Early secondary high school-a mindfield® for social and emotional learning

Abstract

The importance of social and emotional learning in the lives of children and young adults is widely acknowledged. How social and emotional learning is achieved effectively and efficiently among these groups is, however, far from clear especially within regular schools and classrooms. This chapter documents the challenges of implementing a social and emotional learning program at the junior secondary level in a large high school. The Mindfields® High School Junior Program (HSJ) is a social and emotional learning program designed for students aged 12-14 years. The eight-session strengths-based intervention intends to assist students to develop positive emotions, character, and engagement by understanding and regulating their emotions. There are three core components of the program: social and emotional skill development; mindfulness exercises; and group-based cooperative goal-setting and achievement. This chapter reports the initial trial of the prototype Mindfields® HSJ in four Year 8 classrooms in a high school located in a disadvantaged suburban community. The intervention used a train-the-trainer approach specifically requested by the school, with a senior teacher trained as the facilitator by the researchers. The school-based facilitator then provided a brief training program for four teachers who subsequently implemented the program. The prototype comprised eight modules presented over two school terms. One-to-one interviews were conducted with each classroom teacher at the conclusion of the trial. The outcome of this trial highlights some of the difficulty in providing a social and emotional curriculum in a large high school located in a socially disadvantaged area. There are lessons learned from the trial including the difficulties associated with training classroom teachers to implement the program, primarily the importance of trialing and modifying prototype programs intended for introduction in whole-of-class situations.