EMOTIONAL LITERACY

The rot had been setting in for some time, but I remember the exact moment when the last vestige of my faith in current, conventional educational wisdom withered and died. I was gathered with my fellow teachers for a pre-Ofsted pep talk by an official visitor. “Don’t tell them you are a nice, cosy school with warm relationships,” he intoned sagely, “They will not be interested. They are concerned only with standards.” Still I retained a glimmer of hope – standards of happiness, of personal fulfilment, of having a sense of belonging, of being valued and cared for, perhaps? The response was as predictable as it was depressing. Fortunately, I worked in a school whose leadership was enlightened and humane enough not to take much notice of this kind of thing, but I was well aware that others, students and staff alike, suffered increasingly as a result of this attitude.

I – and many others with whom I speak these days – feel that the recent approach to education, even if well intentioned, is fundamentally misguided. I would even go so far as to suggest that the 1980s-style business ethic-led strategy epitomised by the “relentless driving-up of standards” and characterised by lifeless, formulaic examination training that passes for teaching, combined with a type of competitive workaholism, is actually immoral in terms of the impact it has had on students and staff.

The stress-inducing climate of recent years was intended to raise examination grades. However, it is my contention that not only has the cost of following this path has been unacceptably high in terms of ill-health, both physical and mental, and an increasing dislocation/alienation of sections of our student population, it has often resulted in progress that is only superficial. Grades appear to have been driven up, but what exactly does that mean, and how much of real substance has been gained?

I am surer of what is being lost. Schools exist in a system that increasingly encourages them to operate in a manner that has less to do with the genuine interests of the people who make up that community, and more to do with the self interest of the school as a competitive institution. The agenda is led by the need to be seen to be performing within a set of statistical measures, such as league tables, and those who question the validity and efficacy of such measures are vilified as anti-modernist, anti-change “dinosaurs”.

All aspects of modern education seem to be driven by targets, but rather than being helpful aids to achieve ambitions, these can become ends in themselves to the extent that the original aim becomes clouded, or even lost altogether. I recently came across “Goodhart’s Law”. This states that, “All performance indicators lose their meaning when adopted as policy targets. The clearer you are about what you want, the more likely you are to get it, but the less likely it is to mean anything”.

We seem to have lost contact with a philosophy of education. We want to raise standards, but standards of what exactly, and for what reasons? What constitutes a good education? Is education merely the preparation and training of an economically competitive workforce? Do we have a vision of the kind of young adults we desire our young people to become – and is it a shared vision? Do we seek to promote wisdom, physical/spiritual/moral health and the creation of a more harmonious society, or do we just want to count how many GCSEs have been achieved at grade C or higher?

Imagine my delight, therefore, when I discovered the emotional literacy emphasis in Southampton, initiated through the work of the Psychology Service. At last, here was an example of more than lip service being paid to the importance of a holistic, person-centred approach to education. I believe that emotional literacy provides a conceptual framework and vocabulary to formalise that which so many who are involved in the education process already know intuitively: fundamentally our job is to help young people to explore who they are and to learn about others; to understand, express and manage their own emotions, and to understand the emotions of others, responding to others in ways that are mutually beneficial. Through this discovery, they can be empowered to make constructive use of their talents, work to achieve their potential and contribute to the good of the community.

For those who may be in a panic because I have not mentioned exams or grades, let me stress that this is not because I consider these to be unimportant. It is precisely because they do matter that I would advocate the principles of emotional literacy as the pre-requisite to a substantial and meaningful “raising of standards”. Schools must concern themselves with the emotional well-being of students and staff because they are central to effective teaching and learning. As Katherine Weare put it in her book Developing the Emotionally Literate School, “You cannot, in fact, raise standards very far unless you concern yourself with the feelings, wants and needs of the people you are so rigorously testing, especially if those people are no longer inclined to want what the schools are offering.”

Let me offer an example. Through the kind organisation of Colin Woodcock, I have recently visited two Primary schools in Southampton to view the work of ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants), pioneered in the area. Redbridge Primary is a small school with a warm, family atmosphere. The school faces challenging circumstances, with an unusually high proportion of special needs pupils and associated social and behavioural problems.

