Across North America concerns have been raised about the social, emotional, and mental health of our youth. Many primary prevention programs have been proposed to address these issues, however, few have met the criteria for effective interventions, including being longitudinal, cross-curricular, emphasizing specific concepts and skills, and being within the skills and understandings of teachers and the school system at large (McCombs, 2004). The Respecting Diversity (RD) program is a social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention designed by teachers that uses a Multiple Intelligences (MI) framework to develop self-awareness, self-respect and respect for diverse others. It teaches skills such as goal setting, meta-cognition, and perspective taking that underlie SEL. The program is designed to develop, a safe, positive classroom climate to begin the school year, and facilitate social and academic learning. The study herein was intended to explore emotional and behavioral outcomes of the RD program. The study involved 218 intermediate (grades 4-7) students and their teachers, divided into intervention and control groups. Students were assessed pre and post intervention for the development of self-awareness, self-respect, awareness of others, and respect for others. Measures of classroom climate were also included. Students completed several measures of SEL, and a selected sample were interviewed to obtain detailed information about their experiences in inclusive diverse classrooms, and with the RD program itself. Data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including thematic content analysis procedures and repeated measures MANCOVA’s. Both students and teachers indicated that the RD program significantly increased students’ self-respect, awareness of others, and respect for others, while students in control classrooms decreased in these factors. Classroom climate also significantly improved for treatment classrooms, and, similarly, decreased in control classrooms. Results are discussed in terms of their educational implications, limitations, and suggestions for further research. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The transition from primary to secondary school is considered to be a challenging process for all pupils, but particularly difficult for those with social and emotional difficulties. Nurture groups aim to develop social and emotional skills and are seen to correspond closely with the recommendations made in transition literature. It is therefore proposed that nurture provision could be an effective means of supporting socially and emotionally vulnerable pupils in the transition. Previous literature adds support to this view, but no study as yet has focused specifically upon this topic. A small-scale case study design was used to explore the ways in which one secondary school applied nurture principles to support vulnerable pupils through the transition process. The research followed an embedded, single case design incorporating contextual and interview data regarding the school's nurture provision. Contextual information was gathered through the research diary and analysed in relation to the identified propositions. In addition, four illustrative case examples surveyed the views of the nurture facilitator and three pupils who received different levels of nurture support: these interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. An integrated case description combines the findings from all data sources and offers a coherent account of the provision.The findings support the proposition that nurture provision can be an effective means of supporting socially and emotionally vulnerable pupils in the transition to secondary school. In line with nurture literature, the findings suggest that secondary schools need to adapt the primary nurture model to ensure provision meets the needs of their setting and cohort. While this promotes flexibility, secondary schools still need to adhere to a number of core principles to ensure they are delivering a true nurturing approach. A tentative model is presented, which proposes that secondary school nurture provision should aim to support social and emotional development through a range of provision that is firmly grounded in psychological theory. Provision should adhere closely to the six nurture principles, with effective identification of needs informing a personalised approach that is tailored to each individual pupil. The importance of relationships for learning and development is emphasised. The thesis concludes by suggesting that nurture provision can be an effective means of supporting socially and emotionally vulnerable pupils in the transition to secondary school, providing a number of core elements are in place.

