How Can Schools Build Emotional Intelligence, Civic Sense, and Resilience in Children?
Beyond Academic Success
A child can score well in mathematics and still struggle to handle disappointment. They can memorise a history lesson without understanding what it means to live respectfully with people who think differently from them. They can perform well in examinations and still find it difficult to speak up, resolve conflict or recover from failure.
That is why the purpose of education cannot stop at academic achievement.
Schools are places where children learn how to think, but they are also where they spend years learning how to deal with other people, manage emotions, take responsibility and respond when things do not go their way. Emotional intelligence, civic sense and resilience are therefore part of a child’s education, even when they do not appear as separate subjects on a timetable.
Research supports this broader view of learning. The OECD’s work on social and emotional skills links abilities such as self-control, stress resistance, cooperation and empathy with academic outcomes, well-being and social functioning. It also finds that school environments and teacher-student relationships can influence the development of these skills.
How Can Schools Develop Emotional Intelligence in Children?
Emotional intelligence begins with helping children recognise what they are feeling and understand what to do with those feelings.
A young student who becomes angry after losing a game may need help putting the emotion into words before learning how to manage it. An older student dealing with friendship problems may need a safe setting where they can talk through what happened rather than being told simply to “move on.”
Teachers can build these habits into ordinary classroom life through activities such as:
- encouraging students to name and discuss emotions
- teaching children how to listen without interrupting
- using group activities that require cooperation
- helping students think through disagreements
- giving children opportunities to reflect on their choices
- recognising effort, patience and improvement rather than rewarding only high marks
This does not mean turning every classroom into a therapy session. Often, it is about changing everyday interactions so that children learn that emotions can be discussed, mistakes can be examined and conflicts can be handled without humiliation.
A large body of research on school-based social and emotional learning has found improvements in areas including students’ skills, behaviour, peer relationships, school climate and academic achievement, although results vary depending on the programme and how well it is implemented.
Why Should Schools Teach Civic Sense?
Civic sense is often reduced to lessons about rules, national symbols or public responsibilities. Children learn much more when they experience these ideas in practice.
A school can help students take responsibility for the well-being of the community by providing real opportunities for participation, like taking part in establishing acceptable standards in the classroom, planning a project to benefit the community, talking about a community problem, or collaborating on a project that addresses a real, relevant issue.
This shows for us the important lessons that children learn when they participate in a community; that community life is much more about knowing what’s good and evil, and is much more about listening, understanding others, sharing responsibility for the shared environment and most importantly being aware that individual choices can impact on others.
Per the OECD, the findings from its study of civics education, which included a focus on high performance on knowledgetests, suggest the importance of experiences, rather than memorization; Student involvement can also improve school community linkages.
How Can Schools Build Resilience in Children?
Resilience is often misunderstood as the ability to stay strong all the time. Children do not need to be taught that disappointment should not affect them. They need to learn that setbacks can be faced, understood and worked through.
A student who performs poorly on an examination, loses a competition or struggles to make friends may feel embarrassed or discouraged. The useful response is not always immediate reassurance. Sometimes the child needs help asking better questions: What went wrong? What can I change? Who can help me? What can I try differently next time?
Schools can encourage this mindset by making room for mistakes and reflection.
Teachers can also give students manageable responsibilities, allow them to solve age-appropriate problems themselves and recognise progress instead of expecting perfection. These experiences gradually build confidence in handling difficulty.
The OECD’s 2025 education research places student agency, social and emotional skills, perseverance and self-reflection among the qualities that help young people remain engaged with learning and adapt over time.
What Role Do Teachers Play in Emotional and Social Development?
Teachers have an influence that extends beyond the subject they teach.
A classroom where students feel safe asking questions, admitting mistakes and expressing disagreement respectfully gives children daily practice in emotional regulation and social interaction. The opposite is also true. Bullying, fear and poor relationships can undermine children’s social and emotional development.
The OECD has found that students exposed to bullying tend to report lower levels of several social and emotional skills, while stronger teacher-student relationships are associated with better development in these areas.
This makes teacher training important. Educators need practical strategies for handling conflict, supporting students who are struggling and creating classrooms where different personalities and perspectives can coexist.
Can Parents and Schools Work Together?
They need to.
Children receive messages about behaviour and responsibility from both home and school. When those messages are broadly consistent, children have a clearer understanding of expectations.
Schools can involve parents through workshops, regular conversations, community activities and guidance on issues such as digital behaviour, peer relationships and emotional well-being. Schools can also work with counsellors, health professionals and community organisations when a child’s needs extend beyond what teachers can reasonably address alone. The OECD has highlighted cross-sector partnerships as one-way schools can strengthen support for children’s emotional, social and digital well-being.
What Does Education Beyond Academic Success Look Like?
It looks like a child who knows how to disagree without insulting someone, ask for help without feeling ashamed, recover after failure, care about the people around them and take responsibility for their choices.
Academic knowledge remains essential. But children will eventually carry what they learn outside the classroom, into workplaces, families, communities and public life.
Schools cannot prepare children for every difficulty they will encounter. They can, however, give them the habits and confidence to meet those difficulties with greater awareness, empathy and resilience.
That is the larger purpose of education: preparing children not only to pass their examinations, but to participate thoughtfully in the world around them.