Summary
Key findings
- Children with stronger socio-emotional skills when they start school score higher in Grade 2 literacy and mathematics, even after accounting for their cognitive skills at school entry and other factors: a one SD increase in socio-emotional skills is associated with 0.20 SD higher mathematics scores and 0.14 SD higher literacy scores.
- The link with mathematics holds up in sensitivity checks; the link with literacy is more sensitive to unobserved factors and should be read with more caution.
- Associations appear stronger for boys (especially in literacy), in fee-charging schools, and for children from wealthier homes or with stronger early cognitive skills, but they are significant across the socio-economic spectrum; the paper treats these subgroup differences as suggestive.
- The findings support adding socio-emotional learning to early literacy and numeracy programmes.
Methodology & context
- Uses the Roots and Shoots longitudinal study, which followed learners in 75 primary schools in the Western Cape from the start of Grade R (the preschool year) in 2022 to Grade 2 in 2024; the analysis covers the 400 learners with complete data, out of 556 assessed at baseline.
- Estimates OLS regressions of Grade 2 literacy and mathematics scores on teacher-rated socio-emotional skills at school entry (ELOM Social and Emotional Functioning scale), controlling for baseline cognitive skills, socio-economic background and school characteristics, with Oster (2019) checks for omitted-variable bias.
- The study is observational: it shows associations, not the causal effect of an intervention, and the sample is not nationally or provincially representative.
Summary drafted with AI from the AFEP working paper and policy brief, and checked against them. See the full study for details.
Abstract
Existing research shows that socio-emotional skills are important determinants of major life outcomes. However, evidence of their early role in supporting the acquisition of foundational literacy and mathematics skills in LMICs remains scarce. This paper investigates whether socio-emotional skills at school entry are associated with later literacy and mathematics achievement in South Africa. Results indicate that higher socio-emotional skills at school entry are positively associated with grade 2 literacy and mathematics scores, with stronger associations observed in better-resourced schools and among learners with higher cognitive skills at school entry. These findings underscore the potential value of integrating socio-emotional learning into early education to support academic development and reduce learning gaps in LMICs.