Dr Anne Southall, Professor Sally Pearce
Forging connections for trauma-informed education: A partnership between Sheffield Hallam University UK and La Trobe University Australia
This presentation explores the collaborative partnership between Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) in the UK and La Trobe University (LTU) in Australia, focused on advancing trauma-informed practice in education. The partnership aims to share knowledge and expertise to promote connections and support the complex interpersonal work of educators in this field. This approach emphasises building strong relationships and networks of support to address the complex needs of traumatised students, children and families and their communities. Through this partnership, SHU and LTU facilitate the exchange of knowledge, resources and best practices in trauma-informed education as well as shared supervision of a higher degree student. In this presentation Dr Anne Southall and Professor Sally Pearce will present the process of collaboration and two shared research projects: relationship mapping and a model of peer supervision adapted for educators.
This presentation directly addresses the conference theme by presenting a global partnership working with traumatised populations of students in two countries. It directly supports the topic of inclusion as the projects aim to develop relationships in and between the whole learning community in mainstream settings.
Prof. Dr. Terje Ogden, Mari-Anne Sørlie
Evaluation of the School-Wide Positive Behavior Support model (SWPBS) in Norwegian primary schools.
The primary aim of the study was to examine the effectiveness of the full three-tiered N-PALS model on pupil problem behaviour and the learning climate in class. N-PALS is the Norwegian version of the SWPBS model. The main research question was: is the prevalence of staff-rated student problem behaviour lower and the learning climate in class (as rated by staff and students) better in the N-PALS schools compared to the comparison schools? And secondly, did the quality of implementation moderate the outcomes?
65 Norwegian primary schools (grade 4-7) participated in a quasi-experimental evaluation of the N-PALS model. Schools were randomly invited according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria and a stratification and matching procedure was applied. 28 schools implemented the full N-PALS model, 17 schools implemented a short version of N-PALS and 20 schools with regular practice served as a control group. Questionnaire data was collected from staff members and students in grades 4-7 at four measurement points across 4 successive school years.
Main outcomes after 3 years were fewer teacher-reported behavioural incidents were registered and the use of praise and encouragement increased significantly in the PALS schools as compared to the control schools. Pupil reports did not support these findings. Schools with high implementation quality benefited the most from the model. (Sørlie & Ogden, 2015). A shortened version of the PALS was tested at 17 schools and the outcomes were compared with the 20 controls (Sørlie, Ogden & Olseth, 2015). Four months after a collective 4-days training of staff, significantly fewer negative behavioural incidents were reported at the intervention schools, compared to the controls.
The school-wide intervention model effectively reduced the level of pupil problem behaviour and significantly improved the classroom learning climate in N-PALS schools compared to the controls, particularly in schools with high implementation quality.
Dr Julie Greer
Putting the ‘y’ into ‘unit’: reimagining resourced provisions. Ways to lead the whole school in meeting the needs of children with social, emotional and mental health needs.
Including children with social emotional and mental health needs in ways which enhance their learning and involve them in the social and cultural benefits of a mainstream school is not easy. For example:
Forging connections for trauma-informed education: A partnership between Sheffield Hallam University UK and La Trobe University Australia
This presentation explores the collaborative partnership between Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) in the UK and La Trobe University (LTU) in Australia, focused on advancing trauma-informed practice in education. The partnership aims to share knowledge and expertise to promote connections and support the complex interpersonal work of educators in this field. This approach emphasises building strong relationships and networks of support to address the complex needs of traumatised students, children and families and their communities. Through this partnership, SHU and LTU facilitate the exchange of knowledge, resources and best practices in trauma-informed education as well as shared supervision of a higher degree student. In this presentation Dr Anne Southall and Professor Sally Pearce will present the process of collaboration and two shared research projects: relationship mapping and a model of peer supervision adapted for educators.
This presentation directly addresses the conference theme by presenting a global partnership working with traumatised populations of students in two countries. It directly supports the topic of inclusion as the projects aim to develop relationships in and between the whole learning community in mainstream settings.
Prof. Dr. Terje Ogden, Mari-Anne Sørlie
Evaluation of the School-Wide Positive Behavior Support model (SWPBS) in Norwegian primary schools.
The primary aim of the study was to examine the effectiveness of the full three-tiered N-PALS model on pupil problem behaviour and the learning climate in class. N-PALS is the Norwegian version of the SWPBS model. The main research question was: is the prevalence of staff-rated student problem behaviour lower and the learning climate in class (as rated by staff and students) better in the N-PALS schools compared to the comparison schools? And secondly, did the quality of implementation moderate the outcomes?
65 Norwegian primary schools (grade 4-7) participated in a quasi-experimental evaluation of the N-PALS model. Schools were randomly invited according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria and a stratification and matching procedure was applied. 28 schools implemented the full N-PALS model, 17 schools implemented a short version of N-PALS and 20 schools with regular practice served as a control group. Questionnaire data was collected from staff members and students in grades 4-7 at four measurement points across 4 successive school years.
Main outcomes after 3 years were fewer teacher-reported behavioural incidents were registered and the use of praise and encouragement increased significantly in the PALS schools as compared to the control schools. Pupil reports did not support these findings. Schools with high implementation quality benefited the most from the model. (Sørlie & Ogden, 2015). A shortened version of the PALS was tested at 17 schools and the outcomes were compared with the 20 controls (Sørlie, Ogden & Olseth, 2015). Four months after a collective 4-days training of staff, significantly fewer negative behavioural incidents were reported at the intervention schools, compared to the controls.
The school-wide intervention model effectively reduced the level of pupil problem behaviour and significantly improved the classroom learning climate in N-PALS schools compared to the controls, particularly in schools with high implementation quality.
Dr Julie Greer
Putting the ‘y’ into ‘unit’: reimagining resourced provisions. Ways to lead the whole school in meeting the needs of children with social, emotional and mental health needs.
Including children with social emotional and mental health needs in ways which enhance their learning and involve them in the social and cultural benefits of a mainstream school is not easy. For example:
- Children, whose unregulated behaviour presents as aggression to staff and peers, are frequently excluded from learning, class and schools.
- Many young people become un-electively home schooled, in a process of miscommunication, frustration and alienation for the child, their family and professionals.
- Pupils, kept within the school boundaries, remain outsiders within - supported by a learning support assistant in the corridor, an empty room or an ‘isolation booth’ (Martin-Denham, 2021) - held in a purgatory of different playtimes and no school trips.
- Schools, who place the ‘hard to teach’ children in resourced units, where their behaviour and learning are kept away from the majority, may accentuate the ‘otherness’ of the most vulnerable.
- Well-intended leaders, who sign up to the concept of inclusion but who struggle to make this happen in the day to day, may perpetuate a notion of impossibility.
- And yet, equally, a child ‘fully included’ in the learning of the class can also feel isolated and different (Kearney, 2009).
