Teaching as Mediation: Exploring the Impacts of a Teacher Training Program on Generating Social and Emotional Learning Environments

Year 2021, Volume: 10 Issue: 1, 25 - 46, 30.04.2021

Leah Peña Teeters , Caitlin Mckımmy Michelle Shedro Yoni Ashar Adriana Alvarez Emily Prıce Sona Dımıdjıan

Abstract

This article investigates a teacher learning program in Mexico, Desarrollo de la Inteligencia a través del Arte: DIA (Development of Intelligence through Art: DIA), that supports teachers in applying holistic approaches to instruction that support social, emotional, academic, and cognitive growth. Using qualitative and quantitative measures, this article analyzes how pedagogical approaches that emphasize social and emotional learning affect teacher well-being and support practices associated with positive classroom culture. Analyses found that the DIA professional development program promotes an increase in teacher practices attending to social and emotional learning, such as emotional awareness, self-reflection, and student-centered learning. Teachers participating in the DIA professional development program also reported less emotional burnout and distress than control teachers. Analyses suggest that the DIA program may serve as a protective factor from emotional distress among teachers, promoting emotional support for students and student-centered learning.

Keywords

social and emotional learning, teacher training, mediation

Supporting Institution

University of Colorado Boulder

Project Number

OCG6644B

Thanks

We thank the team at La Vaca Independiente in Mexico City for their collaboration and support in making this research happen and we thank Willow Schram for her support with data analysis.

