A formative, whole-school approach to the assessment of social and emotional education in the EU - Analytical report

The inclusion of “Personal, Social and Learning to Learn” (PSLL) as a Key Competence in Lifelong Learning (EU Council, 2018) has underlined social and emotional education (SEE) as a key priority area in education and provided a roadmap on how Member States can integrate and strengthen SEE in their respective curricula. One of the current challenges facing this process is how it can be implemented and assessed. In view of the diverse and fragmented approaches to SEE and its assessment in the Member States, this report aims to provide a more integrated framework for the formative and inclusive assessment of SEE across the EU. In doing so, it aims to bring greater consistency to the practices used to assess this key competence at regional, national and European levels. Aside from the assessment of learners’ social and emotional competences, the report also aims to extend assessment beyond the level of the individual to assess the contexts of the classroom and of the whole system of a school. This will help to create a more social, collaborative and inclusive European identity for the assessment of SEE – in contrast to other individualistic, personality and character based modes of assessment.