1. Teacher Well-being, Assessment of SEL, and School Discipline:
What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here?
Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, Ph.D.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

2. OVERVIEW
PART 1: Teacher well-being and Teacher education PART 2: SEL Assessment PART 3: School Discipline Through an SEL Lens

3. “Educating the mind without educating
the heart is no education at all.”
– Aristotle

4. INTERVENTION PREVENTION
Life Jackets hanging by Barbara Eckstein - Flickr CC Attribution
Life Preserver by Beverley Goodwin - Flickr CC Attribution
INTERVENTION
PREVENTION

5. PART 1
A story
Introduction to teachers’ SEL and well- being

6. Alone by Derek Mindler
A STORY

7. Find something that you like about every student.
Key Messages
Find something that you like about every student.
Lead with compassion.

8. TAKE HOMES MESSAGES
Create environments for students that are participatory, caring, safe, and nurturing.
Provide students with opportunities and specific skills that will foster their social and emotional competence, happiness, and well-being.
Take the time to promote educators’ social and emotional competence -- developing their happiness and well-being. 8

10. WHY NOW?

11. Changes and Challenges: Risk Factors
SLEEP
STRESS
Changes and Challenges: Risk Factors
Social and economic changes have led to increases in number of children living in poverty (1 in 6 in Canada).
DECREASED EMPATHY
BULLYING
MENTAL ILLNESS

12. Toxic Stress

13. STRESS CONTAGION
In Trouble by Phil Dragesh - Flickr CC Attribution
Milkie:
Children in more negative environments—such as classrooms with fewer material resources and whose teachers receive less respect from colleagues—have more learning, externalizing, interpersonal, and internalizing problems. Moreover, children in classrooms with low academic standards, excessive administrative paperwork, rowdy behavior, and low skill level of peers have more problems across one or more outcomes. Some
Teacher wellbeing research (our study): Oberle & Schonert-Reichl, 2016, Social Science and Medicine
how are teacher wellbeing and student outcomes connected?
Teachers need to take care of themselves in order to take care of/ connect with their students
Teacher burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization from students, leaves them unable to connect with students and form caring relationships
We found that in classrooms in which teachers reported high levels of burnout, students had elevated mornign cortisol levels
 is teacher stress contagious? Does teacher stress spread to students?
Pathways: mediators might be a poorly managed classroom, low levels of connectedness, decline in classroom climate
Reverse explanation: students might show up in school more stressed and this could be a challenging classroom teaching situation, leading to higher burnout
Milkie & Warner, 2011, Classroom learning environments and the mental health of first grade children Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Oberle & Schonert-Reichl, 2016, Stress contagion in the classroom? The link between classroom teachers’ burnout and morning cortisol in elementary school students. Social Science and Medicine.

14. Part 2: The well-being of adults in school!

16. First…
Then…

17. The Prosocial Classroom:
A Model of Teacher Social and Emotional Competence and Classroom and Child Outcomes
Healthy Teacher/Student Relationships
Teachers’ Social & Emotional Skills & Well Being
Healthy Classroom Climate
Student
Social, emotional & academic
outcomes
Effective classroom management skills
Effective SEL implementation
School/Community Context Factors
Jennings & Greenberg, 2009

18. Teaching is one of the most stressful of all professions!
1. 46% of teachers report high daily stress during the school year. That’s tied with nurses for the highest rate among all occupational groups, and higher than doctors.
Gallup (2014). State of American Schools. Retrieved from
services/178709/state-america-schools-report.aspx.

19. Recent Research Findings . . .
Teacher turnover costs up to $7 billion a year, with the negative impact of teacher turnover being greatest at low-performing, high-poverty, high-minority schools (National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, 2007).
There is a growing teacher shortage that could worsen by One reason for this growing shortage is high teacher attrition (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas, 2016).

20. Sources of Teacher Stress
School Organizations that lack strong principal leadership, a healthy school climate and a collegial, supportive environment;
Job Demands that are escalating with high-stakes testing, student behavioral problems, and difficult parents;
Work Resources that limit a teacher’s sense of autonomy and decision-making power; and
Teacher Social and Emotional Competence to manage stress and nurture a healthy classroom.

