Pedagogical caring and students’social-emotional and academicsuccess:The importance of teachers

Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, Ph.D.Dept. of Educational & Counselling Psych., & Sp. Education,

Faculty of Education, UBC

“Creating Conversations . . .”Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows SD

February 15, 2006

Questions that we will consider:

Why care about care?

What does the research say?

What are the necessary ingredients forpromoting a caring school community?

Three Guiding Principles

• Development of the whole child –intellectual, social, emotional, ethical, andaesthetic, and physical

• School as a caring community.• The importance of school belonging .

• Relationships as central:

•"Human beings of all ages arehappiest and able to deploy theirtalents to best advantage" whenthey experience trusted others as"standing behind them." (p.25,Bowlby, 1973)

“Every child requires someone inhis or her life who is absolutelycrazy about them.”

Urie Bronfenbrenner

“We view education not as a mass-production effort, but as a personal andindividual experience.” (Boyd-Zaharias & Pate-Bain, 2000)

The Mission of Schools“A comprehensive mission for schools is toeducate students to be knowledgeable,responsible, socially skilled, healthy, caring,and contributing citizens” (Greenberg et al., 2003).

Educating theMind and Heart

The Need to Balance Educating theMind with Educating the Heart

Recently, Noble Peace Prize Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutusaid:

Educating the mind withouteducating the heart has producedbrilliant scientists who used theirintelligence for evil.

Roundtable Dialogue, “Balancing Educating the Heart with Educating the Mind”April 20, 2004, Chan Centre, University of British Columbia

Guided by research:

• Rigorous science provides anessential foundation for effectivepolicies and practices.

What does the research sayabout caring classrooms andstudent achievement?

Learning RequiresCaring!

“Declaration Calls for More CaringEnvironments in Schools”(Education Week, September 8, 2004)

• Recommendations• Applying fair and consistent discipline.• Fostering trusting relationships among students,

teachers, administrators, and families.• Ensuring that a supportive adult watches over

every student.• Creating small learning environments.• Setting high academic expectations.

Why Care About Care?

The more students believe that their schoolcommunity cares about them and meets

their needs, the more likely they are to feelattached to that community, to thrive

academically, socially,and emotionally.

Such knowledge enableseducators to seek ways tocreate more caring school

communities.

Research is consistent inpointing to the important rolethat school contexts play instudents’ social, emotionaladjustment and academic

success.

Caring Communities =

• Positive student-student interaction.• Positive teacher-student relationships, which lead

to:• Higher academic achievement.• Increases in students’ social-emotional

competencies.

Caring communities are placeswhere members :

• “care about and support each other• actively participate in and have influence on the

group’s activities and decisions• feel a sense of belonging and identification with

the group• have common norms, goals, and values”

(Battistich et al., 1997; p. 137)

A Caring Community:Components

• Sense of Community/Belonging

• Positive Teacher-Student and Student-Student Relationships

• Developmentally Appropriate

Questions that are asked:• Students at this school really care about each

other.

• In my class students have a say in decidingwhat goes on.

• I feel that I can talk to the teachers in thisschool about things that are bothering me.

Teachers Matter!

• Positive teacher-student relationshipslead to:

• higher academic motivation and academicsuccess (Roeser et al., 1996; Wentzel, 1997).

• increased student social emotional skills, suchas caring, empathy, and social responsibility(Schonert-Reichl & Buote, 2005).

Research Findings (cont’d)

• According to students, teachers who care:• Exhibit democratic interaction styles,• Demonstrate enthusiasm about teaching,• Focus on recognition of students’ individuality,

and concern with the students’ nonacademicfunctioning,

• Nurture (e.g., “checks work,” “tells you when youdid a good job,” “praises”) (Wentzel, 1997).

Teacher Care (Hamre & Pianta, 2005)

• What’s the key to academic success for kidsstruggling in school, especially those fromdisadvantaged backgrounds?

• Recent research by Hamre and Pianta found that firstgraders who have had problems in school faredsignificantly better when they received ongoingemotional support from teachers.

Research to Practice:Relation of Caring Classrooms to Social Responsibility and Social

Emotional Development

Promoting Positive Development in Children

The Seaview ElementarySchol Study

Research QuestionWhat is the relation of changes instudents’ perceptions of a caring

classroom to outcomes?

Seaview Elementary School Study:Method

• 70 students, 4th to 7th grades• 36% girls• 70% from two-parent families• 21% first language English, 30% Chinese, 26%

Vietnamese, and 23% other• Children were surveyed in the spring of 2004 and

2005

Students’Perceptions of

ClassroomSupportiveness

School Belonging

ProsocialBehaviours

Social-EmotionalDimensions

Social, Emotional,and School

Success

SocialResponsibility

Measures

Helping,Cooperating

Empathy, PerspectiveTaking

RESEARCH RESULTS

Longitudinal

Time 1 (Spring, 2004)to

Time 2 (Spring, 2005)

Research Question• How do changes over time in perceptions of

classroom caring (or belonging) result in studentchanges in empathy, perspective-taking, and socialresponsibility?

