Research & Evidence

The benefits of SEL (Social Emotional Learning)

Over the past six decades, numerous studies have evidenced the positive impact of high-quality SEL programmes in early childhood as lifetime effects.

Nobel laureate James Heckman found that SEL taught in early years not only has long term (into midlife) positive effects on crime, employment, health, cognitive and non-cognitive skills for the participant (Heckman and Karapakula 2019), but also benefits those around them (Heckman and Karapakula 2019b)

Children who learned SEL in ethnically diverse and urban areas demonstrated fewer emotional and behavioural challenges during their adolescent years (Durlak et al. 2008)

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 79 unique studies (across 6 continents) indicated significant improvement in social competence, emotional competence, behavioural self-regulation, emotional and behavioural problems, and early learning outcomes compared with control participants (Blewitt et al. 2018)

Sir Ken Robinson

World-renowned educationalist

Dr Urvashi Sahni

Founder of Study Hall Educational Foundation, Brookings Fellow

Dr Marc Brackett

Co-director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

Dr Robin Stern

Co-director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

Barbara Isaacs

Montessori, Europe

Neuroscientist Professor Richard Davidson

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Brian O’Maoileoin

Primary School Principal, United World College of South East Asia

Vicky Colbert

CEO and Founder Fundación Escuela Nueva, Wise Education Laureate

Dr Sheila Wamahiu

Expert on value-based education Kenya

Kindness Curriculum from the Center for Healthy Minds (created by Professor Richard Davidson) 

SEE Learning Curriculum from Emory University, endorsed by the Dalai Lama 

RULER Programme from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.