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The Interdependency of School Culture and Climate and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
■ The role of context in fostering SEL is well known. Positive relationships; emotional, physical, and social safety; and responsiveness to diversity are among the many learning conditions that promote SEL (Berg et al., 2017; Garibaldi & Josias, 2015; Thapa et al., 2012).
■ Social and emotional skills are learned and practiced in social institutions of school and community (Jones & Bouffard, 2012).
■ In turn, socially and emotionally competent students and adults reinforce and enhance school conditions that promote SEL (Osher & Berg, 2018).
Problem Statement
The depth of understanding about how the school culture and climate promote and interact with SEL in high-income countries has not been achieved in low-resourced settings.
Teachers, parents, and students from different cultures often define and prioritize social and emotional skills differently (Jukes et al., 2018).
Purpose of the Research
To understand how the school culture and climate in rural settings in Malawi and Uganda are perceived to help children develop culturally valued social and emotional competencies.
What’s Positive About Positive Schools: Lessons from Malawi and UgandaElizabeth Randolph,* Julianne Norman, and Lauren Edwards
RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Research Questions
■ What social and emotional skills and personal qualities are important for children to become happy and successful adults?
■ What school and classroom characteristics help students develop these skills?
■ Of these school and classroom qualities, which are considered the most important for fostering students’ positive social and emotional development?
School Selection
■ Schools were selected based on high performance (95th percentile) on measures of safety and protection, inclusion, gender responsiveness, and extent of bullying, harsh punishment, sexual violence (school-related gender-based violence, or SRGBV)
■ 3 schools in Malawi—USAID/Malawi Early Grade Reading Improvement Activity (MERIT); National Assessment of Safety and Inclusion in Schools (NASIS)
■ 3 schools in Uganda—USAID/Uganda Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity; baseline data on school climate, gender attitudes, and SRGBV
Approach to Data Collection
Berg, J., Osher, D., Moroney, D., & Yoderet, N. (2017). The intersection of school climate and social and emotional development. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research.
Garibaldi, M., & Josias, L. (2015). Designing schools to support socialization processes of students. Procedia Manufacturing, 3, 1587–1594.
Jones, S. M., & Bouffard, S. M. (2012). Social and emotional learning in schools: From programs to strategies. Sharing Child and Youth Development Knowledge, 26(4), 1–33.
Jukes, M. C. H., Gabrieli, P., Mgonda, N. L., Nsolezi, F. S., Jeremiah, G., Tibenda, J. L., & Bub, K. L. (2018). “Respect is an investment”: Community perceptions of social and emotional competencies in early childhood from Mtwara, Tanzania. Global Education Review, 5(2), 160–188.
Osher, D., & Berg, J. (2018). School climate and social and emotional learning: The integration of two approaches. Issue Brief. State College: Edna Bennet Pierce Prevention Research Center, Pennsylvania State University.
Thapa, A., Cohen, J., Higgins-D’Alessandro, A., & Guffey, S. (2012). School climate research summary: August 2012. School Climate Brief No. 3. New York: National School Climate Center.
Methodology
Findings
References AcknowledgmentThis study is funded by an RTI internal research and development award, titled “School Climate and Learning.”
More Information*Presenting author: Elizabeth Randolph, [email protected]
Coauthors: Julianne Norman and Lauren Edwards
RTI International 3040 E. Cornwallis Road; Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Presented at: Education for Sustainability, CIES 2019; San Francisco, CA; April 14–18, 2019
www.rti.org
RTI International is a registered trademark and a trade name of Research Triangle Institute. The RTI logo is a registered trademark of Research Triangle Institute.
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School Climate+
Social-Emotional Learning
Rationale and Purpose
Common Themes: How School Management Committees (SMCs), Parents, Teachers, and Students in
Uganda and Malawi Think About SEL
Voices from School Communities
Figure 1. Locally Valued Social and Emotional Competencies Figure 3. School Values and Structures That Support SELFigure 2. Teacher Qualities That Support SEL
Country Comparisons
What social and emotional skills are valued in the most positive schools?
Develop concept of social and emotional
development
Define social skills and personal
qualities locally
Determine learning conditions that help students develop
these skills
Identify “most important” school
qualities for promoting SEL
Structured interviews
Qualitative methods
Participatory processes
Focus group discussions
“Cooperation is the umbrella to all social and emotional learning.” (Teacher)
“If a learner wants to drop out, teachers, parents, and community members discuss and help the learner set up his or her goals so they see a reason to stay in school.” (SMC)
“We as teachers cooperate and work so well together. We talk through disagreements with each other and with learners, and learners learn to talk through disagreements among themselves.” (Teacher)
“We do child studies…this is where we try to understand the child holistically.” (Teacher)
“We visit the children’s homes and try to find out what challenges the children may be facing in their homes and how these can impact learning and see how we can solve them.” (Teacher)
“School sports! There is good teamwork that involves students, teachers, parents, community members. This brings us together and builds all kinds of skills.” (SMC)
“School sports help students control their anger, form friendships, care for others, build belief in self and self-esteem.” (Head Teacher)
“The most important thing this school does to teach you qualities that make you good citizens is the teacher showing you love and care.” (Student)
“Motivating children…encouraging our children that they can make it…having a special one-on-one interaction with a child.” (Teacher)
“The teachers are hardworking, loving, and do not use corporal punishment.” (Student)
What teacher characteristics best promote SEL? What school values and structures best promote SEL?
No Perfect Puzzle for Promoting Social and Emotional Competency
Interpersonal Relationships
Voice and Agency
Emotional Processes
Cognitive Regulation
Critical thinking and problem solving were prominent in discussions for all, described as follows:
■ Thinking before acting
■ Thinking before doing
■ Listening to multiple points of view
■ Thinking through steps to solve problems
Other discussions involving cognitive processing were related to executive function.
Stories about student voice and agency
“...when the parent is forcing the child to go to the farm instead of school, sometimes the child might choose to go to school. His choice is on school and not on going to the farm and he will assist the parent later when he is done with school.” (Parent)
“Able to tell others what you want or do not want.” (Teacher)
“You need to know what you want to be in the future, and by knowing it, you will be able to work hard in education in order to achieve what you want to be in life.” (Teacher)
Positive relations with students
Students’ perceptions that a teacher loves them is a theme that runs through all of their narratives.
Teachers and SMCs highlighted cooperation: Shares ideas, thinks together, and solves problems in play and in groups.
Empathy and compassion— a prominent theme, discussed by all.
Teachers’ insights:
■ “Self-belief, knowing who you are”—central to self-control, overcoming challenges, reacting to different situations, agency (independence and confidence)
■ Knowing others—associated with respect for other person’s viewpoints and moods; reacting differently and appropriately to different situations
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Source: Adapted from Osher & Berg, 2018, p. 7.
Illustrations: Adapted from Liberia Early Grades Reading Program: Teacher Instruction Guide, Grade 2, Volume 1. Prepared under the Liberia Teacher Training Program for USAID and the Ministry of Education, Republic of Liberia