Innovative tools for the direct assessment of social and emotional skills

Social and emotional skills (SES) are important for various life outcomes, such as academic achievement, mental health, job performance or civic engagement. The assessment of these skills in children and adolescents, however, currently relies heavily on the use of self-reported questionnaires. As such, there is an urgent need for more direct measurement approaches of SES, which look at behaviours, actions and choices, in order to diversify the current portfolio of available assessments. The aim of this working paper is, thus, to map and review innovative assessment tools as well as technological approaches, aimed at the direct assessment of SES. Firstly, the paper documents almost 60 different behavioural tools, namely tasks and digital games. These instruments are reviewed according to a set of criteria, including their reliability, construct and ecological validity, and feasibility. Secondly, the paper identifies technological approaches, such as biophysiological measures, virtual reality or different artificial intelligence applications. Many of these technologies have the potential of being transversally integrated into different tasks and game, enriching the quality of SES assessment, albeit bringing new challenges. Lastly, the paper promotes a dialogue between the different types of innovative assessments, identifying comparative strengths and challenges.