next practice for pastoral care and student wellbeing in...
TRANSCRIPT
‘Next practice’
for pastoral care
and student
wellbeing in
schools
A caring teacher…
Independent schools point of
difference?
Pastoral care and learning?
• Pastoral care is the ‘oil of learning’
• Pastoral care is not the destination but the
nourishment for the learning journey …
(Mann 2006)
Presentation overview
• Links between pastoral care and academic
outcomes
• Major trends in pastoral care… (eg: Bully movie)
• What’s needed for success? Less is more…
• Next practice considerations
Links between pastoral care and
academic outcomes?
• Emotions can facilitate or impede children’s:
– Academic engagement
– Work ethic
– Commitment
– Ultimately their school success
• Relationships and emotional processes affect
how and why we learn (Elias et al 1997)
Growing evidence…
• Effective mastery of social and emotional
competencies is associated with greater
wellbeing and better school performance (Eisenberg, 2006;Guerra and Bradshaw, 2008)
• Child development study found improvements in
the psychosocial environment of the school
mediated almost all of the positive student
outcomes (Solomon et al, 2000)
Student wellbeing trends…
What are the major trends in pastoral
care in your school?
How are these changing and
within which groups?
In a Year 10 class of 30 students
How many …
• tried smoking?
• used alcohol in last month ?
• were sunburned in past six months ?
• are not sufficiently physically active ?
• binge drink weekly ?
In a Year 10 class of 30 students
• tried smoking… 20
• used alcohol in last month… 19
• sunburned in past six months… 18
• not sufficiently physically active… 15
• binge drink weekly… 9
In a Year 10 class of 30 students
How many …
• unhealthy weight loss
practices?
• obese/overweight?
• had sexual intercourse?
• mental health problems?
In a Year 10 class of 30 students
• unhealthy weight loss practices… 8
– first diet 10 yrs (mean)
• obese/overweight… 7
• had sexual intercourse… 6
• mental health problems… 6
In a Year 10 class of 30 students
How many …
• have suicidal thoughts?
• cyberbully?
• use marijuana?
• regularly engages in self-harm?
In a Year 10 class of 30 students
• suicidal thoughts… 5
• cyberbully… 4-5
• use marijuana… 4
• regularly engages in self-harm… 1
30% high school students engage in
multiple high risk behaviours that
interfere with school performance and
jeopardise their potential for life success
(Eaton et al, 2008; Dryfoos, 1997)
Issues of Personal Concern
National Survey of Young Australians 2011, Mission Australia N= 45 916
What are 11-14 year old BOYS worried about?
(Mission Australia Survey, 2011 (45 916…. 11-14yo participants)
What are 11-14 year old GIRLS worried about?
(Mission Australia Survey, 2011 (45 916…. 11-14yo participants)
Low SES, maternal
infections, drug use &
exposure to neurotoxins
Genetic
factors
Adverse
parenting &
exposure to
violence
Early neurological
(brain) development
Self-regulation of
emotion, attention &
social interaction
School &
learning
difficulties Peer
problems
Poor
problem
solving
skills
Negative
thinking
patterns
Low self-
esteem
Alcohol
& drugs
Increasing
psychosocial
difficulties Acute stress
significant loss
Depression
Suicidal
behaviour
Diet &
nutrition
Silburn, 2002 Time
Risk Pathways
Low SES, maternal
infections, drug use &
exposure to neurotoxins
Genetic
factors
Adverse
parenting &
exposure to
violence
Early neurological
(brain) development
Self-regulation of
emotion, attention &
social interaction
School &
learning
difficulties Peer
problems
Poor
problem
solving
skills
Negative
thinking
patterns
Low self-
esteem
Alcohol
& drugs
Increasing
psychosocial
difficulties Acute stress
significant loss
Depression
Suicidal
behaviour
Diet &
nutrition
SCHOOL
INTERVENTIONS
Silburn, 2002 Time
Pastoral opportunities
Boarding House
Interventions
Trends - help provision
• Technology help support
• Individual help seeking
• Peer help support
• Delaying conversations…
Asking an adult for help
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Male Female
Asked adult for help
Got better
Didn't get better
(Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study, 2009)
Asking an adult for help
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Male Female
Asked adult for help
Got better
Didn't get better
(Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study, 2009)
Behavioural mistakes
Treat behavioural
mistakes in the
same way that we
treat other learning
errors…
What does this mean for PC?
• Variety reporting methods incl. online
• Pastoral care team location
• Consistent teacher responses
• Perception of control
• Change normative expectations
• Clear reporting procedures which are
followed through and that students trust
• LATE model
Community trends
• Increasing community expectations
• PC delivery to special needs increasing
• PC due to technology
• Whole community response to PC
• More reactive PC – spotty delivery
• Parents seeking PC
Australian policy review
An audit of PC policies across Australia found while
sectors recognised the value of PC policy, key
weaknesses emerged:
• Complexity of the policy
• Work overload implementing the policy
• Insufficient PL for teachers and parents
• Lack of clarity operationalising policy
• Limited mapping against PC outcomes
• Inconsistent delivery across year levels
• Overload of programs
• Pastoral care staff exhaustion
True to school values…
What are your schools’ values?
Where are these evident/communicated?
