The Emotional Curriculum

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Dr Tom Clements, an Educational Psychologist, about the problems with withdrawing playtime from children and young people.  We discuss why teachers may resort to removing playtime and how they view this approach touching on a realisation that this can often be making the problem worst.  We discuss alternatives to the removal of punishment that teacher...

Send us Fan Mail In the episode we speak to Dr Duncan Gillard, an Educational Psychologist who is using evidence informed approaches to promote the well-being of children and young people in his work. We discussed DNA-V (the Acceptance and Commitment model for youth) and how this has been adapted to universal, targeted and more specialist levels for use in schools.  We discuss how important it is...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Dr Clio Berry about her research which has explored hope in young people. We explore a new model of hope and how we could apply this to help build hope in young people.  We discuss the malleability of hope and what can be done to try and increase hope for those that are struggling with low hope, alongside considering why hope is such an important area...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Dr Emily Hattersley, Educational Psychologist, about teacher's views on young people's mental health in schools. We explore how teacher's try to understand the needs of those they work with and how their insights and thoughtfulness show the level of care, and desire to help, behind the profession.  However, we also discuss the difficult...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Dr Becky Morgan, Educational Psychologist, about how language can impact on the identities of adolescent, autistic girls. We discuss how words can influence how autistic girls see themselves and are seen by others and how power also feeds into this identity.  We explore how different dialogues can help or hinder young autistic girls and how we can use...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Dr Emma Barrow, Educational Psychologist, about the barriers to adolescents seeking help for their mental health. We discuss how issues such as perceived impact of the help they will receive and stigma about mental health create barriers to adolescents seeking the help they need and also consider what facilitates this behaviour.  We think about the im...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Dr Nadia Siddique about her work which has explored the effectiveness of interventions on outcomes for students.  We discuss her evaluation of the Philosophy4Children intervention in schools and what she learnt from this study.  We talk about the power of using questions in classroom practice and how this can develop a range of skills above and beyond...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Dr Emma Williams, from the University of Surrey, about her research investigating how autistic pupils in mainstream school settings make sense of themselves and what impacts on this.  Emma discusses her synthesis of studies which found that most autistic pupils appear to make sense of themselves as being different in a negative way to other pupils. Th...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Dr J. J. Kelly, of 'Unorthdocs Inc.', about how she has taught young people to have the skills to love themselves.  We discuss J. J.'s use of dialectical behavioural therapy to help people build the skills they need to support themselves.  We touch on some of the unique approaches she uses in her own work, such as mentoring and a focus on...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Dr Lawrence Howells, Clinical Psychologist, about his work which focuses on a move away from diagnosing mental health disorders towards an emotion based approach to well-being. We discuss how understanding the developmental stage of adolescence is crucial in understanding how best to support adolescent well-being.  We explore how this understanding does...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Deidre McGillicuddy, from University College Dublin, about her research into children's views of ability grouping. We discuss findings that highlight the negative impact of ability grouping and consider why the practice of ability grouping is still so common.  Deirdre shares findings from her research which found a significant impact of ability gro...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Abbey McClemont about her work with young people who have a diagnosis of ADHD and ASD.  We discuss how having a dual diagnosis of ASD and ADHD can increase the likelihood of young people being targets of bullying and why this is.  We explore the links between diagnoses, bullying and school refusal and why externalising behaviour is an important factor...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Jyoti Manuel, founder of Special Yoga, about how we can learn to regulate using our breath and body.  We discuss how the regulation of teachers in the classroom is vital to helping the regulation of the children they teach. We also explore how regulation is possible even for the most restless children due to the many different ways we can use our brea...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Dr Nicole Schnackenberg a Child, Community and Educational Psychologist, psychotherapist and trustee of the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation. We discuss what Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is and the experiences of adolescents suffering from this condition.  We explore how BDD is related to relationships, shame and a sense of belonging and how we can...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Professor Robert J Coplan from Carleton University about the different types of social withdrawal in children and how these can best be supported. We unpick the reasons why children may be socially withdrawn, which go beyond shyness, and how we can help these children to achieve in the school setting which often rewards social participation.  We explore...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Dr Jolanta Burke, from the Centre for Positive Psychology and Health at RCSI, Dublin about using positive psychology approaches in schools.  We discuss how positive psychology can balance the tendency to focus on weaknesses and what is 'wrong' in our lives by tapping into what is 'right' for us.  We explore how this can be applied to...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Lisa Stephenson from Leeds Beckett University about Story Makers Company which aims to use stories to promote diversity and wellbeing in young people.  We explore how creative spaces have reduced in schools and yet are hugely important for young people to develop a sense of agency and to have a safe space to explore emotions.  We find out more about h...

Send us Fan Mail In  this episode Dr Kate Rice Warnell explains how the social cognitive skills of those in middle child can contribute to social anxiety. We explore the complicated world of social cognition, theory of mind and mind mindedness and discuss how skills in these areas may contribute to social anxiety in young adolescence.  We consider how different skills, such as being attuned to oth...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Dr Eithne Kennedy discusses her research which focuses on changing the environments in which children learn literacy to engage and motivate them. We discuss how motivation is inextricable from achievement in literacy and how this means that those struggling from an early age fall into a vicious cycle of difficulties.  We explore how creating classrooms that promote...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Dr Gemma Gough discusses her thesis which explored young carers' own perspectives on the factors which contributed to their positive educational achievement. We consider the terminology and experiences of young carers and how research has historically considered the negative outcomes for this group of young people.  We then explore the factors that contribute...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Dr Janice Phung, from California State University San Marcos, discusses her research which used a martial arts intervention to develop executive functioning in children with autism. We explore what executive functioning is and how it is impacted in people with autism.  We discuss how the nature of martial arts lends itself to building executive functioning and how...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Nora Trompeter, from Macquarie University in Australia, discusses her research which explored the impact of cyber victimisation on young people.  We discuss how the impact of cyber victimisation differs from face to face bullying and the prevalence of this.  Nora presents her research which suggests that building a young person's coping self-efficacy and emoti...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Dr Sarah McGeown from the University of Edinburgh discusses the relationship between emotions and narrative fiction. We discuss the feelings that books can elicit and the principles teachers can put into place in school to encourage children and young people to read for pleasure.  She also talks about the research she carries out in collaboration with children, you...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Dr Anna Cook about how we can support positive experiences of relationships for children on the autistic spectrum. We discuss the difficulties in relationships for children on the autistic spectrum and their desire to build friendships.  We explore how perceived acceptance of autism in society can  lead to masking and how taking a novel approach that br...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Dr May Lene Karlsen who has established Children Heard, alongside her colleague Dr Gail Sinitsky, to promote the voices of children. We discuss how children's perspectives can offer a unique and powerful perspective and the risks if we do not listen to these voices.  We speak about the Children Heard project during coronavirus that highlights the b...