Fostering emotional intelligence and self-regulation in gifted high school students: experimental evidence from a soft skills development program

Mukhametkairov A. Matayev B. Kalimova A. Utegenova M. Ibraimova L.
2026 Frontiers Media SA

Frontiers in Education
2026 #10

Introduction: Gifted adolescents often receive extensive cognitive enrichment, while their emotional and self-regulatory development remains underrepresented in school programs. This study examined whether socio-emotional and self-regulatory skills can be effectively developed through a structured soft skills intervention for gifted high school students. Methods: A seven-week soft skills program was implemented with 96 gifted students aged 15–16 in Kazakhstan. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 48), which engaged in reflection, empathy, and time-management activities, and a control group (n = 48), which continued regular instruction. Emotional intelligence, self-regulation, motivation, and communication skills were assessed using validated psychometric scales and expert observations (Cronbach’s α = 0.80–0.91). Data were analyzed using t-tests and ANCOVA. Results: The experimental group demonstrated statistically significant improvements compared to the control group (p < 0.001), particularly in emotional intelligence and self-regulation, with large effect sizes (η² = 0.59–0.68). Expert evaluations also indicated increased emotional awareness, communication competence, and leadership behaviors among participants of the intervention. Discussion/conclusion: The findings indicate that socio-emotional and self-regulatory competencies in gifted adolescents can be effectively enhanced through structured experiential learning. The proposed program offers a practical and scalable framework for integrating soft skills training into secondary education curricula for gifted learners. Copyright

educational intervention , emotional intelligence , empathy , gifted adolescents , reflective pedagogy , self-regulation , socio-emotional learning , soft skills development

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Higher School of Pedagogy, Educational Program ‘Pedagogy and Psychology’, Pavlodar Pedagogical University named after Alkey Margulan, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan
Higher School of Pedagogy, Educational Program ‘Pedagogy and Methodology of Primary Education’, Pavlodar Pedagogical University named after Alkey Margulan, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan
Department of Theory and Methodology of Kazakh Linguistics, Kazakh National Women’s Teacher Training University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Higher School of Pedagogy
Higher School of Pedagogy
Department of Theory and Methodology of Kazakh Linguistics

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