SEAL - Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning for secondary schools

Whole school approach, climate for learning, anti bullying resources,

National Project

Policy Makers, Headteachers, Teachers

Department for Education

United Kingdom

English

Policy Makers, Teachers, School Directors.

Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning for secondary schools (Secondary SEAL) is a whole-school approach to promoting social and emotional skills that aims, when fully implemented, to involve all members of the school and all aspects of school life.

It underpins Secondary SEAL is a comprehensive approach to
promoting the social and emotional skills for all who learn
and work in schools. It underpins Effective learning; Positive behaviour and good attendance; Staff effectiveness; Emotional health and well-being; Positive relationships

The key elements are: a whole-school approach to creating the climate and conditions that implicitly promote, reinforce and
consolidate the social and emotional skills; focused learning opportunities (during tutor time, across the curriculum, in focus groups and outside formal lessons); learning and teaching approaches that support pupils to learn social and emotional skills and consolidate those already learnt; continuing professional development for the whole staff of a school.

The materials are organised under a series of key questions that are organised in five sections:

section 1 provides an introduction to the concepts underpinning SEAL
section 2 describes the impact on educational outcomes and the links to key developments in education
section 3 is about the practicalities of implementing SEAL in school
section 4 focuses on professional development
section 5 focuses on learning and teaching.

Other resources on the site include SEAL Whole school INSET; A Quick Guide;Examples of Social and Emotional Skills for particular subjects; 'Say No to Bullying' - Overview, assemblies, staffroom activities, guidance for different year groups, Family activities; Bullying policy and practice; Staff Toolkit etc.

Access to the SEAL anti-bullying resources is through the on site search engine

http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/66378

Information also given below as a pdf:

http://projects.pixel-online.org/iamnotscared/data/database/publications/340_SEAL_anti-bullying_resource[1].pdf

The external evaluation of the Primary SEAL pilot by the Institute of Education (Hallam and others 2006) found that it had a major impact on children’s wellbeing;confidence; social and communication skills; relationships, including bullying; behaviour and attitudes towards school. There were also perceived improvements to the learning climate and some improvements in attainment.
For information on effectiveness see:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfi les/RR717.pdf

Definition of bullying or cyberbullying, Detection protocol, Intervention protocol, Disciplinary methods, Classroom management, Teacher training, Classroom rules, Whole-school anti-bullying policy, Cooperative group work, Peer support.

Anti bullying is just one aspect of SEAL and the whole site has a wealth of information for schools and policy makers across the UK. The anti-bullying resource part of the site, which we feel is very good, is designed to be used to support an intensive whole school focus and as part of National Anti-Bullying Week held in the UK in November every year; to extend learning opportunities within other Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) themes; as an element of a response to a whole school issue; or to support cross-curricular coverage of a SEAL theme.

The anti-bullying resource includes: a theme overview; a set of structured staff development opportunities; ten example learning opportunities for use with pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 that can be delivered flexibly to promote progression or to develop specific skills according to needs. These flow from a series of stimulus materials. They are divided into three themes: individuals, resilience and bullying; group bullying; prejudice-driven bullying; links to other materials and references.

SEAL is a much used resource in the UK which we strognly recommend.
pages

One of the main aspects for successful anti-bullying activities is, we believe, a good 'whole school climate' and SEAl is invaluable to achieve such a climate.

SEAl was produced by the previous UK Government (a new UK Government took office on 11 May 2010)

Roger Murfin

Wilsthorpe Community School

Business Manager