Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning

Developing 'great learning'

scameron — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:25:42 +0100

What makes for good learning? This is a question that all people involved in education wrestle with. I am convinced that the question is too important to be buried under answers that stifle further thought and development. One of the greatest threats to learning is when we think we have hit on the one formula that will provide all the answers.

Working in partnership to support vulnerable teenagers

scameron — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:54:29 +0000

In Norfolk, we wanted to develop an all-inclusive project to integrate marginalised young people into the mainstream by bring together communities of vulnerable students from Norfolk pupil referral units and special schools to work with peers from a mainstream school and personnel from the University of East Anglia.

Finding the time: the challenge of CPD in SEAL

scameron — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:08:55 +0000

The adoption of a whole-school approach to developing social and emotional learning (such as the SEAL programme) has major implications for schools and the professional development of the adults who work within them. For the first time, all teachers within a school (not just ‘specialists') are being expected to deliver some form of SEAL curriculum.

Why SEAL lies at the heart of learning

scameron — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:31:16 +0100

As I write this, among other things, the new primary curriculum is suspended and the whole skill-versus-content debate is set to open wide again. Yet despite, or perhaps because of, the uncertainty that the future holds, now more than ever schools must hold fast to their moral compass and ensure that regardless of legislation and government diktat they steer a course that provides the best that education has to offer.

Inclusion Development Programme

scameron — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:18:58 +0100

The Inclusion Development Programme (IDP) is a government-funded initiative that has been developed in partnership with voluntary bodies, leading academics in the related fields and the National Strategies. It is a professional development tool, designed to support schools in meeting pupils' special educational needs (SEN), and is available online and as a DVD. The programme was developed in three phases.

Developing social and emotional skills in early years

scameron — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:52:09 +0100

The development and roll out of the SEAL curriculum and its approaches (DCSF) is currently ongoing across all key stages. An overall awareness of the importance of developing these skills has been raised significantly in recent years. It now appears to be more commonly accepted that basic social skills and the development of an emotional vocabulary are essential to children, and are best instilled early on. Young children need these skills if they are to develop appropriately and function effectively within both the social and learning contexts.

Using motivational interviewing techniques to promote behaviour change

scameron — Fri, 21 May 2010 10:58:17 +0100

Motivational interviewing (MI) was originally developed by Miller & Rollnick (1991, 2002). It was defined as a person-centred directive method for enhancing an intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence. The central premise of the motivational interviewing approach is that people aren’t always ready to change their behaviours, so it abandons any presumption or assumption that people actually want to. Behaviour change then becomes reliant purely upon the individual’s motivation.

Creating support systems to promote staff well-being

scameron — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:20:23 +0100

During recent years, schools have rightly focused upon the development of social and emotional aspects of learning, and as a result there has been a significant increase in the focus on pupil well-being. When quoting from the Office of National Statistics (2000), Young Minds, a charity committed to improving young people’s mental health and well-being, noted that more than 10% of 5-15 year olds are affected by mental health problems.

Helping students to manage stress

scameron — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:39:39 +0100

The word is subjective in the sense that it is person specific, similarly to words such as happiness, failure or success. Regardless, experiencing tensional stress is a normal part of everyday life for everyone. It is when young people experience too much stress that they become anxious, exhausted and tired and unable to function appropriately, both in the learning and social context.

Developing approaches to manage self-harming behaviours

scameron — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:26:32 +0000

What is self-harm?

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The key to motivating students

scameron — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:22:26 +0000

Much has been written on the topic of motivation and there are many publications which purport to offer full-proof strategies for teachers and those engaged in the learning process. It can be argued, however, that making use of a series of top tips or gimmicks in order to motivate young people is rather simplistic and not always appropriate. For example, we need to carefully consider our use of praise and whether or not individual students genuinely respond to the kind of praise that we tend to offer to them − some individuals are simply not motivated by this.
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Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT): helping students solve their own emotional problems

scameron — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:37:29 +0000

This technique requires individuals to actively explore their current resources, as well as future hopes and aspirations, as opposed to focusing on present problems and their historical causes. It was originally developed at the Brief Family Therapy Centre in Milwaukie by Steve de Shazer and his team in the early 1980s, originating in a focus on the inconsistencies to be found in problem behaviour. The strategies are extremely useful when used with young people, in terms of developing their sense of personal agency and responsibility.
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Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to promote SEAL

