Preparing for Learning
Finding solutions to bullying, aggressive behaviour and violence in our schools and society is vital. As an ex teacher I know how difficult it can be to engage students in learning. They can be overwhelmed with personal, home and relationship problems. They may have switched off from the learning process before it began, believing it has little relevance to their lives or futures.
Sue Allen
Sue Allen a Psychology of Vision trainer, ex secondary teacher and mother, has created a range of schools programmes for teaching emotional intelligence, life and relationship skills to students in primary and secondary school. Knowing that early training is essential, and how difficult it is to find solutions, I wanted to find out how successful these programmes have been, how they work in the classroom, and how the students respond. With our readers in mind, I also wanted to find out whether VisionWorks also had programmes to support parents who were struggling in their relationships with their children.
Like all teachers and many parents, I have been concerned about the wellbeing of youth, and wondered for a long time how we can address their social and emotional problems. After my interview with Sue, I believe this programme can make a real difference in our schools and in our society, and invite you to read on and consider recommending this programme, whether as a parent or teacher, for your school. You will also find parenting tips and links to the Steps to Conscious Parenting Programme.
Teaching Life Skills in the Classroom and at Home
Vision Works programmes include It’s OK Being Me, Discovering Me, and My World. They are designed for use with students as part of the UK Personal and Social Education curriculum in primary schools and the first half of secondary education. I was very impressed by the range of life skills that the students learn and the way that these can change their attitudes to learning, at the same time as preparing them to better handle their emotions and relationships. To support parents, Psychology of Vision also has a 12 module programme, Steps to Conscious Parenting.
The Interview
I asked Sue about how the programmes work and the results they have seen in schools that have taken on the programme. We also looked at how this PSHE programme fits into the UK Government led curriculum (KS2 and KS3) which now promotes social and emotional learning. Sue pointed out that this can be a challenge to teachers, as they are often subject teachers, skilled in their subject content, but less well trained for Pastoral Care and teaching Emotional Intellingence. Sue explained that VisionWorks mainly works with the teachers to train and support them using the programmes.
Below is a summary of the main points that Sue Allen and I covered in our interview including Tips for Parents.
You can also download or listen to the full 40 minute interview in MP3 format.
Emotional Intelligence – A Key Life Skill
Sue and I discussed how our generation largely had to ‘make it up as we went along’, with little understanding of how to handle life and relationships. Now there is so much more information and understanding available that needs to be shared with young people to improve the quality of their lives and relationships. These skills also give them preparation for learning, for being more present to learn in their schools.
In the Vision Works programme, students learn that we behave because of how we feel, and that if we only look at the behaviour, we are missing out on understanding what is really going on at the heart of a relationship or situation.
Active Listening
One example is a key topic area – active listening. Students learn that interrupting impinges on other people, whether in class or in personal relationships. When we interrupt it means that we feel that what we have to say is more important. This gets in the way of communication and relationships, as well as preventing learning.
Students learn that active listening is about putting attention on what’s in front of us, so that they can make the choice to be really present and put in their attention. This enables them to become more available and connected to other people as well as better learners. Sue stressed throughout, how important it is to remember that youth already have many supportive relationships, and spend a lot of time talking about what is going on in their lives. Their learning on emotional intelligence therefore becomes part of their conversations and actions with one another.
Anger
Students also learn emotional responsibility, to recognise that their emotions are their own, not that anything outside of us can ‘make‘ us feel something. One example Sue and I discussed was anger, which students learn is a cover emotion for the hurt or fear beneath it. They learn that anger is indescriminate, it attacks everbody, including ourselves. By taking responsibility for our feelings we can learn to track what is really going on for us. Students also come to understand that they don’t have to suffer being an angry person for ever, it can be changed.
I asked Sue how classes respond when a student becomes angry or leaves the class. Often, we want to move away from angry people, and I wondered if this changed too, once students understood the hurt or fear beneath the anger. Sue responded that most schools do already ‘break state’, changing the atmosphere, place or people to respond incidents. Through the programme they also learn to respond supportively to the person in crisis.