In everything we say and do we …
‘Care’ as a driver for school
effectiveness…
An ethos of care embedded in explicit
whole school community values…
Mission Statement
Avenues’ Mission:
We will graduate students who are accomplished in the academic
skills one would expect; at ease beyond their borders; truly fluent in
a second language; good writers and speakers one and all;
confident because they excel in a particular passion; artists no
matter what their field; practical in the ways of the world; emotionally
unafraid and physically fit; humble about their gifts and generous of
spirit; trustworthy; aware that their behaviour makes a difference in
our ecosystem; great leaders when they can be, good followers
when they should be; on their way to well-chosen higher education;
and, most importantly, architects of lives that transcend the ordinary.
Definition of pastoral care?
How has your school defined pastoral
care?
Where and to whom is this
communicated?
Defining pastoral care
If poorly defined
pastoral care can
be anything and
everything….
• Trunk – rope
• Tail – snake
• Leg – tree trunk
• Body – wall
• Ear – fan
• Tusk - spear
How well is the PC definition
communicated?
Behavioural expectations…
“You can’t pull up your socks if you don’t know what your socks are”
From The Football Wisdom of Guru Bob 1998
Defining pastoral care
• Traditional definitions
• Fostering children’s moral development
• Values of mutual respect through extra-curricular
activities
• Today, wellbeing is increasing attributed to:
• School conditions
• School relationships
• Means of fulfilment
• Health status
Reflection
What are the most effective pastoral care
practices in your school?
A review process…
A Starting Point: Map the Gap Tool
Six core strategy components:
1. Building capacity for action – committed leadership and
organisational support
2. Proactive policies, plans and practices
3. Supportive school climate
4. Curriculum teaching and learning
5. Protective physical environment
6. School-family-community partnerships
7.More for less?
Whole of school approach
Department of Education Pathways to Health and Well-Being (2001)
Delivery balance for health and
wellbeing
Prevention
Intervention
Treatment
Whole school environment promoting competence, health and wellbeing
Students with high support needs 20-30%
Students needing additional intervention 3-12%
Pastoral care school-level tasks
Map pastoral care against five main school-level tasks x
year level:
1.Proactive, preventative pastoral care: Activities and educational
processes that anticipate ‘critical incidents’ in children’s lives and aim
to prevent and reduce the need for reactive casework.
2.Developmental pastoral curricula: Curricula developed to promote
personal, social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and
wellbeing through distinctive programmes, tutorial work and
extracurricular activities.
Pastoral Care
3. The promotion and maintenance of an orderly and supportive /
collaborative environment: building a community within the
school, creating supportive systems and positive relations between
all members of the community, and promoting a strong ethos of
mutual care and concern.
4. Reactive pastoral casework: ‘Open door’ guidance and
counselling, peer support and mentoring, welfare network (link
between school, home and external agencies such as social
services).
5. The management and administration of pastoral care: the
process of planning, resourcing, monitoring, evaluating,
encouraging and facilitating all of the above.
What are the major outcomes for pastoral
care in your school?
How does your school’s pastoral care
contribute to these outcomes?
Pastoral care student outcomes
Promote health and wellbeing
Build resilience
Enhance academic care
Build human and social capital (relationships)
Case study review categories
1. School ethos and values
2. Communication to school community
3. Pastoral care organisational structures
4. Positions of responsibility
5. Formal teaching of pastoral care
6. Policies and procedures for pastoral care
Case study recommendations…
• Communicate regularly to parents the depth and range
of PC strategies implemented.
• Review the balance between reactive and proactive PC
and staff consistency in the use of each.
• Communicate clear standards of PC to ensure
consistency between staff.
• Monitor the PC standards of external providers of
services to the school
• Lost Year 9s
Case study recommendations
• Create a ‘triage’ process for students using student
support services to deliver more targeted responses
from sufficiently skilled staff.
• PL for staff to enhance PC skills and to understand their
limitations as lay counsellors
• Private location of pastoral care services for students
• Encourage duty staff to see their lunchtime role as
‘banking time’ not disciplinarian
• Increase clarity around pastoral care roles
• Enhance flow of communication to staff
Not more work...
Also
When my teacher: Organises a fun
activity
Notices my effort
Sets interesting work
Encourages me to join in
Helps me learn from my mistakes
Most Likely
When my teacher:
Smiles at me
Says hello to me
Talks to me
Shows me he/she is proud of me
Takes an interest in what I do
Teacher behaviours and
‘YES’ to learning
When less is more…
• Whole school community delivering PC
• Warp and weft delivery of pastoral care
• Consistent delivery across years
• Based on students’ needs
• Balance of active and reactive
• Sequential pastoral care delivery
• Matched to outcomes
Next practice?
• Peers as pastoral carers
• Online help provision and problems…
• Social information processing
• Pastoral care of staff / parents
• Diffusion of responsibility? Peer supporter
threshold
• Prepared for ‘chaos’
To enhance your school’s pastoral care what
does it need to:
Start doing…
Stop doing…
Keep doing…
Do more of…
• They’ll forget what we
do…
• They’ll forget what we
say…
• But they’ll never
forget how we made
them feel.
May you always have love to share;
health to spare and friends that care.
Donna Cross
Edith Cowan University