Training teachers to target and develop social skills as an academic enabler
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Author(s)
Davies, Michael
Cooper, Greta
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
Metadata
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Social and emotional competence benefits all children. Social skills and social emotional learning (SEL) are fundamental to children's mental health, academic learning and motivation to cooperate and achieve. Along with problem behaviours and school attendance, social skills are significant predictors of school performance. A strong evidence base is developing which promotes the inclusion of SEL into the whole school curriculum. However, school wide intervention programs need to be both effective and sustainable if these programs are to fit into the current busy curriculum. Low Socio-economic Status (SES) schools that are ...
View more >Social and emotional competence benefits all children. Social skills and social emotional learning (SEL) are fundamental to children's mental health, academic learning and motivation to cooperate and achieve. Along with problem behaviours and school attendance, social skills are significant predictors of school performance. A strong evidence base is developing which promotes the inclusion of SEL into the whole school curriculum. However, school wide intervention programs need to be both effective and sustainable if these programs are to fit into the current busy curriculum. Low Socio-economic Status (SES) schools that are more likely to have students with low levels of SEL provide more of a challenge. This chapter outlines preliminary information on the comprehensive and longitudinal (4 year) implementation of a proactive SEL intervention with all students in Preparatory to Year 3 in a low SES school setting in Australia. While the social skills improvement system (SSIS, Elliott & Gresham, 2007) has recently been applied in Australian schools (Kettler, Elliott, Davies, & Griffin, 2011), this chapter provides insights into the applicability of the SSIS in this challenging setting. It outlines the use of the SSiS Screening tool for all students and the use of a Rating Scale (Gresham & Elliott, 2008) for students with low Prosocial behaviours to identify social skills for targeting and delivery of social skill training to the whole class, rather than intervention on an individual basis. The chapter then raises the importance of teachers as social skills trainers, particularly in early year classrooms, and teachers' perception of this role in this one setting. Teachers' reflections on the SSiS as an intervention program in this setting are also provided. Teachers' experiences in this project also provide an indication of the efficacy of the model of training classroom teachers through professional development in the school setting to deliver social skills training to their students with support from school psychologists and the whole school system. Considerations regarding the school based training model compared with undergraduate and postgraduate University based training are then provided.
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View more >Social and emotional competence benefits all children. Social skills and social emotional learning (SEL) are fundamental to children's mental health, academic learning and motivation to cooperate and achieve. Along with problem behaviours and school attendance, social skills are significant predictors of school performance. A strong evidence base is developing which promotes the inclusion of SEL into the whole school curriculum. However, school wide intervention programs need to be both effective and sustainable if these programs are to fit into the current busy curriculum. Low Socio-economic Status (SES) schools that are more likely to have students with low levels of SEL provide more of a challenge. This chapter outlines preliminary information on the comprehensive and longitudinal (4 year) implementation of a proactive SEL intervention with all students in Preparatory to Year 3 in a low SES school setting in Australia. While the social skills improvement system (SSIS, Elliott & Gresham, 2007) has recently been applied in Australian schools (Kettler, Elliott, Davies, & Griffin, 2011), this chapter provides insights into the applicability of the SSIS in this challenging setting. It outlines the use of the SSiS Screening tool for all students and the use of a Rating Scale (Gresham & Elliott, 2008) for students with low Prosocial behaviours to identify social skills for targeting and delivery of social skill training to the whole class, rather than intervention on an individual basis. The chapter then raises the importance of teachers as social skills trainers, particularly in early year classrooms, and teachers' perception of this role in this one setting. Teachers' reflections on the SSiS as an intervention program in this setting are also provided. Teachers' experiences in this project also provide an indication of the efficacy of the model of training classroom teachers through professional development in the school setting to deliver social skills training to their students with support from school psychologists and the whole school system. Considerations regarding the school based training model compared with undergraduate and postgraduate University based training are then provided.
View less >
Book Title
Teaching Innovations Supporting Student Outcomes in the 21st Century
Copyright Statement
© 2013 Oxford Global Press. The attached fine is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the publisher’s website for further information.
Subject
Special Education and Disability