about teachers’ responsibility is common. | |
| Teachers’ Coping Strategies | Almost 70% of teachers report high use of effective stress-coping strategies. | |
| Gender Stereotypes | Many boys believe leadership/economic resources are more important for men. | |
| Gender Equity at Home | Domestic tasks more often female family members’ responsibility. | |
| Peru | Opportunities for Emotional Regulation | Over 80% of teachers provide ample opportunities. |
| Teacher Preparedness/Training | Widespread use of official resources. | |
| Digital SEL Integration | Most teachers saw opportunities in online teaching for SEL. | |
| Teachers’ Coping Strategies | Almost 70% of teachers report high use of effective stress-coping strategies. | |
| School-Family Partnerships | Most parents view persistence/emotional regulation as important as literacy/numeracy. | |
| Diverse Career Pursuits | Girls disagreeing boys are better at technology more likely to pursue STEM. | |
| Spain | Shared Mindset on SEL Teachability | Shared mindset on teachability is common. |
| Site-Specific Negative Emotions | Students report high confidence but low motivation. | |
| Diverse Career Pursuits | Girls disagreeing boys are better at technology more likely to pursue STEM. | |
| Bulgaria | Teacher Preparedness/Training | Widespread use of official resources. |
| Bullying Overlap | Highest overlap between perpetration and victimization. | |
| Gender Stereotypes | Many boys believe leadership/economic resources are more important for men. | |
| Gender Equity at Home | Domestic tasks more often female family members’ responsibility. | |
| Ukraine | Teacher Preparedness/Training | Widespread use of official resources. |
| Site-Specific Negative Emotions | Students report high confidence but low motivation. | |
| Gender Stereotypes | Many boys believe leadership/economic resources are more important for men. | |
| Diverse Career Pursuits | Girls disagreeing boys are better at technology more likely to pursue STEM. | |
| School-Family Partnerships | Most parents view persistence/emotional regulation as important as literacy/numeracy. | |
| Chile, Mexico, Gunma (Japan), Sobral (Brazil) | General Participation in SSES 2023 | Participated in the survey, contributing to the overall dataset. |
3.2 UNESCO-Supported National Efforts
Beyond the OECD’s survey, UNESCO actively fosters SEL integration through direct collaborations with member states:
- Viet Nam: Demonstrates a proactive commitment to SEL by actively collaborating with UNESCO to mainstream Social Emotional Learning in early childhood classrooms, with planned initiatives for July 2025. This highlights a foundational approach to SEL integration from an early age.
- Lao PDR: Engages in UNESCO-supported disability-inclusive data workshops (July 2025) aimed at advancing inclusive education. While not directly about SEL curriculum, this initiative aligns with SEL’s broader goals of fostering inclusion and equitable quality education for all learners.
3.3 Diverse National Approaches
The country examples clearly demonstrate that there is no single “right” way to integrate SEL, showcasing a spectrum of policy entry points and pedagogical innovations.
- Czech Republic: Has actively integrated the “pedagogy of conflict-free education,” which focuses on creating a calm and supportive educational environment while explicitly developing emotional intelligence in students. Their curriculum includes exercises for EI development, games to improve self-regulation, and special classes dedicated to mindfulness and stress resilience, showcasing a specific pedagogical and holistic approach.
- India (Shrewsbury School Example): Illustrates a growing recognition that emotional intelligence is a fundamental, not peripheral, skill. At Shrewsbury, teachers undergo rigorous orientation and continuous training to embed emotional intelligence across all disciplines, moving beyond traditional PSHE (Personal, Social, Health, and Economic education) to a comprehensive “whole-person education philosophy”. This signifies a deep commitment to cross-disciplinary integration and sustained professional development.
