From November 2008 to August 2009
Project Leader(s): Jill Clark
Staff: Pam Woolner and Ulrike Thomas
Contact: Jill Clark
Sponsors: The Learning Challenge Foundation
The Positive Psychology (PP) programme runs across two schools, and is designed to help learners access a curriculum that is better balanced between the content of what they have to learn and the skills that they will display in order to be successful. In addition the aim of the programme is to make it clear that caring and supportive relationships between student and between students and staff are the foundation for success in school and outside.
The approach maintained is one of optimistic and positive teaching, drawing on the insights of the positive psychology movement that believes that there is as much to be learnt from the study of healthy people as there is from sick people. By translating this approach into school, the tutor takes the skills and relationships that successful learners display and teaches them rather than waiting for problems to occur.
Successful learners display a set of skills that are not specific to any one subject, they include being able to persevere on a task, to manage distractions and to imagine solutions. These skills have been given a structure by several academics and in the PP programme, uses the Personal Thinking and Learning Skills as they appear on the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) website. There are six categories of skill:
This programme teaches 10 specific Thoughtful Learner skills to promote these headings.
The programme is delivered by Form Tutors working alongside a specialist. Each child in will have a person whom they know will be able to respond to any concerns and needs they experience in their first school year, and a regular opportunity for them to talk these concerns through. By providing Form Tutors with meaningful time with their form, the aim is to achieve this. The double staffing of these sessions means that the class can be divided to make the class discussions more personal. There are sessions spent in half-class groups focussing on the development and management of positive relationships, these are called Action Groupskills or AGI.
The methodology we employ for this project is one that aims to be least invasive and to document the processes used and perceptions of all parties at points throughout the research. Whilst any evaluation has limitations relating to sample representation, incomplete datasets and research design, through this evaluation, we are keen to explore the processes of delivery and practice within the schools, and provide useful, regular feedback. We do not set out to provide a summative evaluation which focuses purely on numerical and quantitative data; but we would adopt Cronbach’s (1982) view of formative evaluation that, as soon as an intervention is implemented it evolves in relation to the local and national context.
A case study methodology is ideal when an in-depth exploratory investigation is being undertaken. Unlike an experimental study where data collection and analysis methods can hide some details, case studies are designed to bring out the details from the viewpoint of the participants by using multiple sources of data. Case studies are also multi-perspectival analyses (Tellis, 1997), which means that the researcher considers not just the voice and perspective of the participants, but also of the relevant groups of participants and the interaction between them. The case study methodology is, therefore, a highly appropriate approach to our exploration of this programme. To answer the research questions the case study methodology includes the following data collection tools:
a. Observation of a selection of the well-being programme activities
b. Focus group discussions with pupil groups
c. Interviews with key school staff, tutors, pupils and peers
d. Online survey (SEEL)
e. Online Self Description Questionnaire (SDQ) survey
This evaluation will make use of the Self Description Questionnaire developed by Prof Herb Marsh and his colleagues (Marsh, 2006) to measure self concept. The questionnaire differs from many measures used in educational psychology since it has separate scales for the various aspects of self concept, which common sense suggest exist and which Marsh has found evidence for. The eight factors include:
· ‘physical abilities’ (student ratings of their skills and interest in sports, games and physical activities),
· ‘peer relations’(student ratings of their popularity with peers, how easily they make friends, and whether others want them as a friend) and ‘general-school’ (student ratings of their skills, ability, enjoyment and interest in school subjects in general).
There are also separate scales for a learner’s concept of their efficacy in differing school subjects. The ‘reading’ and ‘mathematics’ subscales draw on the tendency for people to identify themselves as either a numbers person or a words person, whatever their absolute ability in these areas. We will be encourage the two schools involved to use our online facility to administer the SDQI to their students. Coding will allow us to track students from particular year groups through the school and look at how self concept varies over time. During childhood and adolescence self concept tends to decline. This might be seen in some aspects of the overall self concept, which is what makes the SDQI so useful, or differing patterns of change might be revealed for the various subgroups of children. For example, it will be possible to look at self concept changes for girls compared to boys. Given concerns about boys’ performance in the later stages of schooling, it would be interesting to investigate changes in their self concept. Perhaps academic under-achievement is associated with decline in school-related aspects of the self concept, but less change to other aspects, such as ‘physical abilities’ and ‘physical appearance’. Gender related differences and variation over time in the socially orientated parts of the self concept, ‘peer relations’ and ‘parent relations’, might also be revealed.
A written report will be presented to the funder, and the schools, in September 2009.
References Cronbach, L.J. (1982). Designing Evaluations of Educational and Social Programs. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Marsh, M. (2006) Self-concept theory, measurement and research into practice: The role of self-concept in educational psychology, British Psychological Society.
Tellis, W. (1997) Application of a Case Study Methodology, The Qualitative Report, Volume 3, Number 3, September.
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Jill Clark
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Ulrike Thomas
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Dr Pamela Woolner
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