Relations between Teachers’ and Students’ Social-emotional Competence: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-analysis

Social-emotional competence (SEC) is strongly associated with key educational outcomes, including students’ academic achievement, engagement, and well-being as well as teachers’ effectiveness and occupational well-being. Although evidence for the extent and conditions of association between teachers’ and students’ SEC has accumulated for over two decades, the pattern among relations remains largely unexplored. This systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis followed PRISMA guidelines and searched four databases (PsycINFO, ERIC, Scopus, Web of Science). We identified 65 studies and 196 effect sizes ( N = 23,409 teachers; N = 241,233 students) for examination of the relationship between teachers’ and students’ SEC. Results demonstrated a moderate overall correlation between teachers’ and students’ SEC, although the magnitude of this association varied considerably across studies. We found moderating effects for students’ socioeconomic status (SES), teachers’ years of experience, method by which SEC were measured, and grade levels. The positive association between teachers’ SEC and students’ SEC persisted across sensitivity analyses. However, funnel plot asymmetry and the Egger test indicated that publication bias could not be ruled out, hence the magnitude of the pooled estimate should be interpreted with caution. When the multidimensional construct of SEC was examined across five separate domains (see CASEL, 2020), teachers’ responsible decision-making showed the largest observed relationship with overall students’ SEC, while students’ relationship skills showed the strongest observed association with overall teachers’ SEC. However, given substantial heterogeneity and uneven numbers of effect sizes across SEC domains, these relative differences should be interpreted with caution. Overall, the findings indicate an association between teachers’ and students’ SEC, while also highlighting considerable variability in the magnitude of this relationship. These findings also suggest that teachers’ SEC merits closer attention in social-emotional research with students, including studies designed to test whether teachers’ SEC yields benefit for students’ own SEC development.