21. Teacher Preparation Makes a Difference!

26. The Solution: CARE FOR TEACHERS
Happy Teachers by Melanie Cook - Flickr CC Attribution

27. STRATEGY #1: Implement evidence-based programs that promote teachers’ SEC

28. Mindfulness Programs for Teachers
Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) (Kemeny et al., 2012)
Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) (Flook et al., 2013; Frank et al., 2015)
Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) (Jennings et al., 2011, 2013)

29. Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques (SMART) (Benn et al
Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques (SMART) (Benn et al., 2012; Roeser et al., 2013; Crain, Schonert-Reichl, & Roeser)
8-week period (11 after-school sessions, 36 contact hours)
Concentration, attention and mindfulness
Understanding and regulation of emotions
Empathy, compassion and forgiveness

30. Cultivating Awareness and Resilence in Education:
PROGRAM MODEL
5 Sessions
2 days
1 day (2-3 weeks later)
1 day booster
Phone coaching

31. STRATEGY #2: Find ways to promote your own happiness and well-being

32. Happiness! Heart Mind Well being UNIVERSAL HUMAN VALUES
Your thoughts about why it is important????

33. Part 2: Advancing the Science and Practice of Social and Emotional Learning: To Address It is to Assess It

34. “What is not assessed, is not addressed”
HELP has worked for over 15 years now to shine a light, in a variety of ways on the importance of childhood.
We have been guided throughout by the core idea that early childhood is a determinant of health and if we can improve the environments in which children spend their time, and enhance their experiences, we can make a significant contribution toward a more equal society and a happier and healthier one too
“What is not assessed, is not addressed”

35. SEL Assessment: Meaningful, Measurable, Malleable (McKown, 2017)

36. SEL ASSESSMENTS: RESOURCES

38. Qualitative Data: The Lens of Students

39. Characteristics of Caring Teachers (Wentzel, 1997)
Students were asked the following questions on a sheet of paper titled “Who Cares?”:
List three things that teachers do to show that they care about you.
List three things that teachers do to show that they don’t care about you?

42. Virtual Environment for Social Information Processing
(VESIP )

43. Including biological measures in research on SEL
Family by the Lake by Katina Rogers - Flickr CC Attr

45. Part 3: School Discipline Through an SEL Lens

46. # 1: Identify opportunities to teach SEL skills
Heartfelt coaching by woodleywonderworks - Flickr CC Attr

47. #2: RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF POSITIVE TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS

48. “Every child requires someone in his or her life who is absolutely crazy about them.”
Urie Bronfenbrenner
Paradigm shift from ill-being to well-being
Possible solution is creating contexts and conditions where children’s natural talents can flourish.

49. Supportive Adults in School
Connectedness to adults at school more strongly predicted 4th graders’ emotional well-being than connectedness to adults at home or in the neighborhood and community.
Connectedness to adults was a stronger predictor of students’ emotional well-being than socio-economic status.
(Oberle, Schonert-Reichl et al., 2014)
Students with Teachers by Intel Free Press - Flickr CC Attribution
Oberle E, Schonert-Reichl KA, Guhn M, Zumbo BD, Hertzman C. The Role of Supportive Adults in Promoting Positive Development in Middle Childhood: A Population-Based Study. Canadian Journal of School Psychology Nov 3;29(4):296–316.

50. Strategy: Implement the Two-by-Ten Strategy (Ed Leadership)
"Two-by-Ten." Here, teachers focus on their most difficult student. For two minutes each day, 10 days in a row, teachers have a personal conversation with the student about anything the student is interested in.
Wlodkowski found an 85-percent improvement in that one student's behavior. In addition, he found that the behavior of all the other students in the class improved.”
Strategy: Implement the Two-by-Ten Strategy (Ed Leadership)

51. Thank You Photo Credits: Presentation Design: Jeremy Alexander - HELP
Titles OK?
Photo Credits:
Boy pointing by ruurmo; Boy with pug by Renata Alves dos Anjos;
Boy and basketball by Alex E Proimos; Girl looking to horizon by Roby Ferrari; Sad girl by apdk; Girl picking beans by various brennemans; All you need is love by Carf;
Presentation Design: Jeremy Alexander - HELP