Thinking Outside the Box: Promoting Learning Through Emotional and Social Skills Development

The European Qualifications Framework provides a useful insight into the kinds of outcomes and abiliti es that are promotedacross the EU. However, beyond arguably vague references to concepts such as ‘integrity’ and ‘autonomy’, this frameworkmakes no reference to the development of students’social and emotional competencies. Based on initial research findings inan Irish context, and when considered against the backdrop of a convincing literature on the importance of emotionalintelligence in academic attainment, there would appear to be considerable scope to modify this framework in order to accommodate more specific reference to the development of emotional and social skills. This paper addresses an important gap in educational practice at Third Level and presents a suggested reformulated version of the EQF that includes referenceto social and emotional skills development at all levels of academic attainment. It is hoped that this may help to stimulatenew thinking in this area and promote the incorporation of learning outcomes that are more directly relevant to the development of emotional competencies in qualificat ions frameworks at national level across the EU. Ho wever, a need for much further research in this area is indicated