“Who Are You”: development of a holistic, social-emotionally grounded curriculum framework using the Delphi technique

Introduction This study aimed to develop a consensus-based holistic curriculum framework, Who Are You (WAY), intended to support learners’ cognitive, social, and emotional development from early childhood through upper secondary education. Methods The conceptual foundation of the study was informed by holistic education perspectives, the social and emotional learning literature, CASEL’s competency framework, discussions of 21st-century skills, and the multiple intelligences perspective. A three-round Delphi design was employed. The initial item pool was generated through a multi-source process combining an extensive literature review with a needs assessment involving key educational stakeholders. In the first phase, 390 draft learning outcomes were developed across 13 themes and evaluated by an interdisciplinary expert panel recruited from the seven geographical regions of Türkiye. Results A total of 656 experts were invited, 294 consented to participate, and 214 completed the first-round survey. Panel retention remained strong across rounds, reaching 80% in the final round. Panel quality indicators supported the credibility of the consensus process: the authority coefficient remained high throughout the study (K ≈ 0.76–0.81), and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance increased across rounds (W = 0.55 to 0.83, p < 0.001). The Delphi process resulted in a final curriculum framework comprising 312 learning outcomes organized into 84 units under 13 themes, including self-awareness and self-management, empathy and social competence, well-being and resilience, critical thinking and problem solving, culture and language, nature and ecological awareness, arts and creativity, and technology/artificial intelligence literacy. Discussion The findings indicate that the WAY framework received broad interdisciplinary endorsement and may provide a useful basis for integrating social and emotional learning, future-oriented competencies, and holistic development goals into curriculum design. However, its practical applicability and educational value remain to be examined through future implementation studies.