Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools. Guidance Report
Education Endowment Foundation · 2019
grade Dreviewindependentnot-applicable
Sample
Guidance synthesis drawing on evidence reviews covering more than 700 studies
Population
Primary schools in England.
Design
The policy baseline, recorded so that the gap between the headline figure schools are given and the trials that produced it is visible in one place. Graded D as a guidance synthesis rather than primary evidence.
Key findings
States that evidence reviews including over 700 studies show SEL has a positive impact on academic attainment equivalent to four additional months of progress, and rates it moderate impact for moderate cost based on extensive evidence. The tension worth recording is internal to the same organisation - the EEF's own commissioned randomised trials of SEL programmes returned zero to minus two months on externally marked national tests with high security ratings, while the four-month figure rests on the meta-analytic literature descending from Durlak et al. 2011.
Genetic confound
Not applicable - a guidance document.
Replication notes
Not applicable.
Effects
| Outcome | Metric | Value | Measure | Timing | Vs | Horizon | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headline attainment claim for SEL | months progress | +4 months, rated moderate impact for moderate cost | mixed | not applicable | business-as-usual | unclear | domain-skill |
| The same organisation's own commissioned SEL trials | months progress | 0 to -2 months on externally marked national tests, at high security | standardized | end of programme | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
Cited by
- Should a school buy a social and emotional learning programme?mixedconf: highgc: low