Abstract
Adolescents’ social-emotional skills are associated with positive outcomes in psychosocial health and success in education and work. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of Skills4Life, a Social Emotional Learning program for preparatory vocational secondary education aimed at enhancing self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Low-achieving students with additional educational needs participated in a quasi-experimental study, with an intervention (N = 465) and a control group (N = 274). We assessed the outcomes on social-emotional skills and psychosocial health using self-report questionnaires at pre-test (T0), after finishing the basic module (T1), and after finishing the internship module (T2). Multi-level regression analyses indicated no overall effects on the outcomes at T1 and T2. After completing the entire program at T2, students from non-western backgrounds had significantly unfavorable lower scores on social awareness and relationship skills. Positive effects were found on self-management and preparation for internships in students taught by experienced professional trainers compared to students taught by regular classroom teachers at T2. Alterations in the socio-cultural approach of the Skills4Life program and teacher training are needed to support all students in developing the social-emotional skills that they need for success at school and the workplace.
Highlights
The 21st-century’s complex and dynamic society challenges adolescents’ cognitive skills and their social-emotional skills
We evaluated the effectiveness of the adapted Skills 4 Life (S4L)-program to test the following two hypotheses: 1. The adapted S4Lprogram increases all five Social Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies and psychosocial health outcomes in low-achieving students in preparatory vocational education, learning at school and in the internship workplace; and 2
At T2, significant negative effects were found on three outcome measures: self-management, social awareness, and relationship skills
Summary
The 21st-century’s complex and dynamic society challenges adolescents’ cognitive skills and their social-emotional skills. The enhancement of these skills, such as self-regulation, self-efficacy, and goal-setting, is associated with young people’s success in education and work (e.g., Ananiadou and Claro, 2009; National Research Council, 2012). Social-emotional skills teaching contributes to the health and life prospects of adolescents. Schools are natural settings for teaching social-emotional skills (e.g., Brackett et al, 2011; Kidger et al, 2012; Durlak et al, 2015). Several Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs aiming to enhance those skills have been developed worldwide (e.g., Humphrey, 2013; Durlak et al, 2015)
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