Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA)

ELSAs are teaching assistants that have received additional training from educational psychologists in order to support children and young people in school to understand and regulate their emotions whilst also respecting the feelings of other people around them (ELSA Network, 2017). In order for a person to become an ELSA they must undertake six days of training on a range of topics such as emotional awareness, self-esteem, anger management, friendships, social communication difficulties and loss and bereavement and many more (ELSA Network, 2013) in order to provide the ELSAs with psychological theory an advice to give to the pupils they are helping (Burton et al., 2009).

As stated in the name of an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant, they link in with Emotional Literacy. Emotional Literacy can be defined as “the ability to recognise, understand, handle and appropriately express emotions” (Sharp, 2000, p.8). It also links in with Emotional Intelligence which is described as consisting of five areas which are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills (Salovey & Mayer, 1990; Goleman, 1995). They are both used within literature as they do relate to each other but are also different at the same time, Emotional Literacy is mostly used in educational contexts in the UK (Qualter, Gardner & Whiteley, 2007). When the SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) concept was put into the curriculum there has been a growing interest in Emotional Literacy in schools which was made to look into and develop the social, emotional and behavioural skills of children in education (DfES, 2005, 2007). Burton et al. (2009) has stated that a majority of pupils that have been in the ELSA programme or have had help from an ELSA had a positive impact when working towards specific goals. Bravery and Harris (2009) described that ELSAs help children to understand and express their emotions effectively and the skills that the children learned during the ELSA sessions were able to be transferred into the classroom or school setting (Wilding & Claridge, 2016).

In Swanage Primary School in Dorest, they have two ELSA’s within their school who offer a range of support for the emotional needs of the children such as recognising their emotions, anger management, loss and bereavement, social and friendship skills and self-esteem. (Swanage Primary School). Children are usually referred to the ELSA by their class teacher, senior leaders or sometimes the SENCo, this primary school say that “ELSA’s are not there to fix children’s problems. What we can do is provide emotional support.” (Swanage Primary School) so ELSA’s are not trying to solve or fix any problems that the children have they are there to support them and give the children a safe space to talk about their feelings and try to build upon those feelings.

Grahamslaw (2010) says that people who have been trained as an ELSA have greater levels of self-efficiency and are more likely to believe that they can make a difference to the children’s lives that they work with and they also feel more valued within their role within the school that they are based. In relation to the benefits that ELSAs have to children, teachers have stated that children’s behaviour after intervention from the ELSA and the levels of problems and hyperactivity with the children getting the intervention decreased (Burton, Osborne & Norgate, 2010). Hills (2016) found that the pupils appreciated having someone to talk to about their problems and feelings in school who listened to them without criticising them and by building up a relationship with the ELSA the children felt more accepted within the school. Hills (2016) also found that the pupils who had someone to talk to such as an ELSA felt happier overall due to talking about their feelings rather than bottling them all up. The sessions that are provided to the children should be child-centred which allows the person to see things from the perspective from the child’s point of view and therefore offer understanding to the child (Shotton & Burton, 2019)

“Emotional Literacy is something we model rather than teach……..Unless children experience respectful caring relationships from others they will not know how to develop them for themselves, or even that these are something to aim for. We gain children’s respect by giving respect” (Shotton & Burton, 2019, p.13)

From this, I get that to be an ELSA you need to understand your own emotions and thoughts and how to work through them before trying to teach someone else to do it. By having mutual respect between the ELSA and the pupils it enables them to build up a relationship and gain a trust to talk about their thoughts and feelings.

ELSA sessions can either happen individually or in groups. When in groups, the sessions can either be at lunchtimes or in curriculum times but should happen at the same time and day every week to ensure consistency, they should happen in a space where everyone feels comfortable and where there are no/minimal interruptions (Shotton & Burton, 2019). The group sessions should follow this general format each week: (Shotton & Burton, 2019).

