Foreword and Acknowledgements

Children and adolescents need a balanced set of cognitive, social and emotional skills in order to succeed in modern life. Cognitive skills, including those that are measured by achievement tests and academic grades, have been shown to influence the likelihood of individuals’ educational and labour market success. They also predict broader outcomes such as perceived health, social and political participation as well as trust. In turn, social and emotional skills, such as perseverance, sociability and self-esteem have been shown to influence numerous measures of social outcomes, including better health, improved subjective well-being and reduced odds of engaging in conduct problems. Cognitive and socio-emotional skills interact and crossfertilise, and empower children to succeed both in and out of schools. For example, social and emotional skills may help children translate intentions into actions, and thereby improve their likelihood of graduating from universities, follow through healthy lifestyles and prevent engaging in aggressive behaviours.