In 2003, under the guidance of Colin Woodcock, the school successfully made a bid to the Standards Fund for the development of the “Blue Room”. This is a small room converted for the exclusive use of an ELSA – an emotional literacy support assistant. From the outset it was intended that this work would be proactive and not simply a reaction to troubling behaviour. The bid stated, “Work to be proactive – children have timetabled sessions in the inclusion room, working with ELSA on emotional literacy work, including development of positive self-esteem and teaching calming techniques. Children who misbehave are NOT to be sent to this room; it will not be a reward.”

The role of the ELSA includes individual work with sessions of 30-60 minutes, group work with three or four children and in-class support for those individuals and groups. Most activity takes place in KS2, but recent work has been done with individuals in Year 1 to support identified individuals. This has been considered successful and will continue.

Children are ‘referred’ for ELSA work generally by concerned teachers to either the Head Teacher or the ELSA, but there have been examples of parents raising concerns that have ended up in ELSA work, and even a few cases of self-referral when a child has asked for help. There is always a waiting list for ELSA work in the school.

Once a case is taken on parents are contacted, and both parents and teachers are asked to complete nferNelson Emotional Literacy Checklists (KS2 only). The child completes the pupil version too. This information usually dictates a focus e.g. anger management. All ELSA work is timetabled on a weekly basis and currently is limited to fifteen children.

Types of interventions include individual work such as self-assessed behaviour targets and a “Feelings Diary”, group work such as supported peer group discussion and emotional literacy board games, and in-class support.

The ELSA and Head Teacher meet on a half-termly basis to formulate and review targets for children currently receiving, or due to receive, ELSA intervention. There is no fixed period for the duration of an intervention, but the minimum time is usually half a term. Decisions are made as to whether ELSA input needs to be continued, modified or ceased (either temporarily or for the immediate future) based on the progress made both in the Blue Room and in the classroom and playground. There is a post-intervention repetition of the initial emotional literacy assessment.

The school ELSA attended a four-day training course run by the Psychology Service. This was supported by child protection training as well as a four-day course on autism.

The school has invested in games and other emotional literacy resources from its general budget.

All teaching and non-teaching staff are fully aware of the role and function of ELSA work. Governors receive an annual report on the project. Transition to secondary school has tended to mark an end to this specific work, but there is an intention for the ELSA to follow up children in year 7 and it is hoped that this will lead to better liaison between primary and secondary schools and, perhaps, the growth of new initiatives in the secondary phase.

The head teacher has been very impressed by the results of implementing ELSA work. Since its inception there have been no exclusions and its proactive nature means that the withdrawn and troubled child is as likely to receive help and support as the anti-social, badly behaved child. Attendance at the school has improved, there have been fewer incidents of serious bad behaviour and academic results have risen. Despite the school’s small budget, the investment in the ELSA and her work is considered money well spent.

Bassett Green is a school of 300 in an area with some particular social difficulties. The school has experienced difficulties and has had three different heads in three years. The introduction of the ELSA system, according to the head, has been at the heart of the revival, and the principles and methodology employed form the very core of the school as an institution. This school has experienced similar benefits to Redbridge in terms of hugely reduced exclusions, improved attendance and rising standards of achievement.

The basic system follows the same pattern as Redbridge. Here there is a well-equipped “Oasis Room” which serves the same function as the Blue Room, although on a slightly larger scale, catering for groups of six. A proactive approach is adopted towards use of the room, with one or two exceptions. Here all children new to the school have an automatic short period of inclusion, but there is no form of self-referral as it is felt that this could lead to abuse of the facility and children simply opting out of any challenging situation.

Most distinctive, however, is the use of “hub groups”. These are weekly sessions for every adult in the school, in groups of six, to explore and enhance emotional literacy skills. Despite some initial wariness many staff members, including canteen and caretaking staff, now report these sessions of being of great personal value. They also play the crucial role of allowing teachers to experience methods and practices first hand and directly experience the benefits. These people are then far more motivated to employ such techniques in the classroom and, moreover, employ them with greater enthusiasm and skill. In this way they are not being asked to adopt someone else’s idea or initiative – there is a real sense of ownership. The result is a far more whole-school and holistic approach.