In one example Sue observed, two 13 year old girls walked out of a class in tears and anger. The teacher immediately adapted a visualisation from the VisionWorks programme, and got the remaining students to imagine the angry and distressed girls in the centre of their group. How they would want to respond? Their responses were all about giving support and moving towards the girls, which would make it easier for them in returning to the classroom.
Visualising the Power of the Mind
As a teacher, I was fascinated to know how students responded to classroom visualisations. Obviously students love the quizzes, questionnaires, mask making and role plays which all form part of the programme, but visualisation …?
Sue said that they love the visualisations, because they show how powerful our minds are. In one visualisation, students imagine going into outer space and viewing the world from there. They haven’t been anywhere, or spoken to anyone, but have been able to use the power of their minds to get there, to picture their world floating in space. Seeing how powerful our minds are is very confidence building for students.
Results are Changes
I asked Sue about the results they had experienced in the schools where the programme was being used. Sue pointed out that it works best where whole schools adopt the programme, so that everyone shares skills and understanding. One reason this makes the programme even more effective, is that teachers can then use the shared pastoral learning in their subject classes when, for instance, students are interrupting. It is now widely understood that whole school policies, that all teachers adhere to, are crucial in schools.
Students are very good at reading communication in a classroom, and will act out differently with different teachers. Change is more difficult to quantify for learning approaches, school and classroom atmosphere, and student behaviour and success, as these programmes are used in amongst a raft of policies within a school. So, I asked Sue about the anecdotal changes she had seen.
One school, for students with special needs, has been using the programme for 7 years now. Feedback was that the atmosphere of the school has been changed. Students support one another, are more willing to ask for help and are noticeably more responsive. As a part of the programme, students change buddies regularly – perhaps every half term. This means that they work with a wide range of their classmates, which helps to break down cliques and exclusivity, and breeds more tolerance.
Feedback is that the groups are more friendly, more creative and helpful and more outward facing, for instance, raising more money for charities. One student commented that there would be less fighting in the world, if every one studied VisionWorks. Another student was welcomed home on Wednesdays and at weekends, as her behaviour, previously hard to deal with, was so improved. Many parents were pleased that behaviour was moderated, and reported examples, such as children who could never sit still and talk to somone, would now sit and listen.
Top Tips for Parenting Emotional Intelligence
Sue and I briefly discussed thePsychology of Vision, Steps to Conscious Parenting Programme, and I asked Sue for her top tips for any parent who wants to support their children in learning emotional intelligence in the home.
- Understand that we all behave because of how we feel. In any communication, we all read the non verbal communication, not just the words. For example when someone tells us they are feeling fine, we will recognise that their facial expression, tone of voice and posture are saying the opposite. We can learn to talk about what is really going on for us, with responsibility for our feelings rather than blame.
- All change begins with honest communication, not just telling the people around us what to do. (Link for More information on Transformational Communication)
- Ask ourselves when we felt this before. It is never the first time we felt this way. Where things happened in the past that have not been resolved, we have a button of old feelings, pressed in similar situtations in the present. Often, we are responding to the past more than the present, and understanding that can clear up the present feelings.
- Choose our families, the people in our lives now. Seeing them as a burden puts us into sacrifice mode, and everybody feels it, even if it is unspoken. We need ask ourselves - ‘What do I choose here?’ – and recognise that we do have a choice – even the choice not to. Everyone in a situation is feeling thre resentment, and both the atmosphere and our feelings change when we choose the people in our lives, and choose to put in our time and energy.
- Appreciate the people around us. Truly appreciating others, with our hearts or feelings, not just in words, ends the problems, fights and distance between us.
- Forgive mistakes. We all make them, and it is never too late to redress the old ones. If we dwell on the mistakes, it’s really a place where we are stuck and haven’t learned the lesson.
To hear the full 40 minute interview just enter first name and email address here.
For more information on:
Steps to Conscious Parenting visit www.vision-community.net
The schools programme, including sample modules and course contents via this link Vision Works Schools Programme
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