The Emotional Curriculum

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk to Dr Chris Bagley, Director of Research at States of Mind, about school exclusions in England. We explore how the history of education in England has led to the current culture of exclusions  and the impact of these on young people and society.  We consider why England has higher rates of exclusion than other countries, what they do differently and what ca...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Joanna Griffin a counselling psychologist and creator of affinityhub.uk, a website dedicated the emotional wellbeing of parents and carers of children with special needs. We discuss the emotional journey that is associated with having a child with special needs,  touching on why simple views of trauma and grief explanations do not capture the true exp...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk to Dr Kelly Morgan from the DECIPHer, School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University about the impact of thesummer holiday on the mental health of adolescents. We discuss her research which gathered evidence from young people in Wales about their experiences during the summer holiday and found a significant impact of levels of deprivation on mental health....

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk to Dr Elsie Whittington from Manchester Metropolitan University about how teenagers view sexual consent and the complexities within this. We discuss how the idea of a 'black and white' approach to sexual consent doesn't represent the real-life experiences that teenagers come across.  How does societies' difficulty in saying 'no&apos...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we continue our discussion with Nic Hooper and Duncan Gillard, this time discussing evidence based practice. We touch on the expectation on teachers to develop mental wellbeing in their students and the barriers to schools using evidence based practice.  Nic and Duncan also present their process of evaluating the Connect Curriculum and why this is so important to t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk with Duncan Gillard and Nic Hooper who led the team in the development of the Connect Curriculum. We explore the theory of psychological flexibility and acceptance and commitment therapy on which the Connect Curriculum is based and discuss the importance of the core skills in the Curriculum: discoverer, noticer, advisor and values.  We consider the need for...

Send us Fan Mail In the first episode in the third series we discuss the unconscious processes in the classroom with Lynn Stammers a PhD student at Sheffield University. We talk about how emotion plays a significant role in learning and how experiences as an infant are both relevant and important to consider in the classroom.  We explore psychoanalytical processes such as projection, containment a...

Send us Fan Mail In the second part of our belonging episode we speak to Professor Kathryn Riley about how we can build a sense of belonging in our schools. We discuss how a sense of belonging for all should be a priority in schools at this time.  We explore the role agency has in belonging and look at the idea of compassionate leadership. Kathryn shares examples from schools where belonging is a...

Send us Fan Mail In the first of a two part special on belonging in schools Max Coates, Visiting Professor at Plymouth Marjon University, introduces the idea of belonging and how this is connected to well-being.  We explore the difference between hedonistic and eudaimonic well-being and how this links to learning, and how the definition of 'belonging' is important for establishing this w...

Send us Fan Mail Naomi Fisher, an independent clinical psychologist, discusses self-directed learning and the impact it can make on children's progress and success in learning. We explore why school can contribute to feelings of low self-worth and facilitate a lack of progress and how self-directed learning can be the antidote to this.  We consider the research into self-directed learning and...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Tracey Fuller, form the University of Sussex, discusses her research into information sharing and safeguarding disclosures with school counselors which won the CPCAB Counselling Research Award in 2017.  We explore how disclosures feel for the young person at the centre of situation and what these stories tell us about the importance of trust, openness and continued care during...

Send us Fan Mail In the final episode of our series exploring the use of punishment in schools Dr John Tillson and Laura Oxley discuss how the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child can be used as a framework against which the legitimacy of punishment can be judged.  We consider the arguments given for exclusion and other punishments in schools and whether these take into account the interests o...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Geoff James, founder of The Solutions Focused Coach, discusses how a solutions focused approach is more relevant than ever right now. We discuss the impact of COVID 19 and how this should provide an opportunity for schools to change their approach to behavior and staff well-being.  We also consider how some aspects of the solution focused approach can be adopted by families man...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, in our series exploring punishment in schools, we talk to Ashley Taylor and Lily Lamboy about how teacher's perceptions of black girls has led to their over punishment in schools.  We discuss the idea of the misattribution of agency; how black girls are seen as having more agency than they actually experience which can lead to teacher's taking the view t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, in our series exploring punishment in schools, we talk to Dr Helen Brown Coverdale, from the UCL School of Public Policy, about how we can use care ethics to guide our approach to punishment in school. We explore how punishment itself may not be enough to stop a person committing the wrong in the future and how, instead, education could focus on building the capac...

Send us Fan Mail In the fourth episode in our series exploring punishment in schools we talk to Professor Randall Curren about his rethinking of traditional elf-determination theory and how this can influence punishment in schools. We discuss how self-determination theory (a theory of motivation) can be considered in an educational context and how this would change the need for punishment.  We exp...

Send us Fan Mail In the third episode in our series exploring the use of punishments in schools we talk to Winston C. Thompson and Abby Beneke about their work which explores what makes punishment in schools legitimate.  We discuss three criteria which can guide reflections on whether punishments in schools could be considered legitimate: the authority to punish; the moral standing to condemn; the...

Send us Fan Mail In the second in our series exploring the use of punishments in schools Professor Bryan Warnick presents his work on the characteristics which makes schools unique. We take a historical perspective on  how punishment has evolved in schools and then explore four special characteristics of schools: the educational purpose; the developmental ethos; the blurred lines of moral responsi...

Send us Fan Mail In the first in a series of podcasts Principal Investigators John Tillson, from Liverpool Hope University and Winston C. Thompson, from Ohio State University, introduce their project 'Pedagogies of Punishment'. Throughout the series we reflect on punishment from a variety of different perspectives including philosophical, educational, historical and psychological.  In th...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Sarah MacIsaac, from the University of Edinburgh, shares her work on how social media use has impacted on the relationships and identities of adolescents in one school.  We discuss the sense that the adolescents were under the constant gaze of their peers and the 'celebrification' that came with this.  We explore how teenagers can be negatively and positively impacted...

Send us Fan Mail Dr DeLeon Gray, Associate Professor in Educational Psychology at North Carolina State University and a Scholar in Residence at Michigan State University, discusses his work on how students attempts to stand out can manifest as learning behaviours. We explore the human need to stand out whilst fitting in and how this may influence the participation of young people in the classroom....

Send us Fan Mail Carina Embeita an Educational Psychologist shares her research which explored parental views following the exclusion and reintegration of their child. We discuss how exclusion and reintegration are inseparable experiences for parents and what this suggests in terms of the support that reintegrating schools can offer.  Carina presents the views and emotions of parents during this p...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Geoff James and I continue the conversation about using a solutions focused approach in schools.  We discuss how traditional models of discipline could mollycoddle children and think about how a solutions focused approach can be embedded into the systems of schools.  https://www.thesolutionsfocusedcoach.com/ Twitter:@emcurriculum Contact: theemotionalcurriculum@gmail.com Music:...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Geoff James, founder of The Solutions Focused Coach, introduces the idea of using a solution focused approach in school. We discuss how current trends towards behaviourist, reward and punishment, styles of discipline in schools may not be providing the answers that schools are looking for.  We explore a different way to approach the 'problem' that draws on knowledge o...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Teresa Cremin from the Open University discusses her work into reading for pleasure.   We discuss how research has found that reading for pleasure has academic, emotional and social benefits and how teachers are an important part in developing the emotional impact of reading for their students.  Teresa presents the idea that reading should be social experience and how th...