- United States (State-level Initiatives):
- Washington State: Has developed and utilizes specific Washington SEL Standards, Benchmarks, & Indicators to guide professional development for educators. Policy focuses on strengthening adult SEL competencies, intentionally integrating SEL practices into lesson planning, and implementing restorative practices as alternative, relationship-focused disciplinary approaches. This represents a systemic, state-led policy effort aimed at comprehensive SEL integration.Iowa: Has mandated an hour of training on suicide prevention and the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) for all teachers. This demonstrates a policy response to specific mental health and trauma-related needs, leveraging SEL concepts to build teacher capacity in these critical areas.
- United Kingdom: While acknowledging a lack of explicit funding for social, mental, and emotional health in government education recovery plans, there is a strong recognition of SEL’s central role in fostering children’s skills for educational success and lifelong well-being. Past fragmented approaches (e.g., the SEAL programme) have highlighted the critical need for a “whole school approach” and continuous, adequate teacher education at both pre-service and in-service levels for effective implementation.
This diversity suggests that successful SEL policy is highly adaptable to different national contexts, educational structures, and cultural priorities.
It implies that countries can find multiple entry points for integration, from curriculum reform and teacher training to school climate initiatives and targeted interventions.
This broadens the scope of what constitutes “teaching emotional intelligence” and offers a rich landscape of models for other nations to consider, fostering innovation through varied approaches.
A consistent and powerful theme across the OECD SSES findings and specific country examples is the critical role of teacher preparedness and ongoing professional development. The explicit statement that “SEL will not work without educating educators first!” highlights a direct causal relationship: policy mandates alone are insufficient without equipping teachers with the necessary skills, knowledge, and mindset.
Challenges such as a reported lack of training and insufficient official resources underscore this bottleneck. This indicates that effective global SEL policy must prioritize substantial, sustained investment in teacher education—both pre-service and in-service.
This includes not only pedagogical training but also fostering teachers’ own social and emotional competencies and ensuring their engagement and well-being. The success and sustainability of SEL initiatives at scale are fundamentally dependent on a highly competent and supported teaching workforce, making teacher professional development a non-negotiable policy imperative.
The increasing emphasis on SEL is not solely for academic gains but is also a direct policy response to contemporary societal pressures. Reports highlight rising “burnout, anxiety, and disengagement” among students, the growing focus on “mental health”, and the need to address “adverse childhood experiences” (ACEs) and trauma.
This indicates that governments are leveraging SEL as a preventative and protective measure against the growing mental health crisis and the long-term effects of trauma on young people. This positions SEL policy as increasingly integrated into broader public health and social welfare agendas, framing education as a key site for fostering resilience and promoting mental well-being across the population.
Table 2: Illustrative Country Examples of SEL Policy Integration and Focus Areas
| Country/Entity | Key Policy/Approach | Specific Focus/Characteristic |
| Czech Republic | Conflict-Free Pedagogy | Development of emotional intelligence, self-regulation, mindfulness, stress resilience. |
| India (Shrewsbury School) | Holistic EI Integration | Cross-disciplinary embedding of EI, rigorous teacher orientation and continuous training. |
| U.S. (Washington State) | State SEL Standards & Restorative Practices | Strengthening adult SEL competencies, integrating SEL into lesson planning, alternative disciplinary approaches. |
| U.S. (Iowa) | Mandatory Teacher Training on Trauma/ACEs | Suicide prevention, understanding effects of adverse childhood experiences. |
| U.S. (New Jersey) | Formalized SEL Modules & Webpage | Structured resources and guidance for SEL implementation. |
| Viet Nam | Mainstreaming in Early Childhood | Collaboration with UNESCO to integrate SEL from an early age. |
| Lao PDR | Disability-Inclusive Education | UNESCO-supported workshops to advance inclusive education, aligning with SEL goals. |
| United Kingdom | Whole School Approach Emphasis | Recognition of SEL’s central role, addressing funding gaps, need for continuous teacher education to overcome fragmented programs. |
4. Impacts, Challenges, and Future Trajectories
The global integration of SEL is yielding significant positive outcomes, yet it faces persistent challenges that shape its future trajectory.
