Social and Emotional Well-being

The way we get along with children influences what motivates them and what they learn. Their environment must be set up so as to interface the cognitive realm with the realms of relationship and affectivity.

Loris Malaguzzi

In children, cognitive development relies on emotional well-being. Brain research indicates that emotion and cognition are profoundly interrelated processes.

Addressing children's need for safety and security is an essential prerequisite for engagement and authentic learning. Following Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs, we believe the school must provide, not only a safe and protective environment, but one in which children feel a sense of belonging and love, and where their self-esteem is strengthened. Recognizing the vital role families play in children's lives, and the need for the school to be part of a continuum which incorporates that bond –particularly in the Early Years– our induction/settling period is flexible and adapted to the needs of each child and each family, involving parents in the process.

Our aim is to create an environment where children will become deeply engaged in their activities. But a child with poor emotional well-being is not able to become deeply engaged. Our brain is, in Antonio Damasio's words, “body-minded”. There are clear connections between emotion and learning: there is an emotional component in decision-making, and relevant, nuanced emotions have a major role in high-level thinking.

Caring relationships prepare children for an initial receptivity to new experiences and learning. The environment we seek to provide for children is similar to that of an extended family, offering the close relationships and caring attitudes that come about when members of a community can know each other.

Before children can write, facilitators act as scribes for them and model writing skills.

We foster children's emotional intelligence by promoting empathy, a caring attitude towards others, non-punitive conflict resolution, and communication skills. We avoid using punishment and rewards as tools for managing children's behaviour. When behaviour problems arise, facilitators do not isolate or reprimand the child, and instead encourage him or her to discuss the problem with an adult or a mediator, and with the children involved. We see children's behaviour as a visible projection of their emotional well-being and strive to address the roots of behavioural problems by working closely with the parents. In cases related to a recurrent issue, strategies to better support the child may be put in place in a transparent and consensual manner. As facilitator, you can resort to a specific range of interventions (based on the work of Ferre Laevers at the Centre for Experiential Education, see Annexe I) in order to improve the level of well-being in individual children and start off “release processes”. A “Mediation Circle” is offered when conflictual incidents re-occur between the same children. This will include these children, their parents, and a facilitator.