Effects of structural and process qualities on Chinese students’ social and emotional skills: a multilevel secondary data analysis

Thesis

Social and emotional skills (SES), also known as non-cognitive abilities, are crucial for both individual development and societal functioning and have long been a focus of psychological and educational research. However, compared to cognitive skills, SES has been less studied, despite its greater malleability especially in the early years. This underscores the importance of understanding the factors that influence children’s SES development. Given the consistently high academic performance of Chinese students in assessments like PISA and the limited knowledge about their SES development, this study aims to explore the factors affecting SES in younger Chinese students. While most SES research has concentrated on general SES development, leaving gaps in understanding specific SES domains or their combinations, this study examines distinct domains and sub-domains of SES. By combining self-reports with reports from parents and teachers, the study gains comprehensive insights and accounts for variations in student behaviours across different contexts. To investigate the complex interplay of individual, class, and school factors on SES development, a multilevel model was employed. The research investigates, firstly the relationships and variances in different domains and sub-domains of SES among Chinese students, as reported by students, parents, and teachers. Secondly, it examines the multilevel factors influencing SES at the individual, class, and school levels, within the context of structural and process quality. A multilevel secondary data analysis was conducted using the Suzhou (China) data from the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2019, with a sub-sample of 3633 students, 3578 parents, 1380 teachers, and 76 principals. The study reveals distinct perceptions of students’ SES across various domains and sub-domains among students, parents, and teachers. Additionally, individual-level process quality significantly influences students’ SES across all five domains, more so than class-level structural and process quality and school-level structural quality. However, incorporating structural and process quality factors from individual, class, and school levels also helps explain variations in SES. For example, school level structural quality factors such as school SES education predicted students’ engagement with others, and both school activity richness and school promotion of SES predicted students’ collaboration skills. Implications of the findings of the study were also discussed.

Authors: Yin, S

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-kz9mbzaej
• Type of award: MSc taught course
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: social and emotional skills; multilevel secondary data analysis; CDE2024; secondary data analysis; CDE
• Subjects: Education; Social skills; Data mining