Emotion Coaching – trial

Emotion Coaching UK and Norland College
Implementation costThe cost estimates in the Toolkits are based on the average cost of delivering the intervention.
Evidence strengthThis rating provides an overall estimate of the robustness of the evidence, to help support professional decision-making in schools.
Impact (months)The impact measure shows the number of additional months of progress made, on average, by children and young people who received the intervention, compared to similar children and young people who did not.
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Project info

Independent Evaluator

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NatCen

Trial to test the impact of Emotion Coaching, a four-step relational approach aimed at developing personal, social and emotional skills, including self-regulation, in children.

Pupils: 3200 Schools: 160 Grant: £324,088
Participating settings: 160

The project

Emotion Coaching is a professional development programmeA programme is a package of support, including professional development, that helps early years educators to improve particular areas of practice and children’s outcomes. for early years practitioners that aims to help 3 – 4‑year-old children develop self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances..

It supports practitioners to use a four-step co-regulation framework to respond to children experiencing heightened emotions. The framework aims to help them understand their feelings, why they occur and how to manage them.

The programme also aims to develop practitioners’ ability to model emotional awareness and regulation, and to create learning environments that support children’s Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED).

Outcome/​Group
ImpactThe size of the difference between pupils in this trial and other pupils
SecurityHow confident are we in this result?
Child self-regulation (practitioner-report)
Effect size 0.07
Child self-regulation (practitioner-report) – EYPP subsample
Effect size 0.18

EEF summary

As part of the Department for Education’s’ (DFE) Early Years Recovery Programme, the EEF worked with Stronger Practice Hubs (SPHs) across England to fund settings’ access to evidence-informed programmes and study the programme’s influence on practice and children’s outcomes. This initiative aimed to support education recovery following the pandemic, whilst also developing our understanding of effective professional development in the early years. Emotion Coaching was funded through this initiative.

Originally developed as a parenting style clinically observed in the USA, Emotion Coaching has been adapted for use in education.

A small number of studies in schools and settings in England provided some early evidence on the use of Emotion Coaching. Findings suggested that practitioners felt the approach was helpful and reported positive changes in their own practice and in children’s behaviour and emotional regulation.

To strengthen the evidence of the impact of Emotion Coaching, an efficacy trial was completed in 2025.

The evaluation found that Emotion Coaching had, on average:

  • a small positive impact on children’s self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances. (based on practitioner reports)
  • a small positive effect on pro-social behaviours (based on practitioner reports)
  • a moderate positive effect on adult’s meta-emotion philosophy (practitioners’ reactions, responses, and reasoning to emotions in themselves and others)

This result has a three-padlock rating. This means we are moderately confident that the impact was due to the programme rather than other factors.

The effects for children who were eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) were slightly larger, although these findings are less secure due to the smaller sample size for this group.

As a result of this evidence, Emotion Coaching is one of the EEF’s Promising Programmes. The EEF is discussing next steps for a potential further evaluation of Emotion Coaching through a larger effectiveness trial. This would allow us to robustly test the impact of the programme for an EYPP sub-group at scale.

Were the schools in the trial similar to my school?

Project type: Efficacy level evidenceKey Stage: Early YearsSubject: Personal, social and emotional development
  • There were 153 settings from across England involved in the trial
  • 55% of the settings were Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI), and 45% were school-based.
  • To be eligible for the trial, settings were required to have a minimum of 17 children aged 3 or older in September 2024, enrolled to attend nursery for at least 10 hours a week.
  • 20.7% children involved in the trial were entitled to Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

Could I implement this in my school?

Delivered by: Early YearsParticipant group: Whole SettingIntervention length: 7 month(s)

Between two and four practitioners from each setting attended two days of online training, followed by three two-hour online workshops over the next three months. These practitioners were expected to share their learning with colleagues and support wider adoption of Emotion Coaching across the setting, using training materials, including activity handouts and pocket guides to embed the approach in everyday interactions with children.

Overall, practitioners viewed Emotion Coaching positively and believed it could be adapted to different educational settings. Practitioner feedback suggested that implementation was strengthened by leadership support, opportunities for staff to share learning, and embedding Emotion Coaching within everyday routines and setting policies. However, implementation may be challenging if staff do not have enough time, training, or resources to use the approach consistently. Differences in children’s responsiveness, daily routines, and approaches between school and home may also affect how effectively the programme is delivered.

It’s worth noting while the evaluation found a small positive impact on children’s self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances., practitioner views on implementation and the theory of change support that the implementation window for the programme might have been too short.

Future evaluations may want to look at a longer implementation period to explore whether the practitioner level changes observed in this evaluation translate into larger, more reliably detected child outcomes over a more sustained period of implementation.

Emotion Coaching is commercially available for educators and childcare providers.

How much will it cost?

The average cost of Emotion Coaching was around £418.30 per setting and £16.70 per child per year, when averaged over three years, making it a very low-cost programme.

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