Spring 2006

Wellbeing and connectedness

Learning to care

Education has been defined as learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together. Until now, knowing and doing have dominated. Sue Roffey reports how this is set to change.

Across the Western world, societies struggle with the fallout from crises generated by the erosion of supportive communities. Individualism, competition and the ‘more is better’ myth have taken their toll on our willingness to care for and about each other.

Healthy relationships are the key

At the ‘Values in Education’ forum held in Canberra in May this year, Professor Terry Lovat said that a focus on relational values was the missing link in effective education. He is not alone in this view. The ‘MindMatters’ initiative, the ‘Safe Schools’ and the ‘Values Education’ frameworks, and restorative practices all have relationships at their core. If we are to foster resilience and a civil society, we need to pay serious attention to how the future citizens of this ‘lucky country’ think about, feel about and interact with each other.

Schools are all about relationships—between teachers, teachers and students, students with each other, and between home and school. These are not discrete entities; they are mutually influential. Conversations in the staffroom determine how students and families are perceived; teachers who feel their efforts are acknowledged are more willing to put themselves out; students who experience a sense of belonging in their class are less likely to bully others; families who feel respected by teachers give more positive messages to their children about school.

Building a psychologically healthy community means raising awareness of what is involved in positive relationships at all levels—not just teaching social skills to vulnerable students or anger management to those who are hard to manage.

Emotional literacy in schools

An emotionally literate school acknowledges the importance of people’s feelings and gives relational values and skills high priority. This can be challenging, especially if a belief in the efficacy of punishment and the maintenance of tight control exists. Emotional literacy does, however, resonate with what most people desire—to be acknowledged and feel valued, to be empowered and have a sense of positive connection. It creates an environment where the school community feels supported in risk-taking and that encourages teamwork and cooperation.

Schools that make a conscious effort to promote the positive raise the emotional resources of the community; they increase the capacity to cope with the multiple challenges of teaching and learning. They have conversations that seek strengths and are solution focused, value all contributions and promote constructive communications. Being positive means reframing mistakes as opportunities for learning, not for putting people down. Teacher wellbeing is as important as student wellbeing

Social and emotional skills for students

Telling students what to think, or punishing them when they behave in uncaring ways, does not encourage relationship skills nor does it support the internalisation of pro-social values. You cannot make someone care. So what does work in teaching and learning about healthy relationships? Here is a brief summary of what to take into consideration.

Inclusion

Students first need to feel accepted and valued as part of the school community. If they feel marginalised or rejected, they may have little interest in establishing positive relationships with anyone. The students who are most needy are likely to be the most challenging, but also the ones most likely to benefit from someone taking a genuine interest in them. Labelling distressed young people places the need for change with them alone, which is not only unhelpful but can be actively damaging.

Teacher modelling

Learning by example is particularly salient to social and emotional skills. Those educators who go out of their way to establish positive relationships with students are better able to respond to and manage the range of emotions that students bring with them. More importantly, they model the relationship skills they want their students to develop. This is not about being soft on kids, it is about showing students that you (and they) can be strong without dominating, assertive without being aggressive; can respect others while demonstrating self-respect; listen and consult rather than tell and talk down; be approachable rather than intimidating; ask rather than demand. It is about revealing that the world does not collapse if sometimes you admit that you got it wrong!

Focus on feelings

Learning about the self and others is often left to playground interactions, which do little to reflect constructively on relationship issues. An emotional literacy curriculum, however, encourages students to better understand their emotions so that strong feelings do not overwhelm them and they respond more effectively in their interactions with others. They learn how to support each other in feeling positive, how to regulate emotion and express emotion safely. Far from being touchy-feely, these are the foundation stones of effective relationship building for individuals and communities.

Programs and pedagogical approaches

Several Values Education pilot projects have focused on relational values. These have included a peer support program in Queensland, an emotional literacy curriculum built on restorative practices in the ACT and a ‘Tribes’ project in Western Australia. A common thread is that students have been encouraged to learn about themselves and others in a supportive group setting.

One of these pedagogical approaches is ‘Circle Time’—a structured framework for interaction that is both reflective and fun. Everyone has the opportunity to participate, and it is a safe and respectful place to be. Activities for social and emotional learning are presented as games or cooperative activities. Students learn about themselves and practise different ways of thinking about and being with others.

One teacher reported, ‘When there was a put-down … everyone in the class was sort of shocked and said “we don’t talk bad … I can’t believe you said that” and they all stood up for this other girl. I didn’t have to intervene and I found that the whole positive rephrasing, not using put-downs, has rolled over into every day.’

Conclusion

The National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools includes care and compassion, respect, responsibility, understanding and inclusion. The guiding principles advise schools to apply these values consistently and to work in partnership with the whole school community. Students are encouraged to explore their own values in a safe and supportive environment. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference, to revisit the reasons we chose to work in education in the first place. We should be taking hold of it with both hands, thankful hearts and much thoughtfulness. This is the way to connection and wellbeing—and a healthier, happier future for all our children.

For more information visit:
http://wellbeingaustralia.com.au/
http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/MindMatters/
www.valueseducation.edu.au/values/
www.sueroffey.com

References

Murray, J (2004). ‘Making Sense of Resilience:A useful step on the road to creating and maintaining resilient students and school communities’, The Australian Guidance and Counselling Journal, 14(1).

Roffey, S (2005). ‘Respect in Practice: The challenge of emotional literacy in education’, available at www.aare.edu.au/05pap/rof05356.pdf

Prior M, Richardson S & Stanley F (2005). Children of the Lucky Country?: How Australian society has turned its back on children and why children matter, Pan MacMillan, Melbourne.

Weare, K (2004). Developing the Emotionally Literate School, Paul Chapman Publishing, London.

Sue Roffey is an academic, author and education consultant. She is a founder member of Wellbeing Australia.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au