scameron — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:50:38 +0000

In this second e-bulletin, Tina Rae considers the use of cognitive behavioural therapy approaches for staff and students in educational contexts, considering how a positive change can be bought about by identifying and replacing dysfunctional, inaccurate or unhelpful thoughts, emotions and behaviours with more realistic positive and useful ones.
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Building self esteem in students

scameron — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:51:27 +0000

Welcome to your new fortnightly e-bulletin from Social and Emotional Learning Update at Optimus Education. With the development of a wide range of well-being initiatives currently being implemented in schools, it is hoped that this e-bulletin will provide busy teachers with practical ideas, resources and strategies for supporting students across all key stages.
Topics to be covered during the coming months include the following:
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Primary Assemblies for the Global Dimension

rtillbrook — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:36:42 +0100

Published June 2009

Primary Assemblies for the Global Dimension is a brand new publication of 40 assemblies that draw out the emotional, moral and spiritual aspects of the stories they tell.
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Strengthening transition and transfer between schools with classroom dialogue

scameron — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:58:43 +0100

In December 2006, Gateshead was invited to join a National Strategies funded pilot focusing on transfer and transitions. The purpose of the project was to strengthen transfer and transition both within and between schools with a particular focus on continuity of learning. It had four aims: to raise standards; promote effective and personalised teaching and learning; support schools in removing barriers to achievement; develop the capacity of school leaders to improve schools.
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How to teach boys through play

scameron — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:11:09 +0100

Having taught largely in Key Stage 2 during my teaching career, I decided to try my hand with younger children for three very clear reasons. Firstly, in working with many schools and individual teachers around the country, I had come to realise that where the really important, ground- breaking stuff is going on in education at the moment, is in the early years. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there is a revolution going on in the world of birth to five.
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Gender differences in school: implications for education

scameron — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:40:48 +0100

We live in a world rich in data – possibly too rich! The statistics from the Foundation Stage Profile Results for England for 2007-08 show that girls continue to outperform boys in all 13 assessment scales. The gap is particularly wide in the following areas:
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Emotional literacy in teenage boys: raising achievement

scameron — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:05:16 +0100

We developed a programme called Boys’ World for a group of boys in a pupil referral unit (PRU). Its aim was to ensure that boys had access to experiences that encouraged them to develop the skills of emotional literacy within a solution-focused forum, which rejects the notion of compulsive competition.
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Raising boys' achievement: starting at early years

scameron — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:42:49 +0100

Last year, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) published Confident, Capable and Creative: Supporting Boys’ Achievements. Targeted at practitioners in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the booklet states that ‘the qualities and skills that are most valued by schools, the ability to communicate orally and represent ideas on paper, are often the very aspects of learning that boys find most difficult.’ Of course, not all girls are ‘compliant and passive recipients of new skills and knowledge’, to quote the booklet.
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Early Years PiP Cards: 3.2 Supporting every child

scameron — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:54:45 +0100

Theme: Enabling environments
‘The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.’
Commitment 3.2 Supporting Every Child
‘The environment supports every child’s learning through planned experiences and activities that are challenging but achievable.’
Areas of knowledge covered:
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Developing life skills using inside and outside environments

scameron — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:04:16 +0100

Why focus on life skills and the environment?
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Secondary Assembly: If I were a rich man

jlee — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:58:48 +0100

Resources
Two readers; a copy of The Sunday Times Rich List 2009 (published 26 April 2009) might be useful but is not essential.
Key Stage
This assembly is suitable for use with Key Stages 3, 4 and 5, adapting as appropriate
Engagement
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Primary Assembly: Katrina and the Queen

jlee — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:35:01 +0100

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Developing pupils' social skills to improve behaviour

scameron — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:40:47 +0100

By way of an introduction to this article, have a go at filling in the boxes in the two tables below. In Table 1, put in four words or phrases that you feel describe how you behave in the four differing situations. In Table 2, write in the four words or phrases that you feel a colleague or friend would use to describe your behaviour in the same situations.
Table 1 (How you would describe your own behaviour – four descriptors for each situation)
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How to develop independent student learning

