Explicit and Implicit Effects of Socioemotional Skills. An Analysis of 2018 PISA Data

In international literature the Socio-Emotional Skills (SES) are considered to have an important role in giving to young people the right equipment to face present and future challenges, as well as contribute to the development of a sense of cohesion, greater equity and social justice. In this paper, starting with an analysis of OECD-PISA 2018 data, we sought to estimate the explanatory potential with respect to reading achievement of several measures attributable to the sphere of SES. A first result is that socioeconomic and cultural conditions being equal (summarized in the ESCS measure, Index of Economic, Social and Cultural Status), socio-emotional skills have a small but significant own independent strength in terms of better results in standardized tests. A second result is that these competences have a benefit especially for students characterized by a low level of ESCS (to simplify, we could define them as students of low social class). The implications of these results are of particular interest for the purposes of policies for the social equality of opportunities, equity and system effectiveness.