Can a Circle of Support help to boost the Self-Concept, Social Skills and Modify the Behaviour of Pupils in Year 7 at a Secondary School? by Jude Liberman.
A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements of the Degree of Master of Education in the Graduate School of Education September 2003
SYNOPSIS
The QCA have written that schools are required to place focus on the emotional and behavioural development of their students. They have listed criteria to measure emotional behaviour as being
· Has empathy
· Is socially aware Is happy
· Is confident
· Is emotionally stable and shows good self control
(QCA, 2001, p3)
This study begins with a discussion of self-esteem and emotional and behavioural difficulties. It explores how these are linked with reference to possible causes, consequences and ultimately possible intervention strategies.
The practical element of the research is a project run for eight, year seven (11-12 year old) pupils. The intervention is called a Circle of Support which is run once a week for ten weeks and is based in structure and principle on Circle Time and Social Skills programmes.
Children were identified for intervention by teachers, who completed a questionnaire based on a model by Mosley (1998) (see Appendix 13). The behaviours identified were categorised into hostile, withdrawn and lack of self-control behaviours. The children's perspectives on their own behaviour and self-competence was collected using two questionnaires, one also based on the model by Mosley (1998), equivalent to the questionnaire given to teachers, and one designed by Harter (1985), 'The Self-Perception Profile for Children', Teachers and pupils' perspectives on changes in behaviour and perceived self-competence in various domains were collated after the intervention using identical questionnaires.
A discussion of the results showed that after participating in a Circle of Support intervention for ten weeks, all but one of the pupils' perception of their social acceptance had increased. Perceptions of global self-worth (self- esteem) and withdrawn, hostile or lack of self-control behaviours had not significantly changed over the ten weeks through these changes could feasibly occur as longer term consequences of the intervention triggered a cycle of increasing positive self-esteem which could eventually led to improved behaviours.
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