scameron — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:07:41 +0100

William Parker School is an 11 to 16 comprehensive school in Daventry, Northamptonshire. In its first year as a specialist humanities college, priorities were established to develop opportunities for both students and staff that would impact on learning across the whole school. The specialism would support a sustainable improvement in achievement for all students. As Daventry, and its local area, is changing rapidly we were particularly aware of the need to develop our students’ personal learning and thinking skills.
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Motivate pupils for better behaviour

scameron — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:45:22 +0000

Feedback from pupils regarding what motivates them in the classroom reveals an interesting range of issues. While some of the motivators will certainly have a positive effect on pupil behaviour, there are several more worrying influences that clearly link innappropriate or unacceptable behaviour to negative motivation.
A Pure Dictionary definition of ‘motivation’ describes it as:
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Tips for pupils on how to manage their feelings

scameron — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:58:55 +0000

It can be easy to become angry; it is a normal human emotion. Many pupils (and staff) are all too familiar with the early warning signs of such an emotion. Recognising both the physical and emotional clues that denote strong feelings is clearly an important stage in being able to appropriately manage those feelings. But to be angry for the right reasons, with the right person, at the right time and in an appropriate manner, is much more difficult.
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Linking self-awareness to improved behaviour

scameron — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:14:43 +0000

Developing self-awareness is an aid to enabling young people to further their understanding of themselves. Understanding how they learn, and that feelings, thoughts and emotions have an impact on their behaviour, is central to being able to set realistic goals.
It is vitally important to also include the self-awareness of adults working in the teaching and learning environments. Being aware of triggers and early warning signs is an essential component of being able to subsequently manage those feelings and emotions appropriately.
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Social and Emotional Learning Update

cgoonewardene — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:00:15 +0000

Published 10 times a year, this newsletter brings you the latest news, policy updates, innovative accounts of practice as well as guidance from the UK’s leading experts in social and emotional learning. With an emphasis on how to turn theory and policy into practice in the local authority, school or setting, Social and Emotional Learning Update is a truly valuable resource.
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Using PE to boost cross curricular skills

scameron — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:11:46 +0000

CASE STUDY Combs Ford Primary School, Stowmarket, Suffolk

A Suffolk primary used the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s PE and School Sport (PESS) initiative to rejuvenate the entire school and boost the skills and independence of pupils with special educational needs.

Overview
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Creative and Philosophical Thinking in Primary Schools

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:19:26 +0000

Written by Marie Huxtable, Rosalind Hurford & Joy Mounter

We are taken directly into educational relationships with children and the creative responses of the teachers to their pupils’ needs. The authors’ insights into these responses are used creatively and with philosophical reflection to support the thinking of pupils.

The systematic approach known as Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC) is used, which involves the individual asking:
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A qualification for life skills development

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Marius Frank, Headteacher, Bedminster Down School, Bristol

School context

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Using ASDAN to reward PSHE

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:47:36 +0000

As the new curriculum gives back more control to schools on how to design the teaching and learning they provide their students, a framework that first came into being more than one-quarter of a century ago is back in ascendancy. More and more schools are incorporating ASDAN courses into their curriculum because they offer the chance to validate learning that other qualifications might not reach.
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SEAL: focusing on internal validation

scameron — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:33:25 +0000

I did some supervision recently to look back over the last two terms in my new roles. Because I work one day a week as SEAL coordinator for Shropshire: another day in school on SEAL and yet another training on SEAL, I have three different bosses. I was bemoaning how this meant that no one saw the totality of what I do so that they could really say, ‘Well done.’ So my supervisor asked what I liked about my work.
‘Well, I have pretty much complete autonomy and freedom.’
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Being aware of insecurity and social anxiety

scameron — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:10:31 +0000

When we are with other people, it’s quite common to think about how we are coming across to them. And when we really want to make a good impression on others – at a job interview, or on a date, for example – this can become a real worry. We often try to control how we look, what we say, and what we do in order to make desired impressions on others.
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Focusing on relationships in schools

scameron — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:16:11 +0000

If schools are to tackle educational inequality and raise levels of achievement, they need to be re-designed with a focus around relationships, according to a paper written by policy adviser Charles Leadbeater for The Innovation Unit at the DCSF.

