Non-Cognitive Skills
Ages 3-18 Years
School-based program to strengthen non-cognitive skills
Implementation Guide
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The Perry Preschool Program (an example of building non-cognitive skills training) focused on building skills like self-control, motivation, and emotional regulation through daily play-based activities. Children planned, carried out, and reviewed tasks with teachers, developing initiative, cooperation, and problem-solving. These methods built core life skills that research later linked to lasting gains in education, employment, and well-being.
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The program has lasting improvements in education, employment, health, and social behavior. Children were more likely to finish high school, earn higher incomes, and stay employed, with reduced rates of conduct disorder and arrests. Although initial IQ gains faded, long-term benefits came from strengthened non-cognitive skills like self-regulation and motivation. The impact stayed well into adulthood. By age 40, participants had better life outcomes across the board, and economic analyses estimated a 7–10% annual return on investment, demonstrating that early focus on social-emotional development can yield lifelong dividends.
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Non-cognitive skills like self-control, perseverance, and emotional regulation are rooted in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which develops rapidly in early childhood. Programs like Perry Preschool strengthen these skills through repeated practice in decision-making, managing emotions, and social interaction. This builds executive function, which is the brain’s ability to plan, focus, and adapt. Psychologically, these skills foster confidence, resilience, and healthy coping. Children who develop them are better at managing stress, forming relationships, and persisting through challenges. Over time, this leads to better outcomes in school, work, and health
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Long-term studies of the Perry Preschool Program have found no evidence of harm. The structured routines and social learning activities helped children build resilience and confidence with minimal to none adverse effects.
Minimum Must-Dos
Duration: Implement the program over at least one full academic year. While short-term improvements in engagement and emotion regulation may emerge within weeks, sustained impact on dropout rates, mental health, and resilience requires long-term exposure and reinforcement.
Frequency: Sessions should occur at least once per week for 45–60 minutes. Research shows that consistent, low-dose exposure over time is more effective than intensive short bursts. Reinforce informally during everyday routines and transitions.
Trait Focus: Explicitly build the Big Five personality traits—Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and emotional stability. These traits are most strongly linked to academic success, employment, and reduced mental health risks (Kautz et al., 2014).
Method of Implementation: Use active, experiential learning such as role-play, group projects, journaling, and reflection. Avoid passive instruction. These approaches foster agency, cooperation, and self-awareness (Farrington et al., 2012).
Facilitator Training: Train facilitators to model non-cognitive skills themselves. Emphasize emotional regulation, empathetic communication, and creating a non-judgmental, safe space. Training should also include strategies to handle group dynamics and resistance.
Evidence Base
Many studies have reproduced these findings on the importance of non-cognitive skills in outcomes for young people (Farrington et al., 2012; Gutman & Schoon, 2013; Heckman & Kautz, 2012). The Big Five OCEAN noncognitive skills comprise Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and (absence of) Neuroticism, and these significantly influence behaviour and social interaction. Building non-cognitive skills significantly impacts educational and labour market outcomes, particularly in students at high risk of dropping out of the school system entirely (Kautz et al., 2014). The evidence from the Kautz and others study finds that stronger non-cognitive skills act as a protective factor against mental illness, as they reduce anxiety and stress and increase resilience and self-esteem.