The Princess of Wales’ early childhood foundation has launched a framework aimed at improving awareness of social and emotional skills.

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood’s new framework draws on the expertise of academics, clinicians, and practitioners in human development. It aims to offer a universal and flexible way to talk about social and emotional skills, to help those working across disciplines to communicate effectively.

Christian Guy, executive director of The Centre for Early Childhood, said: “Getting this right in early childhood, when we lay the foundations upon which these skills continue to grow throughout our lives, could have a truly profound impact on the future of individuals and of our society.”

The Centre’s annual public perceptions survey found that while 94% of people believe that social and emotional skills are important to happiness in adult life, 42% report little or no understanding of how these skills develop during early childhood.

The Centre said the framework could be used to inform conversations between early years practitioners and parents about the development of these skills.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “We warmly welcome the announcement of this new framework from the Centre for Early Childhood. At a time when all too often discussions around children’s learning are focused on narrow, easy-to-measure skills – and getting children ‘ready for school’ – the Royal Foundation’s continued emphasis on broader skills and particularly, children’s social and emotional development, is incredibly welcome.”