Developing Capacity for Social and Emotional Growth: An Action Research Project

Abstract

This article reports an action research project in which children, their teacher and the author, and an advisory teacher from a Local Authority collaborated as co-researchers in a project to improve working relationships in the classroom. Both appreciative enquiry and emancipatory research informed the project. This article focuses on one aspect of the project: the development of active listening skills. In an initial consultation, the teacher described her difficulty in teaching a mixedyear class of 7-9-year-old children who had difficulties in functioning as a group. During the initial whole class consultation, the themes that emerged as pertinent for making the class more fun to be in were: listening, caring and co-operating. Three strands: greetings, active listening and co-operative activities were explored during eight multisensory sessions and applied during class time over a period of three months.The results produced evidence of improvement in promoting listening and social skills. It was, however, the inductive aspects of the Action Research process that were the most illuminating, leading to a better understanding of the complex interplay of factors that contribute to improved working relationships within a class. The knowledge and insights discovered through action research and collaborative working are at least as important as specific skill training and were seen as integral to the emotional and social development of teachers and children.

Circle time for social and emotional learning in primary school

“…Untrained teachers may engage in practices which go against the humanistic principles underlying CT, such as pupil empowerment, democracy, equity and unconditional positive regard (Doveston, 2007;Taylor, 2003). Staff will need to be convinced, for instance, of student empowerment, if they are to engage in good practice with student-directed learning (Cefai & Cooper, 2010;Cremin, 2002;Leach & Lewis, 2013).…”

“…Aguis, 2011;Hennessey, 2007;Kulchy, 2009;Tew, 1998). Other studies which made use of a multi-strategy approach, including CT, similarly reported improvements in emotional literacy and social skills such as listening and speaking (Coppock, 2007;Doveston, 2007).…”

Active Listening Attitude Scale (ALAS): Reliability and Validity in a Nationwide Sample of Greek Educators

“…In the school setting there have been studies which have focused on improving children's listening and social skills [35][36][37][38], since educators have been complaining about their students' inability to listen carefully and pay attention. However, adults' listening skills are often also insufficient and teachers may have higher expectations from children than they do from themselves.…”

Duoethnography with children

“…Childconferencing is a type of informal structured interview, commonly referred to as a focus group (Dupree, Bertram, andPascal 2001 as cited in Clark 2005;Norton 2006;Smith, Duncan, and Marshall 2005). Group interviews are more informal than childconferencing; they are discussions with children about specific topics (Doveston 2007;Huber and Clandinin 2002;Messiou 2006aMessiou , 2006bParkes 2008;Rogers and Evans 2007;Smith, Duncan, and Marshall 2005;Thomson, Hall, and Russell 2007). For some children it is less intimidating to be interviewed in a group instead of oneon-one (Clark 2005).…”

“…Listening to and interacting with children can provide new insights including influencing educational and social policy and practice (Clark 2005;Parkes 2008). Including children in school-based research may lead to changes in intervention strategies, the curriculum and classroom rules (Daigle, Hebert, and Humphries 2007;Doveston 2007;Messiou 2006b;Rogers and Evans 2007).…”