This school is also distinctive in its use of music to set mood and assist atmosphere building, both with children and in the hub groups.

The ELSA system has proved to be so popular and successful in Southampton that the network has had to be divided into East and West groups. It is clear to me that this project is already inspiring a high level of commitment from head teachers convinced of the benefits it will bring to their schools, partly by providing an effective approach to dealing with particular “cause for concern” children (especially boys), but also by offering something of real benefit to all members of a school community, and an effective means of raising achievement.

I found these visits heart-warming, inspirational and reaffirming of my beliefs in education as a holistic, person-centred process. Those who bandy terms like “woolly”, “pink” and “leftist”, would do well to visit such schools to experience first-hand not only the great warmth of the relationships that exist, but also the positive impact that has led to higher attainment, reduced exclusions and improved attendance.

I am pleased to say that in my own area of Medway we are in the process of creating our own affiliated emotional literacy interest group. The project has arisen from a tailored strand within an excellence cluster and currently has a core of four schools, two secondary and two junior, and LEA support staff. We hope in due course to involve all interested parties – pupils, staff, parents, governors, the local authority and the wider community. An initial report was written in response to the perceived underachievement of boys. This report explored the background and current thinking on this issue and put forward the case for emotional literacy as a key strategy both in tackling this, and for the wider benefits that would follow.

We have taken the view that how such a project is advanced is just as important as the core message. Therefore, although the intention is to aim for emotional literacy to be embedded in a school, by means of an holistic and person-centred approach, we will try to achieve this through a series of developmental and consensual stages. If we have faith in the process then we can start in smaller ways, with people who are committed and enthusiastic, and so be confident that others will be drawn in as they see the positive potential. Staff can understandably be quite cynical about the “latest educational initiatives” to be issued from “command and control centres”, adopting either a suspicious or even negative attitude from the outset, or, worse still, acknowledging them politely and then ignoring them until they settle back into the dust like so many other previous initiatives. We are therefore starting with representative individuals or individual departments, identifying existing good practice, and exploring and co-ordinating ways in which emotional literacy can become more explicit aspects of the schools. It is a specific intention to explore cross-phase work and create stronger links between the primary and secondary stages. In this way, good practice can be built upon and the transition process made smoother and more comfortable.

A second key factor is to nurture the emotional well-being of the staff. It would be the height of hypocrisy to proclaim the virtue of certain approaches with pupils, and then ignore those same virtues when dealing with staff. The behaviour and attitudes of adults in a school will have a crucial influence on how pupils learn emotional and social competences, and staff are deserving of support in their often stressful work. The National Healthy School Scheme may well provide a vehicle for active work on staff well-being.

With the support of the head teachers, the leader of the excellence cluster, and other LEA staff, we are holding an inaugural day conference at the end of January. Apart from general introductory work, we hope to share some existing good practice, explore future training needs for the interest group, and consider some specific areas such as anger management, structured classroom discussion, the ELSA system, relaxation techniques, peer mediation and mentoring, sports orientated frameworks for homework clubs – all with a whole school community perspective.

I believe that a narrow view of education that focuses on the head, and pays too little attention to the heart, does a disservice to us all. High IQ or SATs does not automatically mean success in life in any real sense, yet increasingly we have been making the notion of success, and therefore happiness and personal satisfaction, contingent upon good performance in exams which measure and value only a limited type of intelligence. Instead of teachers being encouraged to look at children as individuals, identifying their natural competences and gifts and cultivating them, they are instead encouraged to see how best to make the child fit the exam (even at the expense of real understanding of the material being examined). We might improve grades, but are our children better educated? The simplistic idea of “driving up of standards” may not give due consideration to the conditions and environment required for people to perform happily and, therefore, more effectively. There is a better way. Let’s hope we have the courage and confidence to take up that challenge.

Bob Duffy January 2006 DuffyRob@aol.com