After the imparting of social and emotional skills, how SEE can function as a teaching aid was the second-most mentioned purpose, more specifically: to facilitate learning, to help with socialisation, and to support students’ wellbeing and mental health. There was large cross-cultural variation in the frequency with which the sub-themes were mentioned, summarised in Figure 3.4.
Figure 3.4. Frequency of responses (%) involving meeting teachers’ responsibilities in answering: What is the purpose of SEE?
24 Recursos y estrategias para facilitar las situaciones cotidianas de la vida, un problema, un conflicto, la muerte de un ser querido
Facilitate Learning
Sweden’s teachers were the most likely to describe SEE as a teaching aid to facilitate learning, with 28% of teachers mentioning it compared to 16% in the UK, 12% in Greece and 7% in Spain. Such responses about the purpose of SEE by Swedish teachers included, for example, how SEE allows for students to connect to the subject matter emotionally: “ It is a way to reinforce learning… An emotional connection enables you to develop and reflect on something in a different way, ” and to have a more engaging learning experience: 25 “ Adding social and emotional learning introduces more sensory aspects to the learning process. ” 26
How SEE can facilitate learning was also common in
responses by the UK teachers (16%), though in many respects - as in the section above - emotion was presented as a possible barrier to learning, to be managed or removed: “ It [SEE] addresses the
emotional development of the pupils and helps remove barriers to learning. If a child is stuck in emotional brain they cannot access learning ”. Many responses from UK teachers defended the need for SEE primarily as a means to provide a holistic education: “ To give pupils a well rounded experience of life beyond maths and English and to support their wellbeing as individuals. ”
12% of Greek teachers in the questionnaire mentioned SEE primarily as a teaching aid to facilitate learning, and to meet the need for holistic education: “ To take their emotional needs into account during the learning process. ” Spain had fewer teachers mention 27 SEE as a means to facilitate learning, but those who did, like in the UK, used SEE as a means to push back on a standards and
25 Du kan förankra kunskapen på ett annat sätt. När du kan koppla till något emotionellt så
har du möjlighet att utveckla och reflektera på ett annat sätt
26 Att man blandar lärarandet både socialt och emotionellt så att fler sinnesintryck kopplas in
i Lärandet.
27 ... ώστε να λαμβάνονται υπόψη οι συναισθηματικές του ανάγκες κατά τη διαδικασία της
measurement culture in schools (a common theme throughout the study). For example:
“ The student is not a vessel to be filled, but a person with their individualities and their emotions. Each student is different and comes from a specific and distinct family environment, their experiences are unique and influence their way of acting and
interacting. The school must consider all these aspects and not just academic subjects. " 28
Teacher’s role as a socialising agent
The greatest cross-cultural difference in any of the responses about the purpose of SEE was the role of the teacher as an agent of socialisation. Whereas 44% of Greek teachers and 31% of Spanish teachers mentioned socialisation as the purpose of SEE, only 18% of Swedish and 13% of UK teachers said they felt responsible for
socialising their students. In Spain, for example, words like improve, develop and train the student are common. In Greece, integrate, modify and shape. In other words, teachers acting in loco parentis - as an active socialising agent in the development and shaping of personality, values and character - was considered to be the norm. In the UK, however, it was rare to see teachers define their role as a socialising agent (although when asked specifically later in the questionnaire whether they were a significant adult responsible for the socialisation of students, the majority agreed). When the theme of socialisation was mentioned by UK teachers it was commonly referred to in roundabout ways such as ‘developing the whole child’. Unlike Greece and Spain, some teachers in the UK described their role in their students’ lives more colloquially: “ To stop children from losing the plot so that they can grow up into considerate,
well-balanced people ”. Most references in the UK, however, were about remedial solutions: “ Provide a child with the basics of life, fill in potential holes, give them a backbone to life. ” One possible reason
28 El alumno no es un mero receptor de contenidos, es una persona con sus
individualidades y sus emociones.Cada uno es diferente y procede de un entorno familiar concreto y distinto, sus vivencias son únicas e influyen en su manera de actuar y de relacionarse. La escuela debe contemplar todos estos aspectos y no exclusivamente los académicos.
why there were less mentions in this section from UK and Swedish teachers is that most references to socialisation or intervention were framed as a mental health issue, or as a means to ‘fill gaps’ from poor home environments.
Supporting mental health and wellbeing
Although teachers who describe SEE as a health issue were in the minority, teachers in the UK were slightly more likely to mention it (11%) compared to 8% of teachers in Greece, 7% in Spain and 6% in Sweden. For example, common responses in the UK as to the purpose of SEE included training teachers to act in a support role or to promote the awareness of mental health. In many schools in the UK, SEE is taught as part of a non-compulsory subject called PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) and this could be a reason there are more references to mental health than in other countries. Although Sweden had the least number of teachers mention mental health, it was discussed at great length by the teachers who did. As one teacher put it, “ It is also a hugely important health issue - for instance, if you are emotionally unwell, you cannot perform well in school .” Some teachers in Sweden who identified SEE as a mental 29 health subject explicitly said it was not part of a teacher’s
responsibilities as this was the role of school counsellors: “ In Sweden the teachers aren't expected to provide pastoral, instead there is a team of counsellors etc at each school who sees to the students' emotional development. ” Swedish teachers were the only ones in 30 the study to mention student mental illness in their responses also.
29 Det är oärhört viktigt för det är en hälsofrågan.. dvs ...mår man inte bra kan man ej
prestera i skolan.