So much research is demonstrating that our young people are caught like rabbits in a snare; sandwiched between the relentless educational standards agenda and the media frenzy to be rich, thin, famous and beautiful.  The SEAL programme creates a focus, not on outcome but on reflection to develop self awareness and self management.  With a new curriculum that gives students opportunities to be more independent and creative, it is even more important to teach lessons in social and emotional intelligence, explicitly and consistently, through primary and secondary stages.

 
‘SEAL is the most important thing to happen in education for the last hundred years’ Dr Andrew Curran, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist
 
The argument that children should understand themselves as learners and acquire more independence and resilience has been reinforced by some of the latest developments in neuroscience.  With the development of Assessment for Learning, Citizenship and the ECM agenda, the whole configuration of the curriculum is suddenly being viewed in a different way - a way that values the student’s ability to think about themselves and their own responsibilities as a learner, and thereby as a human being.  The skills and competencies needed to develop these responsibilities put the development of emotional intelligence at the heart of schooling.  Implemented effectively, alongside learning how to learn, it will mean students will develop the tools to work harder than their teachers and develop the motivation, self-discipline and self-awareness to become successful employees and happier, more participatory citizens.
 
The curriculum changes above can be allied to an active student voice programme which encourages a sense of ownership, enterprise and responsibility.  If emotional intelligence such as persistence, optimism and self management are explicitly modelled and taught across the whole curriculum, then students can develop good learning habits that counter the hedonistic drivers of the ‘have it all’ credit card society.
 
SEAL is the antidote to ‘affluenza’

Lessons taught in a brain friendly manner are those where active participation, variety and challenge combine to make learning exciting but demanding.  The educational environment will need to cater for flexible approaches which create individualised learning opportunities and provide a safe and inspiring backdrop to learning experiences.  SEAL can provide the ethos that creates a value driven organisation where self respect and respect for each other facilitate the freedom to love learning.  Oliver Adams in his book ‘Affluenza’ discovered that the contagious western values that promote materialistic goals are eroding what really makes us happy – great relationships and feeling valued!  All we read about 21st century learning reinforces the fact that those who can’t be flexible, adaptable and emotionally resilient will not survive in the knowledge-based economy.  Now that there are more 60 year olds than 16 year olds, we need our youngsters to thrive in the global workplace, if we are to have the pensions our parents enjoy!
 
Can we actually teach happiness though?

Schools have always tried to give students good advice about life and friends, drugs and careers.  However, these sessions are often delivered by overworked form tutors teaching outside their specialism, and are rarely valued by students in their present format.  There are no exams in it so it can’t be important - can it?  The fact that we have more depression, suicide, self harm and anxiety in our young population than ever before should give us the clear feedback that our children are finding life hard and the odd PSHE session isn’t enough.  Despite their flat screen TVs, laptops, i-pods, state of the art mobile phones and flashing wheelie trainers they don’t always feel good about themselves.  Managing their friendships and self-esteem may be the most important aspect of growing up.  The SEAL programme recognises this and we can teach students to develop and assess their own progress in social and emotional intelligence.
 
Having taught many lessons on emotional intelligence, including how to control moods, how to motivate yourself and develop your willpower or manage stress.  The response of the students was: ‘This is great - why hasn’t anyone told us about this before?’  Employers complain that we are not preparing young people for the challenges of work – that they lack the communication skills and the self discipline to succeed.  70% of employers worry more about the lack of emotional intelligence in young recruits than their lack of literacy skills.
 
Intelligence is learnable!

Carol Dweck suggests that the most successful learners (those that add value!) are those who don’t necessarily believe they are especially intelligent but who believe that hard work will make them more clever and successful.  They know that if they work at it and challenge themselves with tasks they find hard and uncomfortable, then they really can grow their brains.  In the classroom, teachers know that achievement is as much about hard work and self management as it is about ability.  This fits with the core belief that intelligence is learnable, that we can become more clever the harder we work and the more we are willing to try things that we don’t find easy.  This necessitates a disposition that is willing to try hard, learn from mistakes and take responsibility for their own progress.  Such a disposition, alongside excellent communication skills (charm and rapport!), can and should be explicitly nurtured in our schools.
 
Such dispositions are mentioned in the Vision 2020 publication as the crucial qualities for 21st century learning:

· ‘taking responsibility for, and being able to manage, one’s own learning and developing the habits of effective learning’
· ‘knowing how to work independently, without close supervision’
· ‘being confident and able to investigate problems and find solutions’
· ‘being resilient in the face of difficulties’
· ‘being creative, inventive, enterprising and entrepreneurial.’
 
Vision 2020, Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 Review Group,2007
 
‘The Learners Toolkit’ contains 52 lessons that try to teach such qualities explicitly.  The three sections address emotional intelligence, learning how to learn and developing values that present students with an alternative to the ‘affluenza’ virus.  In John Taylor Gatto’s account of the hidden curriculum he describes the product of our western education system in this way ‘they hate solitude, are cruel, materialistic, dependent, passive, violent timid in the face of the unexpected and addicted to distraction’  As an award winning teacher in the US, he recommends ‘massive rethinking’ to create a more healthy society, the SEAL programme can underpin your school’s transformation.
 
The bonus is, that when we dedicate time to lessons in SEAL and underpin our curriculum with the SEAL values of respect, empathy, friendship and self awareness, we develop, not just our students, but our staff and ourselves.
 
Jackie Beere

Independent Thinking Associate and Author of The Learners Toolkit published by Crown House Publishing – lessons to help develop the personal qualities that make successful learners.
 
References:

Carol Dweck ‘Self-theories: Their role in Motivation, Personality and Development’
John Paul Gatto ‘Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling’ 2006 (New Society Publishers)
Oliver James ‘Affluenza: How to be successful and stay sane’ 2007 (Vermillion)
2020 vision 2007 Teaching and Learning Review Group (DFES Publications)