IN THEIR OWN WORDS

by Tracy Shaw, Loca Creatives Director

The blanket of special gifts      Photo: Talya Rochester

School's out for summer, which brings a momentary lull in our Social and Emotional Health projects with children and young people and breathing space to take stock of, and write up, the past few months' work. There have been projects to support transition and help Year 5 and 6 children prepare for change; projects with a language and literacy focus; projects designed to enable children to explore their identities and the gifts they have to give to each other and their wider community; and an extended programme focused on strengthening family interaction by giving space for children and parents to enjoy family-themed conversations and meaningful time together.

Like a golden thread, continuous reflection has run throughout all the doing and making, talking, laughing and learning - reflection with participants, with school staff, and amongst ourselves as the practitioners managing and delivering the work.  Within all our Social and Emotional Health work reflection plays a crucial part in how we do evaluation, capture the project stories, develop our professional practice, and gather evidence for the obligatory post-project reports that the work is effecting change and delivering tangible outcomes.

Reports are good, of course. They have a value not just in themselves as a means of documenting and promoting the work, but also for how the writing of them helps distil our own learning and inform future project planning. But looking back through the material that's been captured recently through the reflective processes embedded within each project, I'm reminded that there's something to be said, too, for simply letting the voices of participants and close observers speak for themselves. 

"We weren't natural leaders at the beginning but we were by the end."

"I wasn't confident with language - working with words gave me confidence."

"J is really benefitting from having opportunities to shine but also learn the consequences of his actions on a small group."

"P had an all round improvement thanks to the project. His interaction is massively better and his self-confidence and self-esteem have increased. He was a target for bullies before but he's much more confident now."

"I feel positive, that's new for me." 

"K wouldn't speak at all before, she didn't have much input, was almost 'invisible'. Now she is speaking her mind and contributing more. She has more confidence."

"L gradually really developed self-control without missing out on the enjoyment. He was able to separate himself from trouble and became more mature."

"I look forward to Thursdays. You can let it all out - all your feelings about High School and things."

"The project helped B to become better at mixing with other children, he got better and better at this as the weeks went by."

"N loved it from day one, always looked forward to the session and was consistently proud of the work he did. He was chosen because he tends to be quite immature and choose friends that are much younger than him, but to us he seem to be the most mature in the group. His confidence and faith in his abilities have really improved."

"J challenged himself every session. He is normally very insular and quiet around others but he shared with the group, was happy to speak in front of everyone and worked really well in partnership. It was great seeing him just chat about general things while he was making and doing. He relaxed with others and the project really helped him to enjoy being with other people."

"M had a safe space to experiment with different aspects of her personality and let her hair down around other children. She cares for younger siblings so it was a good reprieve for her and she had fun."

"This is the beginning of regular rituals for these children and their blanket of special gifts. It will become part of school life and its stories will be their stories."

FLYING THE FLAG

With applause from a mightily successful Field of Flags project finale still ringing in her ears, Loca Creatives Core Team member Mary Robson offers some reflections on Paul Tough's recently published book about child development and 'character-building', makes the links between modern neuroscience and the attachment theory that underpins our Social and Emotional Health projects, and flies the flag for work that creates all-important spaces for conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given its title How Children Succeed - Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, and its New York Times Bestseller banner, you would be forgiven for thinking this is another self-help manual for middle class parents. However, Tough has consulted educators, economists, psychologists, and neuroscientists who are making connections across academic disciplines and together illuminating the complexities of child development in new ways.

So it isn’t a how-to book, but rather a treatise on why ‘character’ qualities such as perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism and self-control are more likely to ensure a child’s success in life than 'cognitive’ teachings.

Tough is an investigative journalist in the States, and his very readable book brings together some compelling evidence. Here is one example:

The effect of good parenting is not just emotional or psychological, the neuroscientists say; it is biochemical.

Neuroscientists’ experiments with rats have led the way to a deeper understanding of attachment. Separated from their mothers at twenty two days, the rats were then tested at maturity. The rats who were licked and groomed more as babies were more likely to independently explore a new cage or eat in an unfamiliar environment.

They were better at mazes. They were more social. They were more curious. They were less aggressive. They had more self-control. They were healthier. They lived longer...When [they] examined the brains of the adult rats, they found significant differences in the stress response systems of the high-LG and low-LG rats, including big variations in the size and shape and complexity of the parts of the brain that regulated stress.

It didn’t matter if it was the birth mother or another rearing rat who did it – it was the licking and grooming that was important, to the point that it ignited the parts of the pup’s genome that controlled the way the rat’s hippocampus would process stress hormones in adulthood.

The scientists went on to apply their findings to humans and recent longitudinal studies clearly show that how children are able to handle stress is directly related to the quality of their parenting. And that environmental stressors - overcrowding, poverty, family turmoil - fall by the wayside if your mother is sensitive to your emotional state. So here is the link between modern neuroscience and attachment theory as developed in the sixties.

Of course, this is music to the ears of those of us engaged in community-based arts in health and especially to those of us interested in the social and emotional development of children. It helps to strengthen the theoretical base of our work with children and their families. Whilst early, secure attachment to a parent is ideal, work can be done in later years that can help to ameliorate the effects of insecure attachment.

Tough is clear that we have a big job on our hands. He is advocating the reform of the American education system, and as we well know in the UK, education is a political matter. Conservatives often cry that character is all, and use it to barrack the poor and disadvantaged to “pull yourself up by your boot straps” or “Get on your bike”. But the scientific evidence is that

 . . . the character strengths that matter so much to young people’s success are not innate; they don’t appear in us magically, as a result of good luck or good genes. . . they are moulded, in measurable and predictable ways by the environment in which children grow up.

So we all have a say in the development of our children. Artists, teachers, social workers, clinicians, neighbours all have a part to play. Our communal work is subversive on one level, taking place under the radar of the latest curriculum developments that are counter to so much research and practice.

Over the last ten months the Loca Creatives team has worked alongside parents, children, teachers and local businesses to help nurture a sense of community centred in a primary school. It culminated in the school field being populated by flags and bunting that represented all the children and their families. It literally created a level playing field, a space where conversations could take place between children, parents, teachers and locals.

It is a very complex business, but helping to create such spaces is one of the ways that our work helps to make a contribution to how children succeed.