Abstract
Boarding schools can provide quality secondary education for Aboriginal students from remote Aboriginal Australian communities. However, transition into boarding school is commonly challenging for Aboriginal students as they need to negotiate unfamiliar cultural, social and learning environments whilst being separated from family and community support. Accordingly, it is critical for boarding schools to provide programs that enhance the social and emotional skills needed to meet the challenges. This study evaluated a 10-session social and emotional learning (SEL) program for Aboriginal boarders and identified contextual factors influencing its effectiveness. The study combined a pre-post quantitative evaluation using diverse social and emotional wellbeing measures with 28 students between 13–15 years (10 female, 11 male, 7 unidentified) and qualitative post focus groups with 10 students and episodic interviews with four staff delivering the program. Students’ social and emotional skills significantly improved. The qualitative findings revealed improvements in students seeking and giving help, working in groups, managing conflict, being assertive and discussing cultural issues. The focus groups and interviews also identified program elements that worked best and that need improvement. Secure relationships with staff delivering the program and participation in single sex groups stood out as critical enablers. The findings lend evidence to the critical importance of collaborative design, provision and evaluation of SEL programs with Aboriginal peoples.
Highlights
Schools are increasingly urged to play an active role in promoting the social and emotional wellbeing of their students and to pay particular attention to those most vulnerable to negative health and learning outcomes [1]
The analysis of the three focus groups and the individual episodic interviews with staff indicated that both students and staff consistently and independently reported an increase in student social and emotional skills such as seeking help from and giving help to others, working in groups, managing conflict and asserting themselves
This study has demonstrated that an evidence-informed, culturally responsive social and emotional learning (SEL) program designed for Aboriginal middle school students (Years 7–9) can be effectively delivered by boarding staff in the boarding school setting, can achieve student endorsement, and can lead to significant improvement in student social and emotional skills
Summary
Schools are increasingly urged to play an active role in promoting the social and emotional wellbeing of their students and to pay particular attention to those most vulnerable to negative health and learning outcomes [1]. The secondary education system is seen as an important agent of change for Aboriginal Australians, with more young Aboriginal people participating in senior secondary education [2]. Boarding schools are seen as a way of providing high quality secondary education, for students from remote communities. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 771; doi:10.3390/ijerph17030771 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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