Why character strengths matter

Character strengths are the foundation for life

Children who can manage their emotions, show kindness, think critically and bounce back from setbacks don’t just do better at school — they build stronger friendships, navigate challenges more confidently, and carry those capacities with them for life.

The three foundations of learning: reading, maths and social-emotional literacy

Schools and families have always prioritised literacy and numeracy. Research now tells us that social and emotional learning belongs alongside them — and that without it, the other two are harder to achieve.

Literacy Reading, writing and communication

Numeracy Mathematical thinking and problem-solving

Social and Emotional Learning Character strengths and life skills

What are character strengths?

Character strengths are how you behave when no one is watching. They are the internalised qualities that shape how a child treats a friend, responds to frustration, or thinks through a difficult decision — in the classroom, at home, and online. When children develop these strengths early, they carry them into their teenage and adult lives. Character strengths fall into three broad areas:

Managing your inner life Emotional regulation, resilience, self-control, perseverance — the capacities that help children handle difficult feelings, persist through challenges and recover from setbacks.

Building relationships Kindness, empathy, respect, communication, fairness — the qualities that shape how children treat others and how they experience friendship, belonging and trust.

Developing a moral compass Critical thinking, honesty, courage, responsibility — the dispositions that guide children in making good decisions, standing up for what’s right and navigating complex situations thoughtfully.

Why it matters more than ever

Online environments make it harder to pause before reacting, easier to be unkind without seeing the consequences, and more difficult to tell what is real from what is false. The same strengths that help a child handle a difficult moment in the playground — emotional regulation, empathy, critical thinking — are exactly the ones they need to navigate digital life wisely and safely. This is not about keeping children away from technology. It is about making sure they have the inner resources to use it well.

What the research shows

Decades of research across dozens of countries points to the same conclusion: character strengths and social and emotional skills are among the strongest predictors of how well children do in school, in relationships and in life.

  • Children with stronger social and emotional skills achieve better academic outcomes — across every income level and school context. (CASEL, 2023)
  • The early years of school are the most powerful window for developing these skills — but they remain learnable and growable at every stage of childhood and adolescence. (Jones et al., 2017)
  • Children who develop stronger self-regulation and empathy are less likely to experience bullying, anxiety and loneliness — and more likely to build lasting friendships. (Greenberg et al., 2017)
  • In digital environments, children with higher levels of self-control, empathy and critical thinking are significantly less likely to experience or cause online harm. (Gómez-García et al., 2022)
  • The impact is greatest when schools and families work together — reinforcing the same skills and values across both settings. (Durlak et al., 2022)

Frequently Asked Questions

The term “soft skills” is misleading and undersells what these capacities actually are. The ability to manage your emotions, persist through difficulty, treat others with fairness and think critically are prerequisite skills — without them, academic learning is harder to achieve and sustain. Researchers, educators and employers increasingly describe them as essential skills, because that is precisely what they are.

These terms are often used interchangeably and describe overlapping ideas. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the term most widely used in research and public policy, and refers to the process through which children develop emotional, social and decision-making skills. Character education is an older tradition that emphasises the development of virtues and moral qualities. Character strengths is the language we use because it captures both — and because it frames these qualities as something active and growable, rather than fixed traits a child either has or doesn’t. The research base underpins all three traditions.

Both. Children develop character strengths most effectively when they receive consistent messages across school and home. Schools are not replacing families in this role — they are reinforcing and extending it. The research is clear that the impact is significantly greater when teachers and parents work together, using the same language and the same approach.

It doesn’t look like a separate lesson squeezed into an already full timetable. The most effective approaches weave character strengths into everyday classroom life — through the way teachers model emotional regulation, through stories and discussion, through collaborative tasks and through the way children are supported to handle conflict and setbacks. It becomes part of the culture of the classroom, not an add-on to it.

The evidence suggests the opposite. Children who develop stronger self-regulation, persistence and the ability to work with others make faster academic progress. Time invested in character strengths pays back in learning outcomes. The three pillars reinforce each other — that is precisely the point.

The early years of school — roughly ages five to eleven — are a powerful window for developing these skills, when habits and dispositions are forming and the brain is highly responsive. But character strengths are not fixed in childhood. They continue to develop through adolescence and into adulthood, and it is never too late to start. The earlier children begin building them, the stronger the foundation they carry forward.

The evidence base is substantial. Hundreds of studies across multiple decades and dozens of countries consistently show that social and emotional skills predict academic achievement, mental health, relationship quality and life outcomes — often more strongly than academic skills alone. Organisations including CASEL, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the OECD have synthesised this research extensively. This is one of the most robust findings in developmental psychology.

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