“Educating the Mind without Educating the Heart - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

“Educating the Mind without Educating the Heart

i

s not Education at all”

Building Emotional and Social Competencies to Facilitate Effective Transition to School

Presenter

:

Rose Young

Shirley LinSlide2
Slide3
Slide4

What is school readiness and why is it important?

Evidence from Anglicare ECEC services

Lessons for people working with vulnerable childrenSlide5
Slide6
Slide7
Slide8

Is tracking

school readiness important?

Children who commence school without

developing vital SR skills are 'at

risk' of not achieving future academic, social and occupational

success

(Newton 2007

)

School ‘unreadiness’ is expensive. Later

attempts to compensate for unreadiness are much less effective and will be more

expensive

(

Bruner et al, 2005

)

If

it is not assessed, it’s not

addressed. We’ve

develop a standardised tool that help us to track how well our children are prepared for

school

Slide9

Developing a School

Readiness Assessment tool

The NSW Department of Education and Training

initiated a

research

to

understand the

most influential factors

in successful transitions to school.

11

key

factors

in successful transitions to school :

Take turns & share with other children

Enter a group, game or discussion

Participate cooperatively in group activities

Show basic concern & interest in others

Cope with ‘losing’ in games or mild rebuffs by another child

Cope when a parent is not present

Follow directions by an adult other than parent/family member

Request assistance from an adult other than parent/family member

Communicate needs, wants, ideas & feelings to peers and adults

Sit & listen in groups

Following basic

rules

Evaluation Framework Schools as Community Centres 2012. C. Quinn Consultancy Pty Ltd for NSW Dept. Education and Training

 Slide10

W

hat

kind of key skills

are

the most influential factors in successful transitions to school?

Slide11

Why

social and emotional skills are

the most influential factors?

Social

skills

Early

social competence is a

significant

predictor of academic achievement, over and above early cognitive

abilities

(Romano et al. 2010

)

Early cognitive

abilities

children feeling connected with their peers

& feeling

emotionally

secure

later

in life

Kindergarten

students with higher pro social skills were

more

likely to graduate from college and get a job. Those with low pro social skills were more likely to be in prison, social

housing,

ectSlide12

Why social and

emotional

skills are

the most influential factors?

Emotional

skills

Emotional maturity is a pre-requisite for effective

learning

(

Pieterse

 2012)

When children struggle

to appropriately communicate needs, wants and feelings to

peer/adults

, they won’t feel as confident and competent to fully learn and take part in

school

Neuro

science research shows- when

we

are happy

we

retain more

information!

 Slide13

Why social

and emotional

skills are

the most influential factors?

children’s transition to school requires them to

adapt:

highly personalised relationship  less personalised relationships

e

nvironment with limited range of ages  an institution with children of many ages

“For many children, academic achievement in their first few years of schooling appears to be built on a firm foundation of children’s emotional and social skills”

(Ladd,

Kochenderfer

& Coleman, 2007)

A lack of social/emotional competence will be a

key barrier

to learning and engaging in class; but the other competencies can be learned if social/emotional competences are present.Slide14

We utilised the result of the NSW Department of Education and Training’s research to develop a standardised School Readiness Assessment

tool

If

a child can demonstrate 8 or more of

the 11

capabilities, they will be considered ready to make a positive transition to

school

Our ELC’s educators use this tool to

rate

children 12 months (and 6 months) before

they

need to make the transition to

school against

these set of

competencies. This give educators time

to

address each child’s gaps

The SR

competencies are measured based on the relationship educators have with children and families, rather than on a single moment in time

assessmentSlide15

Social-emotional problem among young children are common

10-14

% of children between 0-5 years old experience social-emotional problems that negatively impact their school readiness

(

Brauner

, C.B. & Stephens B.C. 2006

)

Poor attachment

can negatively impact children’s social-emotional

health

2/5

2 year olds

in early care and learning settings had insecure attachment relationships with their

mothers (

Chernoff

, J. J. et

al.

2007

)

Less

than 1% of young children with

social or

emotional behavioural

problems

are identified

(

Conrny

, 2004

)

We

should all take actions to identify social and emotional difficulties in young children at an early stageSlide16

What

have we found

?Slide17

How did we use the data?

Services use the assessment results to respond to the gaps and provide a tailored curriculum that will help develop these skills.

Providing clear information helps families to understand the factors, other than a child’s age, that are important foundations for school. Slide18

Correlation

analysis

useful when designing interventions to improve capabilities that children struggle withSlide19
Slide20

Build relationships

Provide safe and secure spaces

Encourage the learning of life skills and independence

Support parents and carers to allow children to follow directions and make simple choices

Games to encourage conversation, turn taking and grit

Explore emotions

Make it fun!Slide21