‘Children learn,’ he says, ‘when they have the right relationships. Those relationships make them feel cared for; give them recognition for who they are, where they come from and what they have achieved; motivate them to learn; engage them to be participants in learning.’
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Bridging the gap between school and home

scameron — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28:46 +0000

Back in 2001 when we were reviewing areas of behavioural need across Sunderland, there were two questions we asked ourselves:

how do you connect the professional background of the school with the home?

how do you introduce a consistent approach to behaviour management across a whole school, and mirror this within the home?

We ended up choosing the Family Links School and Nurturing Programme to help us meet these challenges. This reflected our desire to:
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Shaping an emotionally literate school environment

scameron — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:50:57 +0000

Caldecote Community Primary School was formed in September 2001 from the amalgamation of an infant and a junior school in a predominantly white area of Leicester with high rates of crime and drug use.

Among the challenges we faced were:
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Improving social skills using sport

scameron — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:11:04 +0000

The Bexley School Sports Partnership (SSP) was set up in 2002 with the initial aim of reaching and exceeding the national target of young people taking part in two hours of PE and sport a week. Over time, the remit and focus of the partnership has changed, as we have come to use sport as a tool for making fundamental changes to young people’s lives.
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Peer Support in the Primary Playground

scameron — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:51:53 +0000

This comprehensive training pack for teachers and teaching assistants includes information for staff and parents/carers. Copiable training materials and resources will help you to successfully introduce the concept of peer support and ensure successful implementation of the programme in your school.
Peer Support in the Primary Playground will help you to:
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Positive Thinking: Celebrating success and achievement

scameron — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:02:00 +0000

This positive thinking activity invites students to explore the meaning of success and why it might be important to develop a broad and realistic view of success so that their achievements aren’t left unacknowledged.
Additionally, this activity is intended to help pupils recognise that, by acknowledging daily successes, they are creating a resource to draw on as well as a foundation for building confidence

Positive Thinking

scameron — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:10:13 +0000

Written by Tony Pryce
Positive Thinking: Exercises and activities for mental and emotional development is an exciting resource brought to you by Teach to Inspire that is designed to prepare young people to positively take up challenges that lie ahead of them.
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SEAL: teaching adults as well as children

scameron — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:49:40 +0000

My four-and-three-quarter-year-old, Matty, sometimes says to me: ‘I’m the oldest, I know!’ No matter how often I explain that, although he might be older than his walking-already-brother he isn’t older than me, he just doesn’t believe it.
One day, as I was walking along the Welsh lanes with my 10-month-old Ben, in between thunderstorms and sun shine, watching the lambs nuzzle their mothers for milk, I realised that, in one way at least, he might be right.
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The Life Project: developing resourcefulness

scameron — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:35:32 +0000

At the Life Project, we use a range of facilitated exploration techniques to give young people a strong understanding of themselves, their operating systems, their aspirations and the tools to make decision, set goals and plans that suit who they are and what they want to achieve. These methods are suitable for children aged 10 and over. They are also useful in work with adults.
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Promoting students' happiness

scameron — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:35:47 +0000

Research shows that we can promote happiness by:

training ourselves to see the best in people and situations

learning to deal positively with adversity

retaining a sense of balance whatever the circumstances.

This means that there is considerable potential for teaching children how to actively pursue happiness.

Curriculum
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Remembering child protection with older young people

scameron — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:30:59 +0000

Newcastle’s Safeguarding Children Board has recently published a serious case review in respect of a 16-year-old girl. To review the death of a young person of this age is an unusual step and this particular review highlights some of the dilemmas faced by professionals in respect of teenagers who are not quite old enough to be of concern to adult services. Child protection law defines a child as a person up to the age of 18 but there seems to be increasing difficulty in recognising the teenager as in need of child protection.
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Linking personal and social development to curriculum aims

scameron — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:42:17 +0000

Education minister Lord Adonis has said that personal, social and health education is ‘key to the effectiveness of schools in meeting all the national outcomes for children, and that ‘without effective PSHE, a school’s ability to demonstrate how they are contributing to the Every Child matters agenda, addressing pupil well-being and supporting personal development is compromised’.

Developmental process
Personal and social education is a developmental process that includes:
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Raise pupils' awareness of children's rights

scameron — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:17:39 +0000

What is ECPAT UK?
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Student happiness resource: what works well for them?

scameron — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:01:39 +0000

It invites students to assess what works well for them in school by beginning a Happiness Log with a Happiness Diary and a number of activities, and includes templates that are ready to print out and use.
Written by Ruth MacConville