Evaluating the impact of structural and policy-driven school factors on the development of non-cognitive abilities among Chinese children

Structural and policy-driven factors within schools could play a significant role in developing students’ non-cognitive abilities. A positive and nurturing school factor supports individuals’ comprehensive development. Past literature has highlighted several domains related to school factors, such as academic performance, wellbeing, students’ engagement, attendance in school, delinquent behaviors, bullying, and school safety. However, little is known about the development of other related domains, like non-cognitive abilities in relation to the school factors. Hence, this study made a didactic attempt to evaluate the impact of structural and policy-driven school factors on the development of non-cognitive abilities among Chinese children using the China education panel survey (CEPS) dataset, and employing a hierarchical linear model (HLM). The findings revealed that, for both rural and urban students, the female gender is more contributor/source of the non-cognitive abilities than the male students, with rural females exhibiting higher levels; while regional/provincial differences among students have no influence. Furthermore, school location, the age of the school, and the school category are weakly related to non-cognitive abilities. Moreover, for urban students, proximity to facilities around the school encourages non-cognitive abilities, while safety and infrastructure around the school are retarding it, whereas for rural students none are affecting it. Yet, both rural and urban students’ academic performance, extracurricular participation, behavior, and attitudes strongly influence their non-cognitive abilities.