Romanian Teachers` Needs and Training Pilot Programme to Implement SEE in a Whole School Approach

Abstract

School-based interventions to promote students’ social and emotional competences are more likely to be effective if they are organised as part of a systemic, whole-school approach. This framework implies intentional and coherent interventions embedded in the school context, where teachers play a key role as they are the primary delivery agents of social and emotional education. As research shows, the success of such interventions is directly linked to the teachers` training and their confidence to deliver relevant learning experiences that support the development of children’s social and emotional competences. Under the Erasmus+ project SEEVAL we investigated the Romanian teachers` needs and experiences related to the social and emotional interventions in the school environment, in order to better understand their needs and therefore to tailor a training programme and protocols of action for a whole-school social and emotional education approach. Within this article we will present the main results of the needs analysis in Romania (764 teachers/school counsellors and 3,667 students) and elements of the subsequent training programme which has been piloted with 41 teachers from 6 Romanian schools. Conclusions are drawn and reflections are made towards ways of improvement in relation to the implementation of a whole school approach to social and emotional education in Romanian schools.