Translating Research Knowledge into Effective School Practice in the Field of Social and Emotional Learning

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process of developing intra- and inter-personal competencies in children and young people, typically in school settings. It has become a major orthodoxy in education in recent years. This chapter explores the implications of the accumulated body of research in SEL for developing effective educational practice in this area. Drawing upon an international literature base, coverage includes what research tells us about the importance of SEL, the role of schools in promoting it, how this process works to influence key proximal and distal outcomes, the kinds of approaches and strategies that have been shown to be effective, and the centrality of different aspects of (and factors affecting) implementation. It culminates with an extended vignette (following Lendrum, Humphrey, Kalambouka, & Wigelsworth, 2009), the intention of which is to demonstrate what SEL might look like in a school in which research knowledge is routinely used to inform practice.

Social-Emotional Learning and Students' Transition from Kindergarten to Primary School in Italy

The transition from kindergarten to primary school is a critical period in the development of children. Children who start primary school with good emotional and social skills have more friends, can easily establish new social relationships with peers and adults, and adjust better and achieve more at school. Although in the last couple of decades social-emotional learning programs have received considerable scientific attention in various countries, little is known about the implementation of such programs in the Italian context. This chapter describes a quasi-experimental study on the effectiveness of the implementation of a social-emotional program with Italian kindergarten children. Children's assessment by the researcher and reports from teachers and parents indicated that the program called “By Your Hand” had a positive impact on the social and emotional competence of children over time as they moved from kindergarten to primary school, with indications of enhanced emotional competence and reduced behaviour problems.

Analysis of National Test Scores in Very Remote Australian Schools

Based on the current research of the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation, this chapter presents an analysis of the 2012 Australian National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy data from very remote schools across Australia. The data support perceptions of apparent failure in remote education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The reasons for this failure are often attributed to disadvantage. In this chapter, the author proposes that the perceptions of failure are built on philosophical, sociological, economic, and psychological assumptions that may not be shared by those who are subjected to tests. It is therefore possible to critique remote education, not as a failure, but as a reflection of the values it embodies. That critique allows for different ways of understanding difference framed around the perspectives that come from the context of very remote schools.

The Schooling Experiences of African Youth from Refugee Backgrounds in South Australia

African students from refugee backgrounds constitute a special group in Australian schools because of their complex lives and previous schooling and life experiences that are unlike most of their non-refugee peers. This chapter draws upon findings from a collaborative, longitudinal case study that sought to understand the education and career pathways of African students from refugee backgrounds from the perspectives of African youth, educators, service providers, and South Australian African community leaders and elders. Qualitative analysis revealed six key influences that shape these pathways: previous schooling; English language skills; Australian schooling challenges and support; family support, academic achievement; and post-school preparation. This chapter presents the case study of a single student that, although unique in its circumstances, is representative of key findings from the larger study. Implications for educational practice are then described with a view to facilitating educational participation and success amongst this particular group of young people.

The Impact of School-Community Involvement on Students, Teachers, and the Community

Business and community groups have a long history of involvement in schools. Although their role in schools is gaining prominence and recognition in national and state government education policies, few Australian studies have investigated this phenomenon from the perspectives and experiences of all the stakeholders: students, teachers, and the community. This chapter seeks to increase understanding of school-community involvement by reporting on a study conducted within two high schools in Adelaide, South Australia. Drawing on interviews with students, staff, and the community, and inductive grounded theory research techniques, this chapter examines current perspectives and experiences with a view to informing future policy development. Findings indicate that while many positive outcomes occur when schools and the community work together, the potential of school-community involvement is not always fully realised. The recommendations aim to redress this by enhancing opportunities, reviewing policies, and building capacity within schools and the community.

Re-Framing the Formation of Rural Educational Leaders

The primary purpose of this chapter is to present a rationale for reframing the formation of educational leaders1 that is distinctively rural in its purpose, its character, its ontology, and how it might be progressed. Firstly, understandings of rural and rurality are considered, followed by a discussion of sustainability because of its profound importance to there “being future.” Next, selected critical dimensions and challenges associated with reframing the preparation of rural educational leaders are discussed, including data from an Australia-wide survey. A section on privileging the constructs of rural, space, and spatiality, plus contextual intelligence, relational leadership, and extended leadership field placements completes the chapter.

Modelling Teachers' Promotion of Powerful Positive Affect in the Primary Mathematics Classroom

This chapter describes and analyses teachers' promotion of powerful positive affect in primary mathematics classrooms. A qualitative approach (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005) was used for the study described herein, which focused on the interactions between the participants; their thoughts, affect and actions, along with the identification of complex factors that facilitated and constrained their pedagogical change. The design of the study was founded on the argument that teachers significantly influence students' learning in the classroom; therefore, teachers' voices related to their learning and practices are central to the findings presented in this research. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (Engeström, 1987, 1999) and the Stages of Concern (Hall & Hord, 2006) were applied in the analysis to understand teachers' adoption and development of tools that promote powerful positive affect. In conclusion, a conceptual model summarises the factors influencing teachers' work in this area.

Visual Mental Imagery

Opinions diverge on the nature of visual mental imagery as a form of representation. Researchers adopting the pictorial position propose that visual mental imagery is concrete and pictorial in nature. Researchers adopting the propositional position believe that visual mental imagery is abstract and verbal in nature and deny images as an original form of information presentation. This chapter reviews the opposing theoretical stances and proposes that an acceptable resolution of the debate could be a dual representation position that takes visual mental imagery as a key representational format, suggesting complementary and integrating roles for verbal and pictorial representations in accounting for certain cognitive phenomena.

Valuing Learning in, through, and about Sport-Physical Education and the Development of Sport Literacy

This chapter offers a clear and convincing argument for reconceptualising current approaches and dominant paradigms at play in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE). Throughout the study reported in this chapter, the author draws on his experience as an early career academic that came to PETE with 18 years of experience in teaching and developing Physical Education (PE) curricula in schools. This research is, therefore, an example of reflection in action requiring a reflexive standpoint acknowledging that he is included in the subject matter that the author was trying to understand. As he interrogated the autobiographical data and research literature, theoretical concepts emerged to inform his theorising and to expand his thinking about the practice of sport teaching in PE. The author confronts the models, metaphors, and images that had been part of his apprenticeship of observation and pre-service teacher training.

Exploring Three Measures of Student Wellbeing

There has been limited consensus on how young people's wellbeing should be measured (O'Hare & Gutierrez, 2012). One approach, suggested by Lau and Bradshaw (2010), is that people's subjective judgments capture the essence of wellbeing. Following from Lau and Bradshaw's approach, in this chapter the authors report on a study that sought young adolescents' subjective judgments using three different wellbeing instruments. A purposive sample of 1930 South Australian middle-school students aged 11-16 completed three different measures of wellbeing. Analysis of these instruments indicated that they all require some modification to make them better suited as measures of the subjective wellbeing of young people in the middle-school years. Using the three scales together, the study indicated that the majority (55%) of students were flourishing, a large proportion (39%) had moderate mental health, and a small proportion (about 6%) were languishing.