Schools are realising that children with strong self-esteem and a developed emotional literacy are less likely to be poorly behaved and more likely to achieve. Many schools and authorities are trying to establish programmes to improve attitudes and relationships as an essential step towards raising standards overall.
Elizabeth Morris, of the School of Emotional Literacy at Bristol University, believes that self-confidence as well as emotional empathy is crucial to children’s learning. “Self-esteem is now seen by many as a significant issue for all levels of school life,” she says, “and I believe that over the next five years there will be an explosion in this kind of ‘soft-skills’ assessment.
“Research shows that adults and children with sound esteem seem to do well, are more popular and optimistic about life. They may be shaken by an event but they soon overcome difficulties, often turning them into opportunities. Pupils with low self-esteem learn to deal with that by withdrawing ... not taking risks with new tasks, or by developing challenging behaviour which deflects away from their weakness.”
In a three-part series called “Insight”, which she has devised for pre-school, primary and secondary schools, she has included an indicator which can give a profile of pupils’ sense of “self”, “belonging” and “personal power”.
Philip Raybould, headteacher of Gig Mill, a 560-strong primary in Dudley, has introduced emotional literacy and self-esteem classes for Years 5 and 6. “We felt our behaviour programme was managing but not improving the way our children behaved,” he says. “Now we feel we have happier children and their work is definitely benefiting. However, we have no measure for this. That will be the next step.”
The education authority in Southampton is involved in extensive research to develop an emotional literacy profile.
And Robert Burden, professor of applied educational psychology at Exeter University, has developed a self-esteem profile that indicates how pupils see themselves as learners. The more specific focus of MALS (Myself as a Learner Scale), he believes, is necessary if schools wish to improve the accuracy of their predictions about pupil achievement.
Teri-Anne Hornby, another Exeter academic, says that pupils’ perception of themselves as learners does not necessarily correlate with their self-esteem in other areas. They may perceive themselves as popular, good at sport or able to get on with people, but they might lack confidence in their schoolwork. “Often the most difficult child to help is the one who gives up straight away and doesn’t believe they can do the work,” she says. “Through MALS, teachers can find out what children believe they can and cannot do and focus their teaching accordingly.”
MALS: r.l.burden@exeter.ac.uk.Self-esteem and emotional literacy: Elizabeth Morris at the School of Emotional Literacy. Tel: 01452 741106 or infor@ schoolofemotional-literacy.com. National Emotional Literacy Interest Group: www.nelig.com has links to Southampton’s work .