The aim of this study is to investigate work on social and emotional learning in the everyday practice of 221 educators working in preschools and schools. With using a mixed method both quantitative and qualitative information was gathered. In the introduction and background, the state of knowledge is problematized, SEL is defined, previous research reports and the education in SEL is described. The literature review describes SEL in relation to educators, children/pupils and children with special needs. An expansive learning approach permeates the performance analysis. The study's results are largely in line with previous research in the field of SEL and shows correlations between educators and child/pupils social and emotional skills and relational competence. The educators describe that they perceive children's behavior in a different way, had better understanding themselves, gained a common understanding and a common language, and become better at working inclusively and making adjustments based on the children’s/pupils needs. The educators felt that the children/pupils managed routine situations better based on the environment's expectations. The children/pupils were also perceived to have developed a better self-esteem and self-confidence based on the fact that they more often succeeded in interacting with others and that they were seen and confirmed based on their needs. The thesis concludes with suggestions for further research and hopes. / Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur pedagogerna upplever att en kompetensutveckling i socialt och emotionellt lärande - SEL påverkar deras vardagsnära praktik och barnen/eleverna. 221 pedagoger verksamma inom förskola och skola deltar i studien. Med hjälp av en mixad metod samlades kvantitativ och kvalitativ data in. I inledningen och bakgrunden problematiseras kunskapsläget och SEL definieras. Tidigare forskning redovisas grundligt utifrån socialt och emotionellt lärande i förhållande till hälsofrämjande och förebyggande arbete, pedagoger, barn/elever samt barn i behov av särskilt stöd. Engeströms teori om expansivt lärande tillsammans med tidigare forskning om SEL används i resultatanalysen. Studiens resultat visar på samband mellan pedagogers och barns/elevers sociala och emotionella kompetens och relationella kompetens. Pedagogerna beskriver att de har fått bättre förståelse för barns beteende, fått en samsyn och ett gemensamt språk, och blivit bättre på att arbeta inkluderande och göra anpassningar utifrån barnens/elevernas behov. Pedagogerna redogör för hur barnen/eleverna klarar rutinsituationer bättre utifrån omgivningens förväntningar. Barnen och eleverna upplevs också ha utvecklat en bättre självkänsla och självförtroende utifrån att de oftare lyckades i samspel med andra och att de blev sedda och bekräftade utifrån sina behov. Uppsatsen avslutas med förslag på vidare forskning och förhoppningar.

This study explores how self-imposed limitations affect anxieties about art-making and the art-making process. As a teacher, I was interested in how limitations affected student art-making. I used arts-based research methodology to explore spiritual and personal quandaries in my own life through the process of art-making. A consistent thread throughout this investigation was using the process of making art as a way to gain understanding about my own life and teaching. I was also able to create a culture of vulnerability and honesty in my classroom and help my students embrace themselves and their physical, emotional, and situational limitations through the art-making process.

The thesis is divided into two parts, theoretical and research part. The theoretical part is dedicated to reading workshops, specifically to their importance. Reading workshop is a teaching method that develops reading skills and creates a reading community in the classroom. Furthermore one of the cross-curricular themes, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), is introduced. The goal of the research part of the thesis is to identify the possibilities of connecting these two areas, to describe how reading workshops are led by elementary school teachers, to determine whether and how can the cross-curricular theme of SEL be incorporated into the reading workshop. This goal was achieved through semi-structured interviews with teachers. The interviews show that the teachers aim at various goals during the preparation for reading workshops, nevertheless they usually don't implement the outputs of the SEL. They would appreciate using inspiring lesson plans. In response to their need, eleven lesson plans for reading reading lessons were added to the thesis. They are aimed at fulfilling the objectives of SEL. KEYWORDS cross-curricular theme of social and emotional learning, reading workshop, reading literacy, reading comunity, sharing

Abstract Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma-Informed Schools: Restorative Practices for Social and Emotional Behavior Issues in Education by Heather Easterling The purpose of this study was to determine whether factors in school climate and culture and the educator's role in evaluating adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma-informed situations, and disruptive classroom behaviors, enable a school to generate interventions needed to help students succeed. This qualitative study evaluated the ACEs and the relationships traumatic incidents had on disruptive classroom behaviors that teachers experienced with students. Although there is emerging research regarding ACEs and trauma-informed schools, there are multiple factors that facilitate the relationship between ACEs and disruptive classroom experiences. Data collection strategies included the use of interview procedures and document review. This evidence was gathered from teachers who provided their experiences with disruptive classroom behaviors and their experiences with behavior intervention programs such as RTI2B (Response to Instruction and Intervention for Behavior) and trauma-informed practices. Analysis of data occurred in three phases: (a) categorization based on emergent themes from the interviews, (b) constructing the explanation in narrative form, and (c) re-examination of the collected data concerning discipline referrals, school climate surveys, and attendance surveys. This research study provided insight into experiences teachers had with disruptive classroom behaviors. The experiences showed implementation of trauma-informed practices, a positive behavior program, and the need for a support system for teachers to be able to better reach students who have experienced ACEs that are related to disruptive classroom behaviors. The results revealed that there were direct factors that determined that the relationship between ACEs and trauma were consistent with disruptive classroom behaviors.

