Year: 2019
Author: Shlezinger, Keren, Cahill, Helen, Farrelly, Anne, Dadvand, Babak
Type of paper: Abstract refereed
Abstract:
IN THIS PAPER WE ANALYSE QUALITATIVE DATA FROM RESEARCH THAT SOUGHT TO EVALUATE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) PROGRAM - RESILIENCE, RIGHTS, AND RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS (RRRR) - IN VICTORIAN SCHOOLS. SEL PROGRAMS AIM TO EXPLICITLY TEACH THE SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES THAT BUILD INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL RESILIENCE. DRAWING ON INTERVIEWS HELD ACROSS 21 PARTICIPATING PRIMARY SCHOOLS, WE EXAMINE DISCOURSES ABOUT THE WAY PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS NAVIGATE EVERYDAY SOCIAL CONFLICT. KEY FINDINGS SHOW THAT STUDENTS' CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES ARE FRAMED IN HIGHLY GENDERED TERMS, AND THAT AN IMPLICIT HIERARCHY OF VALUES IS ATTACHED TO TRADITIONALLY 'MASCULINE' AND 'FEMININE' FORMS OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION. FOR EXAMPLE, YOUNG BOYS' CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES WERE COMMONLY FRAMED AS MORE EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE AND ACCEPTABLE THAN YOUNG GIRLS', EVEN WHERE BOYS WERE ROUTINELY REPORTED TO USE LOW-LEVEL VIOLENCE. WE THEN PRESENT DATA FROM THREE HIGH IMPLEMENTING RRRR SCHOOLS, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT CHILDREN ARE USING BROADER AND MORE EFFECTIVE CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES AS A RESULT OF THE PROGRAM. WE ARGUE THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WHOLE-SCHOOL, UNIVERSAL SEL APPROACH EMPOWERS YOUNG PEOPLE TO MOVE BEYOND LIMITING GENDER STEREOTYPES TO MAKE SAFER, MORE POSITIVE DECISIONS WHEN RESOLVING CONFLICT.