Industry Agenda New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning through Technology

The report argues that social and emotional learning (SEL)—comprising 10 competencies and character qualities—is as critical as foundational academic skills for the future workforce. It identifies a significant gap in the ed-tech market, where only 5% of venture capital investment since 2011 has targeted SEL-specific products. The authors propose three opportunities: capitalizing on existing games (role-playing, strategy, and sandbox), embedding SEL into foundational academic products, and utilizing emerging technologies like wearables, VR, and affective computing. Barriers to adoption include a lack of standardized measurement, insufficient teacher training, and a perception that technology replaces human interaction. The report calls for a collaborative ecosystem of policy-makers, educators, parents, and investors to establish SEL standards and integrate these skills into national curricula.

• Social and emotional learning (SEL) provides significant academic and long-term economic benefits. A meta-analysis of 213 studies indicated that students receiving SEL instruction achieved scores averaging 11 percentile points higher than those who did not. Long-term tracking from the Perry Preschool Study showed that participants had higher earnings, higher employment rates, and higher high school completion rates by age 40.
• The future labour market increasingly demands social and emotional proficiency. It is estimated that 65% of children currently entering grade school will eventually work in jobs that do not yet exist, making creativity, initiative, and adaptability highly valuable. In the US, job growth since 1980 has been concentrated in occupations requiring high social skills.
• There is a severe under-investment in SEL-focused education technology. Between 2011 and 2015, only 5% of all global ed-tech venture capital funding flowed to companies creating products directly or tangentially involved in SEL, with the vast majority of the $5 billion invested in preschool-to-secondary ed-tech targeting multimedia content, online tutoring, and academic standards.
• Existing digital games offer high potential for SEL development if coupled with effective pedagogy and debriefing. Role-playing games (e.g., iCivics), strategy games (e.g., Civilization V), and sandbox games (e.g., Minecraft) can foster competencies such as complex communication, problem-solving, and collaboration.
• Emerging technologies provide new avenues for fostering SEL. Wearables can track physiological stress to build self-awareness; VR can foster cultural awareness through virtual field trips; and affective computing (e.g., Affdex) can recognize and analyze human emotions to improve empathy.
• A 'vicious circle' of barriers hinders the adoption of SEL and related technologies. These include limited awareness of benefits, insufficient prioritization compared to foundational skills, a lack of consensus on valid measurements, low funding, and an inadequate supply of effective programmes.
• Teacher training in SEL is insufficient globally. In the US, only 41% of teachers report receiving training in SEL, and in South Korea, the rate is 36%. This is despite high demand, with 77% of US teachers expressing a desire for additional SEL-related training.
• Perceptions of SEL benefits vary by geography. In the US and UK, stakeholders view SEL primarily as a means of academic preparation (e.g., graduating high school). In contrast, parents and teachers in China and South Korea more frequently link SEL to an individual's long-term happiness and wellbeing.

APA

World Economic Forum (2016). Industry Agenda New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning through Technology. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Vision_for_Education.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Industry Agenda New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning through Technology. 2016. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Vision_for_Education.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Industry Agenda New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning through Technology |date=March 2016 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Vision_for_Education.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2016industry, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Industry Agenda New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning through Technology}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2016}, month = mar, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Vision_for_Education.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }