Emotional competence: The missing piece in school curricula? A systematic analysis in the German education system

Abstract

Emotional competencies are increasingly recognized in their importance for flourishing human development. Yet, there is a lack of research examining their structural integration within education systems. The present mixed methods study systematically assesses the implementation of emotional competence and its five facets (knowledge, recognition, expression, regulation, empathy) within 422 German school curricula. About 40% of curricula do not refer to the strengthening of emotional competence at all. On average, one reference was found on every thirteenth page. No trend could be identified for more recent documents to contain more references. Negative binomial regression revealed far above-average anchoring in ethics/philosophy, whereas fewest references were found in natural sciences, information technology, and economics. The analyses are supplemented by qualitative excerpts, highlighting common and good practice examples. In light of the broad empirical base demonstrating the importance of social-emotional learning, it is argued that its current anchorage within German school curricula is insufficient.