1. Group aims – Why are they here? What do they want to achieve?
2. Establish some ground rules, the children can set these ground rules as they are in control of the sessions as they are child-led. However, there should not be too many rules to the sessions. For example, what is said in the room stays in the room or when someone speaks everyone else listens.
3. Warm up activity/ ice breaker, for example pass the keys around the circle without making a noise. This will get all the children in the group working together and bonding over an activity. The activities should be suitable to the ages of the children in the group.
4. Review of the week – Share one thing that has gone well this week and one thing that has gone not so well.
5. Focus activity – getting to know one another or learning how to give and receive information. Games and puppets can be useful for this.
6. Task for the week – Think about how you can support one another during the week in the playground or classroom. For example, looking out for another pupil in their class at playtime as they always end up on their own.
7. Ask the members to make a name for their group and take photos of the group.
8. To end the sessions, have a drink and a snack such as juice and biscuits – this can help the children to have an incentive for coming as they may look forward to this part of the session. It may also help them develop their social and friendship skills as they will learn how to share and socialise together.
9. Remind the children of the time and place of the next meeting.
10. At the end of the appropriate length of time of meeting (e.g six weeks) the member of staff could give out certificates in order to celebrate what they have learnt or to see how far they have come due to the sessions. The sessions should end once the children no longer need support or if meeting in the groups is not working for some reason. 

When I was on placement a few years ago for college I was in the outside cabin area and saw a display board for ELSA. It caught my attention straight away and I was able to see what some of the work that the pupils and ELSA do together. Since then I have been doing my research. In university I have linked as much work as I can to emotional literacy or emotional intelligence in order to find more research out about it. In my opinion I think that all primary schools should have an area, or a room dedicated to emotional literacy. It is so important to combat negative mental health, poor behaviour and can also help children deal with loss and bereavement and build up their self esteem and confidence. I think it should also be more publicised within groups and other educational settings to build up awareness for future teachers or other people looking to work in schools. 

References:

Bravery, K., & Harris, L. (2009) Emotional literacy support assistants in Bournemouth: Impact and outcomes. Bournemouth. Bournemouth Borough Council.

Burton, S., Osborne, C. and Norgate, R. (2010) An evaluation of the impact of the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant project on pupils attending schools in Bridgend, Hampshire. Educational Psychology Service Research and Evaluation Unit.

Burton, S., Traill, M., & Norgate, R. (2009) An evaluation of the emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) programme. Winchester: Hampshire Educational Psychology Service, Research & Evaluation Service.

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2005) Excellence and enjoyment: Social and emotional aspects of learning. London: DfES.

Department for Education and Skills (DfES). (2007) Social and emotional aspects of learning for secondary schools. London: DfES.

ELSA Network (2017) ELSA Network. Available at: https://www.elsanetwork.org/about/the-network/ (Accessed 28 March 2019)

ELSA Network. (2013) ELSA Network. Available at: http://www.elsanetwork.org (Accessed 01 April 2019)

Goleman, D. (1995) Emotional intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Grahamslaw, L. (2010) What is the impact of an ELSA Projecton support assistants’ and children’s self-efficiency beliefs? Unpublished doctoral research on www.elsanetwork.org/research Cited in: Shotton, G., Burton, S., & Agar, A. (2019). Emotional wellbeing: An introductory handbook for schools (Second ed.).

Hills, R. (2016) An evaluation of the emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) project from the perspective of primary school children. Educational and Child Psychology, 33, 4.

Qualter, P., Gardner, K. J., & Whiteley, H. E. (2007) Emotional intelligence: Review of research and educational implications. Pastoral Care, 25, 11–20

Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990) Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9, 185–211.

Sharp, P. (2000) Promoting emotional literacy: Emotional literacy improves and increases your life chances. Pastoral Care in Education: International Journal of Personal, Social and Emotional Development, 18, 8–10

Shotton, G., Burton, S., & Agar, A. (2019). Emotional wellbeing: An introductory handbook for schools (Second ed.).

Swanage Primary School. (Unknown) ELSA – Emotional Literacy Support. Available at: http://www.swanageprimary.dorset.sch.uk/elsa-emotional-literacy-support/ (Accessed 01 April 2019)

Wilding, Lucy, & Claridge, Simon. (2016) The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) Programme: Parental Perceptions of Its Impact in School and at Home. Educational Psychology in Practice, 32(2), 180-196.

Image 1: https://www.elsa-support.co.uk/elsa-poster/