English teenagers have significantly weaker social and emotional skills than their peers in many other developed countries, a study has found.
A report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) says they could be less employable if these weaknesses are not addressed.
The NFER assessed the young people based on their assertiveness, curiosity, emotional control, empathy and ability to co-operate. They were compared with teenagers from other participating countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The report says children need socio-emotional and cognitive skills to develop employment skills such as communication, collaboration, organising, planning, creative thinking and information literacy.
Progress has been made in developing young people’s literacy and numeracy. This has not been matched, however, by their socio-emotional skills, in which the gap between wealthier and more deprived children was wider in England than in any of the other 30 countries that provided data in 2022.
The study urges the government to do more to support deprived children in schools, pre-schools and nurseries.
The 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), an OECD study, assessed 15-year-olds in 31 countries. Researchers found England ranked in the bottom ten of the countries that measured socio-emotional skills.
The working paper noted large inequalities in the “emotional control, stress resistance, assertiveness and perseverance” of children in England. Jude Hillary, the programme’s principal investigator, said socio-emotional skills were critical for teenagers’ employment prospects and general wellbeing, adding: “If we fail to prioritise these skills, we are potentially not just limiting individual wellbeing and potential, we are weakening the future workforce and economy of the UK.”
New polling shared with The Times finds significant regional disparities between teachers’ expectations of how many young people will attend university. In London, 75 per cent of teachers expect at least half their class to progress to higher education, compared with just 45 per cent in Yorkshire and the northwest and northeast of England.
University is the preferred option after school for most parents but 36 per cent say tuition fees are too high and 31 per cent are concerned about the cost of living for students.
• Fewer pupils on free school meals going to university
The polling of 4,600 teachers and 2,000 parents was conducted by Public First on behalf of UPP Foundation, an independent university charity. It will announce a wide-ranging inquiry today to increase participation in higher education.
The survey found twice as many teachers in the most affluent schools felt at least half their pupils would go to university than those teaching in the most deprived schools.
The report said the difference in progression rates to higher education between students eligible for free school meals and their peers had widened to 20.8 percentage points — the biggest gap on record.
It found 71.6 per cent of 18-year-olds from Battersea, southwest London, went to higher education last year, compared with 11.1 per cent in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