• Two Groups• Increased Group - ∩ in classroom supportiveness from Time 1 to

Time 2• Decreased Group - ∪ in classroom supportiveness from Time 1

to Time 2• Change scores, Time 2 – Time 1

Classroom Supportiveness from Time 1to Time 2 by Group (change scores)

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

Empathy Perspective-taking

Decreased Group

Increased Group

Changes in Classroom Supportiveness andSocial Responsibility Goals from T1 to T2

-0.6-0.5-0.4-0.3-0.2-0.1

00.10.20.3

PROPeers

PRO-Acad

SR-Peers

SR-Acad

DecreasedGroupIncreasedGroup

Change in School Belonging from T1to T2 by Group

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

School Belonging

DecreasedGroupIncreasedGroup

Research to Practice:UBC & VSB Partnership

Promoting Students’ Social Responsibility

The Hastings ElementarySchool Study

The Hastings ElementarySchool Study

Research Questions• Do children identify a significant non-related

adult in school?• What is the relation between continuity and

discontinuity in relationships with significantschool-based adults and dimensions ofsocial, emotional and academiccompetence?

Method

Participants158 students from the 4th-7th grades.50% girls,42% first language English, 35% Chinese, and 23%

other.

MethodologyStudents in grades 4-6 were surveyed over a 2-year

period,Measures: Social, emotional, and school adjustment.

Important Adults from HastingsCommunity School: Questionnaire

• Make a list of the adults from HastingsCommunity School who are important in your life.

• Now choose one of the people from above.• Person: _______________________• List all the ways in which this person isimportant in your life.

Research Question #1

Who did children identify as important to themin school?

Teachers ………………………………….………..62%Coach……………………………………….………..4%Counsellors………………………………….…….14%Youth and Childcare Worker…………………….…6%Other (e.g., Administrators)……………. . . . . . . .14%

The Voices of Students• Taking the child’s perspective: What are the

characteristics of significant adults in schools? (kappa =.85)

• Supportive teaching (adult is actively involved inpromoting positive learning experiences for the child).

• Nurturant/supportive (adult supports the child withmanaging emotions; demonstrates warmth andcaring)

• Positive personality traits (adult possessespersonality traits that are positive, such as humor,trustworthiness)

• Other

Response Categories

# %• Supportive teaching 45 27• Nurturant/Supportive 69 42• Positive personality traits 37 22• Other 14 8

What the kids say:

• “She makes me forget all the bad things in my life.”

• “Listens to me when I need her to.”

• “She is very kind to me.”

• “I can talk to him about my problems”

• “He is always gentle.”

What the kids say:

• “She cares about people’s feelings.”

• “She will not just help you and send you off.

• She will check back on you and see how you• are doing.”

• “He has kept me on the path to being great.”

• “ He likes me.”

• “She is willing to share some of her own time to help me.”

Research Question # 2:Change from Time 1 to Time 2

Research Question:What is the relation between continuity and discontinuityin relationships with significant school-based adults anddimensions of social, emotional and academiccompetence?

Dependent variable: change scores (Time 2 -Time 1)

*positive number = positive change

Students were categorized into one of four groups reflectingchanges or stability in their relationships with adults from timeone to time two.

Group 1: no one in year one no one in year two

Group 2: no one in year one someone in year two

Group 3: someone in year one no one in year two

Group 4: someone in year one someone in year two

Change from Time 1 to Time 2

Stability vs. Instability

• Stable groups = little or no change• No one to no one• Someone to someone

• Unstable groups = change• No one to someone (+)• Someone to no one (-)

Change from Time 1 to Time 2:Prosocial Goals and School Self-Efficacy

-0.8-0.7-0.6-0.5-0.4-0.3-0.2-0.100.10.20.3

Prosocial Goals School Efficacy

No one T1 & T2

No one T1 to one T2

One T1 to no one T2

Someone T1 & T2

Change from Time 1 to Time 2:Empathy and Perspective Taking

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

Empathy Perspectivetaking

No one T1 & T2No one T1 to one T2One T1 to no one T2someone T1&2

Three Guiding Principles

• Development of the whole child –intellectual, social, emotional, ethical, andaesthetic, and physical

• School as a caring community.• The importance of school belonging .

• Relationships as central:

Conclusions

• It is critical to the future of our society that we identify thefactors that assist children and youth to becomecompetent, caring adults and productive citizens.

• We all share a stake in the development of students’emotional and social competence and in identifying theprocesses that facilitate or undermine it.

• The research supports the need for coordinated effortsto create caring and supportive school environments thatfoster belonging and school success.

Conclusions

• Thank You!!

• Questions