A systematic review of the principles of co-production in relation to the mental health and wellbeing of care leavers.
Megan Pound and Wendy Sims-Schouten
pp 3 - 19
This paper reviews prior applications of co-production principles and their potential impact on the mental health and wellbeing of care leavers. There is minimal research available on care leaver narratives of their experiences and consequent mental health and wellbeing needs. This paper explores the relevance of different, sometimes opposed, approaches to co-production, the knowledge which can be gained about the mental health and wellbeing needs of care leavers, and finally the potential for lifelong learning through co-production with care leavers. A systematic review was selected to draw conclusions about how the method of co-production could improve awareness of and provisions for care leaver mental health and wellbeing. This review included 14 sources with a total of 541 participants. Following a rigorous systematic review on these themes, conclusions were drawn suggesting that co-production involving care experienced individuals, whilst faced with a range of considerations to ensure success, can have largely positive impacts on care leaver mental health and wellbeing and is therefore a recommended methodology.
Exploring Relations among Social-Emotional and Character Development Targets: Character Virtue, Social-Emotional Learning Skills, and Positive Purpose
Danielle R. Hatchimonji, Esha Vaid, Arielle C.V. Linsky, Sam J. Nayman, May Yuan, Marisa MacDonnell and Maurice J. Elias
pp 20 - 37
In the current study, we sought to understand relations among the key intervention targets of social-emotional and character development (SECD) interventions: character virtues, Positive Purpose, and social-emotional learning (SEL). Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students (n = 1011, ages 11 to 16, M = 12.94, SD = 1.00) from five urban middle schools in the mid-Atlantic US completed self-report surveys containing measures of five supporting character virtues (diligence, gratitude, forgiveness, future-mindedness, and generosity) and Positive Purpose. Teachers rated students’ social-emotional strengths. Hierarchical regressions found a constellation of five character virtues was associated with Purpose and SEL, thereby providing empirical support for the framework for SECD interventions. Exploratory analyses found higher student-reported virtues were associated with a steeper increase in teacher ratings of SEL for males and White students, compared to female students and students of color. The current study contributes to both SEL and character education research by demonstrating positive associations among SEL, character, and Positive Purpose in the context of mid-Atlantic US urban middle schools. Future directions for research include examining how these SECD intervention targets and relations among them develop over time, the ability of SECD interventions to cultivate these skills and virtues, and how differences in teacher ratings by student race/ethnicity and sex may occur.
Predicting Sense of Classroom Community from Foreign Language Enjoyment and Anxiety in an English as a Foreign Language Classroom
Alberth
pp 38 - 52
Whereas the role of anxiety and enjoyment in predicting learning outcomes is well documented in the literature, the role of these two emotion dimensions in predicting perceived sense of classroom community is rarely discussed in the literature despite the fact that classroom community serves as a good predictor of learning outcomes. Conducted in a sociocultural context which is under-represented in the international literature, the present study was designed to predict participants’ perceived sense of classroom community based on their reported enjoyment and anxiety scores. A total of 402 senior high school students (male: 153, female: 249) participated in the study. Participants were invited to complete the questionnaires measuring foreign language enjoyment, foreign language anxiety, and perceived sense of classroom community. Multiple regression analysis indicated that foreign language classroom anxiety and enjoyment concurrently explained 39% of the total variance in sense of classroom community. Foreign language enjoyment turned out to be a stronger positive predictor, whereas anxiety was a negative predictor. Both variables were significant predictors for sense of classroom community regardless of gender. Whereas males and females were comparable in terms of perceived sense of classroom community and foreign language enjoyment, females were more anxious than males.
“Negative and positive experiences form the backbone of my understanding of myself and other people”: School life recollections of young adults
Kadri Soo and Dagmar Kutsar
pp 53 - 68
The present paper analyses 70 retrospective narratives from young adults about their school life. It looks for answers to the questions of what people and situations young adults recall as sources of positive or negative feelings and how they (re)construct the impacts of school experiences on their lives as young adults. The analysis found that on one hand a cohesive and safe school climate was a source of high self-esteem, well-being and a sense of belonging to the school, while on the other, peer bullying and the difficulties of teachers in coping with complex situations in the classroom were the most persistent problems in the school atmosphere that the young adults recalled as negative. However, the narrators re-construct some negative past experiences into positives, both individually and collectively.
