Disruptions in the classroom have a negative effect on student learning and wear out teachers. To these consequences, which have already been demonstrated in several studies, are now added the findings of a new research: learning patience or perseverance at an early age has an impact on the climate of the classroom and learning in secondary school There is less school dropout and more continuity of studies towards university.
The study The causal impact of social-emotional skills training on educational success was published in the high-impact journal Review of Economic Studies a few days ago. It is made by Giuseppe Sorrenti (University of Amsterdam), Ulf Zölitz (University of Zurich), Denis Ribeaud (University of Zurich) and Manuel Eisner (University of Cambridge).
The authors analyzed the long-term effects of implementing a program that improves the social-emotional skills of 8-year-old students. It was conducted in 28 of 56 randomly selected public primary schools in Zurich.
The program focused on working on patience and self-control, calm decision-making, self-esteem, emotional intelligence and identifying fair and unfair behavior. In short, think before you speak or act, know how to wait patiently and persist in a goal. They also worked on the recognition of self-worth.
These objectives, which well established reduce disruptions in class and improve relationships between students, were addressed intensively with practical activities in the classroom and with homework during two years. The teaching staff was also trained.
The researchers followed the 1,675 students from 2004, when they started primary school. The sample included centers that applied the program (called Paths) and others that did not. It was observed what happened at the key ages: 13, 15, 17, 20 and 24 years. During this time, they measured the selection of educational itineraries (who went to secondary school focused on VET and who went to high school), school dropouts and university enrollment.
The differences between those who had acquired socio-emotional skills as children and those who had not were noticeable a decade later. The former get better grades in educational centers than the control group. However, this contrasts with the fact that no differences are seen in the examinations carried out by the Government. For the authors of the study, this suggests that "the impact of early intervention has more effect on socio-emotional skills than on cognitive ones".
The second evidence they found is that adolescents show fewer symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, less challenging behavior and less aggression. However, there are no differences in terms of anxiety levels.
Third, boys interrupt classes less often and pay more attention to the teacher. However, there are no differences in homework assignments or positive changes in parenting practices.
The researchers detect, in general, less impulsivity, better behavior in class, better grades at school, more success at secondary school (4% more) and more interest in continuing to study afterwards (6%). Six out of 28 go to university, one more student than the average.
Education analyst Ismael Sanz, professor of economics at Rey Juan Carlos University, explains that the importance of the study is to verify with evidence something that teachers already sense. He points out that reducing disruptive behavior can be very important, not only for the student himself, but also for peers and teachers.
In OECD countries, secondary school teachers spend an average of 8 minutes out of every class hour maintaining order in the classroom. And 20% of teachers experience real difficulties, according to the Talis 2018 report (Teaching and learning international survey), an international survey that assesses teaching and learning conditions on a global scale.
Sanz remembers the impact that interruptions in the classroom have on the acquisition of language and mathematics knowledge. "The reduction in class learning when there is a student who interrupts is one week per course (35 weeks)", which is equivalent to a month and a half in primary school and another month in secondary school.
If there are two students in a class of 25, which is more common in highly complex schools, the loss is higher, continues Sanz, and the probability of obtaining a university degree decreases by two percentage points.
