At a time where the kinds of things that are easy to teach and test have also become easy to digitise and automate, and where a multitude of disruptions require individuals to constantly learn, unlearn and relearn to find and adjust their place in life and work, individuals need skills that go beyond academic knowledge. These are skills like cooperation, empathy, and creativity to find solutions, or the persistence to get things done despite challenges. Such social and emotional skills underpin our ability to interact with other people and manage our own emotions and behaviour in healthy and productive ways.

SSES is the most comprehensive international large-scale assessment to date that provides education systems with information on their students' social and emotional skills. It was designed to address gaps in data by covering a comprehensive range of skills and gather extensive contextual information about school and home factors that might influence these skills, all using reliable, validated tools for cross-country comparison. The first round of SSES was conducted in 2019 in 10 cities from around the world, with findings published from 2021-2023. It showed the feasibility of measuring social and emotional skills across countries and demonstrated its value in addressing research questions and policy issues related to social and emotional skills. Participating local governments from Bogotá (Colombia) to Suzhou (China) applied findings to policy and practice, often in collaboration with partner foundations or universities.

The Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) is an international survey designed by the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation to improve understanding of social and emotional skills among 10- and 15-year-old students. SSES aims to understand how levels of these skills differ among students with different characteristics; how these skills matter for important student outcomes; and how students’ school and home environments influence skill development.

The Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) is an international survey designed to improve our understanding of students’ social and emotional skills, including how these skills relate to key life outcomes.

This chapter situates the OECD’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills within the context of wider efforts to describe, monitor and develop these skills.

This chapter looks at differences in social and emotional skills between students from different socio-demographic groups. Differences are discussed among students by their age (10-year-olds compared to 15-year-olds), gender, economic, social and cultural status and migration background.

This chapter examines the relationships between students’ social and emotional skills and six well-being and health indicators: student health behaviours, body image, life satisfaction, satisfaction with relationships, current psychological well-being, and test and class anxiety. It also looks at skills associated with health and well-being resilience among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This chapter examines the relationships between students’ social and emotional skills and their educational outcomes, as well as their career preparedness and job aspirations. Educational outcomes include students’ academic performance in reading, mathematics, and arts; levels of absenteeism and tardiness; and students’ expectations to complete tertiary education. Career preparedness and job aspirations cover students’ participation in career development activities and their future career plans, including whether they expect to have a managerial or professional career or start their own business.

The OECD would like to acknowledge and thank the Ayrton Senna Institute (São Paulo, Brazil), a supporter for the development phases of the psychometric work on the assessment, and 2E Estudios y Evaluaciones, the contractor who conducted data processing and scaling for the SSES 2023 Main Survey.