Given the many school choices available to parents, there is a need to understand the reasons parents of a child who is gifted choose to keep their child in his/her current school. Parents* satisfaction with their child*s school and their academic growth is essential to continued enrollment of the child in that school (Abdulkadiroglu, Angrist, & Pathak, 2011; Van Tassel-Baska, 2006). The parents* decision to keep their child who is gifted enrolled in their current school may be influenced by factors within the school as well as those factors outside of the school. The purpose of this study was to research factors that may influence the parents* decision to keep their child who is gifted enrolled in their current school. The research studied parental perceptions of academic support, social and emotional support, and principal support for gifted education for their child who is gifted and the parents* willingness to keep their child who is gifted enrolled at their current school. The target group in the study was parents of children who are gifted and enrolled in a very large urban school district but did not include parents of children who are gifted and also have a disability. The research included the analysis of a survey and follow-up interview questions with parents of a child who is gifted and enrolled in the very large urban school district. There were 683 survey responses out of 4,401 total parents surveyed with a return rate of 16%. The low return rate is considered a limitation of the study and it is recommended to conduct additional research on the majority of parents who did not participate in the survey. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 10 randomly selected parents of children who are gifted and enrolled in the very large urban school district. The survey and interview data was coded and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics. There were two research questions that guided the development of the research process and the analysis of data. The first question focused on indicators of parent satisfaction that included academic needs met, social and emotional needs met, and principal support for gifted education. The survey and interview data yielded mixed results with parents split between the belief that their child*s academic needs were met, social and emotional needs were met, and that their child*s principal was supportive of gifted education. The second research question considered the relationship between the three indicators of parent satisfaction and the parents* willingness to consider enrolling their child in a school solely for students who are gifted. The results showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between the parents* belief that their child*s academic needs were met and the parents* consideration to send their child to a school solely for students who are gifted. However, there was a lack of evidence to establish a relationship between parent*s belief about their child*s social and emotional needs or the parents belief that their child*s principal was supportive of gifted education. The implications of the study are numerous. There are enough parents willing to consider sending their child to a school solely for students who are gifted to support opening the school. The majority of the survey participants had elementary school children; therefore, consideration should be focused on opening an elementary school for students who are gifted. Long range planning is needed to determine how to support the school for students who are gifted as well as the impact of transferring the students from one school zone to the school for students who are gifted. The literature reflected the diverse nature of the parents* satisfaction with academic support, social and emotional support, and principal support for gifted education and revealed that when the parents* are satisfied it does not guarantee that the parent will keep their child enrolled in their current school. The need for on-going communication between the school and the parents are critical to keeping the student enrolled in their current school. Further research is needed to determine the beliefs of parents with children who are gifted and identify themselves as Black, Hispanic, Asian, or another race since the majority of the survey participants were White. More research is also needed to determine the reasons why large numbers of parents would consider sending their child to a school solely for students who are gifted regardless of their satisfaction levels with school support. In addition, further research needs to be conducted to determine why parents would choose to keep their child enrolled in their current school when the parents believed their academic or social and emotional needs were not met or their principal was not supportive of gifted education.

This study analyzed the social and emotional wellbeing of International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB DP) students in a North Texas school district. Students were asked about their feelings toward mental health through a short-answer questionnaire and a survey. Teachers were also able to give input about how they handle mental health in their classroom and where they would like to see their students grow in terms of understanding mental health. The data shows that while students in the IB DP have questions about mental health and have an interest in becoming more independent when dealing with their mental health, they have also come up with program-specific coping mechanisms such as relationships with teachers and peers in the program. This project suggests the idea of increasing student involvement with family engagement, a student-led mentor program, and an after school organization which covers topics such as mental health and learning skills.

This thesis looks into evidence-based character education as it is researched and applied in the Anglo-Saxon countries, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, as a parallel to Personal and Social Education in the Czech Republic. Its aim is to provide an overview of scientifically studied approaches to the development of human character, inclusive of efficient means of their dissemination. The first part of the thesis includes definition of terms, philosophical and historical foundations of character education, description and classification of character strengths, and their effects on human flourishing. Based on analysis of available sources, the next part of the thesis presents empirically tested examples of best practices being applied in families, schools, and other organizations. It is followed by a part describing certain problems which character education is currently facing and finally a summary of possible solutions. It becomes apparent that character needs to be approached in its entirety with focus aimed toward harmonious development of a wide range of character strengths. Their cultivation by means of upbringing and education shows positive effect on individual as well as societal flourishing - it builds a strong base for the evolution of cognitive skills by developing...

