Teachers’ socioemotional skills and competences: An umbrella review

Abstract

An indicator of the importance of teachers' socio-emotional skills and competencies (SECs) is reflected in the volume of both primary and secondary research published on the subject. This article summarizes the current state of knowledge and evidence available to date, with the aim of informing future research and educational practice. To achieve this, 13 review articles were synthesized, identified across the databases EBSCO, Dialnet, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The quantitative synthesis encompasses 350 primary studies involving nearly 84,000 teachers, either in training or in practice, across all educational levels, spanning five continents over the last three decades. The qualitative synthesis reveals that research on this topic is conceptually heterogeneous, highlighting that SECs impact teachers' well-being and effectiveness. Consequently, a clear implication for improvement involves incorporating social-emotional learning (SEL) into initial teacher training programs. Additionally, a list of the main instruments used to measure SECs in the synthesized research is provided, along with methodological recommendations to enhance research and educational practice on this topic.