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Non-Cognitive Abilities 
The Indispensable Contributor to Adolescents’ 

Development 

Jijun Yao 

School of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, 

Jiangsu, China 

“If I meet other people and criticize their weaknesses, I rob myself of higher 

cognitive power. But if I try to enter deeply and lovingly into another person's 

good qualities, I gather in that force.” 

–Rudol Steiner 

HE previous view of education quality paid more attention to the ap-

pearance of cognitive ability: test scores. However, a lot of practice and 

research have proved that the level of cognitive ability cannot completely 

predict the development of an individual in school and society. The non-

cognitive abilities of individuals represented by communication, cooperation, 

emotional management, etc. can help improve students’ cognitive level and 

regulate students’ learning motivation; help students achieve better academic 

performance and achievement; Income has an impact, which ultimately af-

fects the individual’s happiness. These kind of specific abilities other than 

cognitive abilities, which have a profound and lasting impact on individual 

adaptation and social development, are core abilities that individuals gradual-

ly form in the process of growth and development, and are also called “social 

and emotional abilities”. The term was promoted by the “Social and Emo-

tional Learning” (SEL) promoted by UNICEF worldwide, and the Study on 

Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) implemented by the Organization for 

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 

OECD has been committed to promoting the development of youth so-

cial and emotional skills. In December 2017, the OECD released the “Social 

and Emotional Skills: Happiness, Connectivity, and Success” report, which 

plans to evaluate the social and emotional skills of students aged 10-15 in 

 
 

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BECE, Vol.9, No.1, 2021 1160 

some countries and cities around the world. The research started in 2017, 

spanning three years, and conducted field surveys and evaluations in 2019. 

At the end of 2019, the first round of evaluation was conducted in 10 cities in 

9 countries around the world. On September 7, 2021, the OECD’s first global 

youth social and emotional ability assessment report was officially released. 

The report showed that social and emotional abilities had an impact on edu-

cation, health and quality of life (happiness, life satisfaction, and test anxiety). 

Important factors affecting social and emotional abilities include school be-

longing, teacher-student relationship, campus bullying and so on. 

As one of the countries that participated in the first round of testing, 

China conducted an assessment work in 151 elementary and middle schools 

in 10 districts and counties of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and surveyed 7,550 

students in the 10-year-old and 15-year-old groups. At the same time, a ques-

tionnaire survey of parents, teachers and principals was carried out, and more 

than 26,000 samples were obtained. Based on the OECD international stu-

dent social and emotional ability evaluation data, a series of research results 

on the social and emotional ability evaluation of Chinese students have been 

formed. 

The current issue of the Best Evidence in Chinese Education (BECE) 

focuses on the research and evaluation of the development of adolescents’ 

social and emotional abilities, and shares the results of Chinese scholars’ re-

search on the SSES evaluation of their own adolescents. Gao et al. (2021) 

analyzed the performance of Chinese adolescents from the perspective of 

task ability; Liu et al. (2021) focused on the analysis of the emotional regula-

tion ability of Chinese adolescents; Tang et al. (2021) concentrated on the 

performance of Chinese adolescents in collaboration ability; Shao et al. 

(2021) focused on the openness of Chinese youth; Huang et al. (2021) dis-

cussed the performance of Chinese youth in their communicative abilities. 

These five short reports introduced in detail the performance of Chinese 

young people in the SSES test from five aspects: task ability, emotion regula-

tion, collaboration ability, open ability and communication ability. They ana-

lyzed what factors affected the development of these abilities, and further 

explored how to improve these abilities through education policies and prac-

tices. 

On this basis, Zhao et al. (2021) gave an overview of China’s participa-

tion in the OECD global youth social and emotional competence assessment, 

introduced and analyzed the significance and value of OECD’s global youth 

social and emotional competence and the progress of related research. 

Meanwhile, they gave a more detailed account of the development of youth 

social and emotional competence assessment in China, and discussed the so-

cial and emotional competence testing. Cheng (2021) also used the OECD 

SSES test as a model to discuss the aspects that should be considered in the 

non-cognitive ability assessment in terms of measurement methods, meas-

urement tools, and test subjects. At the same time, he also gave feedback on 

possible problems in the global assessment. Some thoughts have come out. 



 

BECE, Vol.9, No.1, 2021 1161 

This issue of the journal focuses on the theme of the assessment of ado-

lescents’ social and emotional abilities, and published a brief report and 

summary of the results of the test of adolescents’ social and emotional abili-

ties from China. We also try to introduce the results of the global youth so-

cial and emotional ability assessment conducted by OCED from multiple as-

pects, as well as the performance of Chinese youth in this assessment, so as 

to provide timely and accurate information for follow-up related research. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References 

Cheng, X. (2021). Exploration of the non-cognitive ability assessment: The scientific val-

ue of the survey on social and emotional skills. Best Evidence in Chinese Education, 

9(1):1163-1167. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/sief.21.co017  

Gao, X., Chen, H., Wu, J., & Huang, J. (2021). Task performance: Report on the study of 

social and emotional skills of Chinese adolescents (I). Best Evidence in Chinese Educa-

tion, 9(1):1197-1202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp031  

Huang, J., Wang, Q., Chen, H., & Gao, X. (2021). Communicative competence: The fifth 

report of the social and emotional competence test of Chinese adolescents. Best Evidence 

in Chinese Education, 9(1):1217-1221. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp035  

Liu, Z., Zhu, R., Cui, H., & Huang, J. (2021). Emotional regulation: Report on the study 

of social and emotional skills of Chinese adolescents (II). Best Evidence in Chinese Edu-

cation, 9(1):1203-1207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp032  

Shao, Z., Liu, Z., Yang, S., & Huang, J. (2021). Open-Mindedness: Report on the study of 

social and emotional skills of Chinese adolescents (IV). Best Evidence in Chinese Educa-

tion, 9(1):1213-1216. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp034  

Tang, Y., Zheng, J., Sun, X., & Huang, J. (2021). Collaboration: Report on the study of 

social and emotional skills of Chinese adolescents (III). Best Evidence in Chinese Educa-

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Zhao, F., Meng, W., Li, F., & Zhou, L. (2021). Overview and insight from the China re-

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tion, 9(1):1169-1195. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.re055  

 

Correspondence to:  

Jijun Yao, Ph.D. 

School of Education Science 

Nanjing Normal University 
Nanjing 210023 

Jiangsu 

China 
Email: yaojijun_njnu@163.com 

 

Conflict of Interests: None. 

Doi: 10.15354/bece.21.ed031 

https://doi.org/10.15354/sief.21.co017
https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp031
https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp035
https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp032
https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp034
https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.rp033
https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.re055
mailto:yaojijun_njnu@163.com