Over the past decades socio-emotional programmes have been implemented in schools worldwide. Depression in Swedish Adolescents (DISA) and Social and Emotional Training (SET) are two socio-emotional programmes being practised in Swedish schools. The aim of the present dissertation is to explore students’ perspectives on DISA and SET, as well as the programmes’ intentions and strategies. The empirical material consists of interviews with students taking part in DISA and SET, participant observations conducted in an elementary school practising SET, participant observations of DISA and SET instructor courses, and a broad range of textual material concerning the programmes. Article I reports on an inherent contradiction in DISA, where techniques designed as treatment are practised as universal prevention for girls as a group. The girls’ accounts of DISA demonstrate why this contradiction is problematic – it was not up to the girls as course participants to define what problems they were having, but the problems were instead defined for them by the course. Taking part in DISA and SET involves exercises in which the students are expected to selfdisclose in front of their classmates. Article II reports on how this task of self-disclosure had a potential for strengthening students’ peer relations, while it at the same time entailed a risk of triggering already on-going destructive interactions, such as bullying and harassment. Article III demonstrates that the potential of self-disclosure is not equally distributed across the students, but depends on their social status within their peer group. Article III also shows that the norm conveyed by the SET programme – that showing anger is an inappropriate behaviour –functioned locally as a way to justify exclusion and negative positioning of peers who showed anger in response to ill treatment. Article IV provides an in-depth analysis of exchanges in a SET lesson concerning how students should deal with exposure to the negative actions of peers. It demonstrates how the types of questions a teacher is instructed to pose to maintain a neutral attitude in practice involve using more implicit forms of authority to construct ideals concerning desirable behaviours. These ideals were formed by discussing fictive examples, which meant stripping students’ actions of meaning and detaching them from the social and cultural context to which they belong. The present dissertation concludes by giving recommendations for policy practice. / Sedan millenniumskiftet har socio-emotionella program kommit att bli allt vanligare i skolor runtom i världen. Depression in Swedish Adolescents (DISA) och Social och Emotionell Träning (SET) utgör två socio-emotionella program som används i svenska skolan. Syftet med denna avhandling är att studera elevers perspektiv på DISA och SET, samt att studera programmens målsättning och design. Analysmaterialet består av intervjuer, deltagande observationer, programmanualer och dokument som beskriver och förklarar programmens utgångspunkter. Avhandlingen innefattar fyra artiklar. Artikel I belyser en konflikt i DISA programmet. DISA programmet lär ut tekniker som har utformats för att behandla depression. Programmet riktas dock till flickor generellt med syftet att förebygga att de utvecklar depression. Flickornas beskrivningar av DISA visar varför denna konflikt i programmet är problematisk. De fick inte själva definiera vilka problem de upplevde, istället var de tvungna att jobba med de problem som programmets övningar tillskrev dem. Övningarna som ingår i DISA och SET innebär moment där eleverna förväntas öppna sig inför varandra. Artikel II och III belyser hur detta fenomen hade potential att stärka elevernas sociala relationer, samtidigt som det också riskerade att leda till mobbning. I SET programmet tränas elever på att kontrollera sin ilska. Artikel III belyser hur normen – att visa ilska är ett olämpligt beteende – användes av eleverna för att rättfärdiga uteslutning av elever som visade ilska. Artikel IV består av en djupanalys av lektionen ’Vad kan du göra’ som handlar om hur elever bör agera om de utsätts för negativa handlingar från kamrater. Artikeln tar utgångspunkt i det dilemma som lärare ställs inför i SET programmet: att å ena sidan träna barnen i att anta socialt accepterade beteenden, och å andra  sidan följa programmets krav på neutralitet. Analysen visar att de frågor som SET lärare använder för att åstadkomma en neutral hållning i praktiken medför mer implicita former av styrning där programmets ideal om önskvärda beteenden reproduceras.  Önskvärda beteenden konstrueras genom att diskutera fiktiva fall utan att relatera dem till den sociala och kulturella kontext där barnen agerar och hanterar aktuella problem. Avhandlingen avslutas med en diskussion om hur ’barns psykiska hälsa’ och ’barns behov’ förstås och bemöts genom dessa program och vilka slutsatser som kan dras för utformandet av framtida insatser i skolan.