References

• Ahmed, S. (2013). The cultural politics of emotion. New York: Routledge.
• Aldrete Rodríguez, M. G., Pando Moreno, M., Aranda Beltrán, C., & Balcázar Partida, N. (2003). Síndrome de Burnout en maestros de educación básica, nivel primaria de Guadalajara. Investigación en salud (1).
• Arata, M. F. (2008). Burnout, autoeficacia y estrés en maestros peruanos: tres estudios fácticos. Ciencia & Trabajo, 30, 120-125.
• Ashar, Y. K., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Yarkoni, T., Sills, J., Halifax, J., Dimidjian, S., & Wager, T. D. (2016). Effects of compassion meditation on a psychological model of charitable donation. Emotion. Advance online publication.
• Brackett, M & Cipriano, C. (2020). Teachers Are Anxious and Overwhelmed. They Need SEL Now More Than Ever. EdSurge Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-04-07-teachers-are-anxious-and-overwhelmed-they-need-sel-now-more-than-ever.
• Benmansour, N. (1998). Job satisfaction , stress and coping strategies among Moroccan high school teachers, Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies, 3, pp. 13–33.
• Chaikin, S. & Lave, J. (1996). (Eds.). Understanding practice: Perspectives on activity and context. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
• Clouder, C., Mikulic, I. M., Leibovici-Mühlberger, M., Yariv, E., Finne, J., & Van Alphen, P. (2013). Social and Emotional Education: An International Analysis. Fundación Botín. Santander, Spain.
• Cumming-Potvin, W., Renshaw, P. & van Kraayenoord, C. (2003). Scaffolding and bilingual shared reading experiences: Promoting primary school students’ learning and development. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 26 (2). pp. 54-68.
• Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113.
• Domes, G., Heinrichs, M., Michel, A., Berger, C., & Herpertz, S. C. (2007). Oxytocin Improves “Mind-Reading” in Humans. Biological Psychiatry, 61(6), 731-733.
• Durlak, J., Weissberg, R., Dymnicki, A., Taylor, R. and Schellinger, K. (2011). The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development. 82(1). pp. 405– 432.
• Durlak, J., Domitrovich, C., Weissberg, R., & Gullotta, T. (2017). Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning: Research and Practice. New York: Guilford Press. Dusenbury, L., Calin, S., Domitrovich, C. & and Weissberg, R. What Does Evidence-Based Instruction in Social and Emotional Learning Actually Look Like in Practice? Chicago, Ill.: CASEL, October 2015. As of October 22, 2018: https://www.casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/PDF-25- CASEL-Brief-What-Does-SEL-Look-Like-in-Practice-11-1-15.pdf
• Fernández, A. M., Dufey, M., & Kramp, U. (2011). Testing the psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) in Chile. European Journal of Psychological Assessment.
• Fernández-Abascal, E. G., Cabello, R., Fernández-Berrocal, P., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2013). Test-retest reliability of the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ test: a one-year follow-up study. Molecular Autism, 4(1), 33. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2040-2392-4-33. doi:10.1186/2040-2392-4-33
• Garcia-Barrera, M. A., Karr, J. E., Trujillo-Orrego, N., Trujillo-Orrego, S., & Pineda, D. A. (2017). Evaluating empathy in Colombian ex-combatants: Examination of the internal structure of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) in Spanish. Psychological assessment. 29(1), 116.
• Gallop, R., & Tasca, G. A. (2009). Multilevel modeling of longitudinal data for psychotherapy researchers: II. The complexities. Psychotherapy Research, 19(4-5), 438-452. Gold, Y. (1984). The Factorial Validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory in a Sample of California Elementary and Junior High School Classroom Teachers. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 44(4), 1009-1016.
• Gonzalez, N., Moll, L. C., & Amanti, C. (Eds.). (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities and classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2004). Self-reported depression in nonfamilial caregivers: Prevalence and associations with caregiver behavior in child-care settings. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 297–318.
• Hansen, D. T. (1995). The Call to Teach. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Hombrados-Mendieta, I., García-Martín, M. A., & Gómez-Jacinto, L. (2013). The relationship between social support, loneliness, and subjective well-being in a Spanish sample from a multidimensional perspective. Social indicators research, 114(3), 1013-1034.
• Izard, C. E. (2002). Translating emotion theory and research into preventive interventions. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 796–824.
• Korthagen, K. (2010). Situated learning theory and the pedagogy of teacher education: Towards an integrative view of teacher behavior and teacher learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, (26)1. pp. 98-106.
• Kyriacou, C. (2001) Teacher Stress: Directions for future research, Educational Review, 53:1, 27-35.
• La Vaca Independiente (2017). “About Us.”. Retrieved from https://lavaca.edu.mx/about.html.
• Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Liston, D.P. (2004). The Lure of Beauty and the Pain of Injustice in Learning and Teaching, in Teaching, Learning and Loving, edited by D. P. Liston and J. Garrison. New York City: Routledge.
• Liston, D. P. (2000). "Love and Despair in Teaching", Educational Theory, 50(1), pp.81-102.
• Loaeza, S. (2006). Problems of Political Consolidation in Mexico. In L. Randall (Ed.), Changing Structure of Mexico: Political, Social, and Economic Prospects. London: M. E. Sharpe. 2, pp. 32-46.
• Madrazo Garcia, C. (2018). DIA SER para Aprender Fundamentos y Herramientas. CDMX, Mexico: la vaca independiente.
• Malmberg, L.-E., & Hagger, H. (2009). Changes in student teachers’ agency beliefs during a teacher education year, and relationships with observed classroom quality, and day-to-day experiences. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, pp. 677–694.
• Maslach, C., Jackson, S. E., Leiter, M. P., Schaufeli, W. B., & Schwab, R. L. (1986). Maslach burnout inventory. Consulting Psychologists Press Palo Alto, CA. 21.
• Morcom, V. (2014). Scaffolding social and emotional learning in an elementary classroom community: sociocultural perspective. International Journal of Educational Research. 67, pp. 18 – 29.
• OECD (2015), Skills for Social Progress: The Power of Social and Emotional Skills, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris
• OECD. (2019). The Study on Social and Emotional Skills. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/thestudyonsocialandemotionalskills.htm
• Payton, J., Weissberg, R., Durlak, J., Dymnicki, A., Taylor, R., Schellinger, K., & Pachan, M. (2008). The Positive Impact of Social and Emotional Learning for Kindergarten to Eighth-Grade Students: Findings from Three Scientific Reviews.” Technical Report, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, Chicago.
• Pianta, R. C., Hamre, B. K., & Mintz, S. L. (2012). Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Upper Elementary Manual. Teachstone.
• Randall, L. (2005). Factors affecting learning and cost effective schooling in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico: Edwin Mellen Press.
• Reyes, M. R., Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., Elbertson, N. A. & Salovey, P. (2012). The interaction effects of program training, dosage, and implementation quality on targeted student outcomes for the RULER approach to social and emotional learning. School Psychology Review, 41, 82-99.
• Roja, S. U., Ocaña, J. I. S., & Gil-Monte, P. R. (2007). Prevalencia del síndrome de quemarse por el trabajo (SQT)(burnout) en maestros mexicanos. Informació psicològica. (91-92), 53-63.
• Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069-1081.
• Tettegah, S., & Anderson, C. J. (2007). Pre-service teachers’ empathy and cognitions: Statistical analysis of text data by graphical models. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32(1), 48-82.
• Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). (2018). Aprendizajes Clave para la Educación Integral: Plan y programas de estudio para la educación básica. Retrieved from https://www.gob.mx/sep/es/articulos/aprendizajes-clave-para-la-educacion-integral?idiom=es
• Vygotsky, V. (1997). The problem of consciousness. The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, Vol 3. Plenum, New York. (Original work published 1933)
• Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Edited by M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Weissberg, R., & O’Brien, M. (2004). What Works in School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Programs for Positive Youth Development. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 2004 ;591(1):86-97.
• Wessels, E. & Wood, L. (2019) Fostering teachers’ experiences of well-being: A participatory action learning and action research approach. South African Journal of Education, (39)1.