Shaping Personality in Schools

A broad set of noncognitive skills, including self-control, grit, and perseverance, are increasingly recognized as critical determinants of long-term life outcomes. These “personality skills” have been shown to be as important as cognitive abilities in influencing educational attainment, labor market success, and overall well-being. Importantly, they are not immutable traits but can be shaped through well-designed interventions, particularly during childhood . Therefore, schools offer an ideal setting for fostering their development. This review examines the impact of three key school features on the development of personality. The first feature is the classroom environment, which functions as the primary social space in which children interact with both peers and teachers. Educational policies that target classroom size and peer composition contribute to the positive development of socioemotional skills. Second, teachers play an important role in shaping personality, not only through their pedagogical approaches but also through their beliefs about and attitudes toward students as well as through their own socioemotional well-being. Third, the review analyzes targeted school-based interventions that explicitly aim to support personality development. These interventions often focus on specific skill sets, including self-regulation, resilience, empowerment, and social and emotional competencies. Research on the development of personality faces key challenges, including data limitations, measurement difficulties, and a lack of standardized tools that hinders comparability across studies. Identifying the mechanisms through which school-based policies affect personality development also requires complex, costly research designs. Additionally, there is a need for more long-term studies to evaluate the impact of such policies on personality skills and broader life outcomes. Finally, effectively communicating evidence on personality skills to policymakers and the public is imperative not only to prevent misperceptions about the goals of these policies but also to foster public trust and political support needed for their long-term sustainability.