4.1 Observed Positive Outcomes of SEL Integration
As established, SEL consistently leads to a wide array of positive outcomes, including improved academic achievement, enhanced mental health and well-being, stronger interpersonal relationships, and greater readiness for future careers and civic engagement.
The OECD SSES 2023 findings explicitly link higher social and emotional skills to better life outcomes, such as academic success, increased life satisfaction, healthier behaviors, reduced test and class anxiety, and more ambitious career plans.
Students with stronger optimism, energy, and task performance skills are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors. Beyond student benefits, SEL integration also positively impacts the teaching profession. Educators with strong SEL competencies report higher levels of job satisfaction and reduced burnout, and they feel more effective in their roles, leading to lower job-related anxiety.
4.2 Common Challenges in Policy Implementation
Despite the compelling evidence and growing policy adoption, significant hurdles persist in the effective implementation of SEL:
- Funding and Resource Gaps: A significant challenge is the lack of dedicated and sufficient funding for SEL initiatives. For instance, the UK’s education recovery plans have been noted for their lack of explicit funding for social, mental, and emotional health, indicating a common challenge in translating policy intent into adequately resourced programs.
- Teacher Preparedness and Capacity: A recurring challenge is that teachers often feel least capable and report a lack of adequate training in social and emotional teaching tasks. Sustaining engagement and effective implementation of SEL are highly dependent on providing continuous, collaborative, and job-embedded learning opportunities for educators.
- Fragmented vs. Systemic Approaches: Past experiences, such as the UK’s SEAL program, illustrate that SEL is “not likely to work if it is delivered in fragmented, one-off sessions”.16 This highlights the difficulty in moving from isolated programs to a comprehensive “whole school approach” that integrates SEL across all aspects of the educational environment.
- Political Interference and Misrepresentation: CASEL cautions that when SEL is “co-opted by political agendas,” students risk losing out on the full benefits of a holistic education. This points to external pressures and ideological opposition as potential barriers to consistent and effective SEL policy implementation.
- Parental Concerns and Engagement: Some parents, particularly those accustomed to more traditional education systems, may initially express concerns about a greater emphasis on emotional intelligence. Educators must effectively communicate and demonstrate the long-term benefits to gain parental support.
- Equity Disparities in Skill Distribution: OECD SSES data consistently reveals that social and emotional skills are inequitably distributed among students based on age, gender, and socio-economic background. Disadvantaged students and girls, for example, often report lower levels of belonging and more negative emotions , indicating that policy must actively address these disparities.
- Integration with Digital Technologies: Most teachers surveyed found online teaching challenging for delivering social and emotional learning. This highlights a growing need for innovative strategies and resources to effectively integrate SEL into digital and remote learning environments.
- Impact of Global Crises: The observed decline in most social and emotional skills among students in Helsinki and Bogotá in 2023 compared to 2019 suggests that major global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can significantly disrupt SEL development and pose new, unforeseen challenges for education systems.
These persistent challenges related to funding, teacher preparedness, fragmented approaches, and political interference highlight a significant gap between policy adoption and effective, equitable implementation.
The observed decline in SEL skills in some regions post-pandemic further underscores that policy mandates alone do not guarantee resilient and equitable implementation. This suggests that the focus for 2025 and beyond must shift from merely advocating for SEL to rigorously supporting its actual delivery.
4.3 Emerging Trends and Recommendations for Advancing Global SEL Policy
The future trajectory for SEL policy points towards several key areas of development and emphasis:
- Deep Systemic Integration: The future points towards embedding SEL as an integral part of all facets of education systems, moving beyond isolated programs to influence curriculum design, pedagogical practices, school climate, and accountability frameworks.
- Prioritizing Continuous Professional Development: A critical recommendation is to prioritize comprehensive, job-embedded, and collaborative learning opportunities for educators. This includes strengthening their own SEL competencies and capacity, as effective SEL implementation is contingent upon a well-prepared teaching force.
