If you ever wondered whether “non cognitive” skills, like emotional regulation, were important in school, set aside one hour. Yes. Put it aside. And listen to this podcast.
I was quite blown away by this podcast. Not because it reinforced the idea that “soft-skills” like the ability to regulate behavior (generally through “executive control”) are important determinants of “successful outcomes” in life. Nor because it reiterated the importance of self-efficacy to academic achievement. Even the link between a secure attachment style and ability to withstand stress, while dramatic and vividly narrated, was somewhat expected given the reading material and lecture for this week.
What blew me away was how the interaction between parenting, environmental stressors, and schooling could work together to create such dramatic disparities in so many domains – from brain function to academic success and career trajectories. And, how relatively low-cost (from a public policy standpoint) interventions – like the one by the Ounce of Prevention Fund to help mothers develop secure attachments – could be so effective in the short- (61% vs. 3% developing a secure attachment) and long-term (secure attachment largely protecting adults from stress-related health impacts). The effect of the intervention aimed at developing self-efficacy in adolescents – twice-a-year coaching session by college students – was similarly surprising in its cost vs. benefit (like eliminating the gender gap in math achievement).
For teachers, the podcast provides compelling evidence that the priority given to “character” vs. “cognitive” development is especially important to consider for students from stressful environments (or environments that do not fit their temperamental needs). For example, before being able to engage with the academic material, some students might need to learn how to cope with stress to come out of their “flight or fight” state of mind. Finding ways to teach coping strategies, along with facilitating the development of self-efficacy, seem like a prerequisite to teaching complex academic material to such students. On a personal level, the podcast has motivated me to investigate tools that I can use as a teacher (meditation? sports? music? art?) to teach these self-regulation skills to children at different ages.