- Embracing a Whole Child Approach: Education systems are increasingly reimagining learning environments to focus on the intellectual, social, and emotional development of the entire child, recognizing that these dimensions are interconnected and equally vital for success.
- Leveraging Data for Informed Policy: The utilization of large-scale surveys like the OECD SSES will become even more crucial for continuously monitoring SEL development, identifying specific gaps and disparities, and informing targeted, evidence-based policy interventions.
- Explicit Focus on Equity: Future SEL policies must include intentional efforts to reduce opportunity gaps and address the observed disparities in SEL outcomes for disadvantaged groups and marginalized populations, ensuring that SEL benefits are accessible and culturally responsive for all students. SEL is explicitly framed as a means to “advance educational equity and excellence” and “address various forms of inequity”. The OECD data revealing “inequitably distributed” SEL skills and the need to “improve experiences of disadvantaged groups” indicates that SEL is not just about individual skill development but a systemic lever for social justice. By fostering empathy, cultural competence, and responsible decision-making, SEL can directly challenge biases and promote inclusive educational environments. This means that future SEL initiatives must be designed with an explicit equity lens, ensuring that programs are culturally responsive, address the unique needs of marginalized populations, and actively work to dismantle systemic barriers to social and emotional development, thereby contributing to broader social justice goals.
- Strengthening School-Family-Community Partnerships: Fostering authentic and collaborative partnerships among schools, families, and community organizations is essential to create comprehensive and supportive learning environments that reinforce SEL development across all settings.
- Emphasizing Prevention and Resilience: SEL is increasingly being leveraged as a powerful tool to cultivate protective factors against mental health risks, reduce bullying and aggression, and build coping skills and resilience in students, particularly in response to challenging situations and crises.
- Fostering Global Collaboration: Continued and enhanced collaboration among international organizations (UNESCO, CASEL, OECD, INEE) is vital for sharing cutting-edge research, disseminating best practices, and developing coherent policy guidance that supports SEL integration worldwide.
The challenge teachers face with integrating SEL into online teaching points to a need for policy that addresses the digital transformation of education. Simultaneously, the decline in SEL skills observed in some sites post-pandemic only shows the vulnerability of student well-being to global crises.
These two points, taken together, suggest a dual challenge: how to effectively deliver SEL in increasingly digital learning environments and how to ensure SEL programs contribute to students’ resilience during periods of widespread disruption.
Future SEL policies must proactively incorporate strategies for effective digital SEL pedagogy and integrate resilience-building components to equip students and systems to navigate future shocks.
This requires innovative curriculum design, teacher training that includes digital competencies for SEL, and a systemic focus on creating supportive learning environments that can adapt and sustain social-emotional development regardless of external circumstances, positioning SEL as a cornerstone of adaptive and resilient education systems.
Charting a Course for Emotionally Intelligent Education
The global movement to integrate emotional intelligence into school curricula is not merely a trend but a fundamental reorientation of educational purpose.
Driven by compelling evidence of its benefits for academic success, mental health, and future readiness, and championed by influential organizations like UNESCO, CASEL, and OECD, SEL is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of modern education.
Countries like the Czech Republic, India, and various U.S. states demonstrate diverse and innovative approaches to policy implementation, showcasing a flexible and adaptable nature of SEL principles.
However, common challenges persist, particularly in ensuring adequate teacher training, sustainable funding, and equitable access.
These implementation gaps highlight that policy adoption alone is insufficient; rigorous support for actual delivery is crucial. Looking towards 2025 and beyond, the trajectory for global SEL policy points towards deeper systemic integration, data-informed decision-making, and a sustained commitment to fostering emotionally intelligent citizens capable of navigating a complex, interconnected world.
The success of this endeavor hinges on continued global collaboration, robust investment in implementation, and an unwavering focus on equity, particularly in addressing disparities and building educational resilience in the face of digital transformation and global crises.
