All staff who will be using Emotion Works resources and especially those who are planning lessons and activities  should engage with our introductory training materials.

This can be accessed in one or more of the following ways…

1. Website membership – our online training & guidance section is the easiest, most flexible and cost effective way for staff to access training. They can work through the  materials individually or as a staff group

2. Face-to-face in-service training – whole staff training can be delivered in your own setting by Emotion Works trainers as twilights sessions, half days or full days. Cascading training is also an option for Emotion Works training to come to you, for example, if a school cluster gets together to roll out Emotion Works then 2 teachers/practitioners from each school could attend training and then cascade the approach out to colleagues in each school.

3. Open training sessions are delivered at the main Emotion Works classroom in Edinburgh, and at our local classroom hubs in Glasgow, Fife or West Lothian. You can sign up 1, 2 or more staff to these, who can then cascade the approach back in school to the rest of the staff, with the help of the website training & guidance materials.

4. A ‘cascading’ model is becoming more and more popular to help build Emotion Works capacity in schools. One or two ‘lead’ practitioners become familiar with the approach by attending an open training or special cascader training for school clusters. They then lead the roll out in their own school at a time and pace to suit your school timetable.

5. Emotion Works local mentors – a final option for staff training is that you optimise on our local mentoring approach to capacity building. If you have staff in your school or cluster who are experienced in using Emotion Works then they may  support and mentor colleagues to get started using the resources and website, or engage in team teaching, classroom visits etc. Local mentors are not qualified trainers, but may be engaging in our accreditation process so should be happy to help out as part of their role in school.

6. Emotion Works lead practitioners should keep track of practitioners who haven’t had access to training, for example if they are newly appointed to the school, and should ensure that they are supported to engage in one or more of the above processes so that they are familiar with the basics of the approach and how to use the resources.

All teachers and those responsible for planning the Emotion Works lessons and activities in your school should work through the following checklist of good practice…

Getting started

> I have familiarised myself with the Emotion Works members area, and I know where to find the online training, digital resources and practice ideas

> I have carried out some form of baseline assessment with my learners, if only the ‘Emotion Word Knowledge assessment task’

> I have identified Emotion Works levels for the children in my class

> I have identified and prepared useful resources to use with my pupils (both hard copy and digital resources – e.g. cog cut outs, worksheets, slideshows etc)

> I have a plan for a visual display or reference area in my classroom that supports Emotion Works learning at the right level for my pupils

> I have planned and delivered my first Emotion Works lesson or activity, or have embarked on a series of lessons relating to a particular topic or theme

Consolidation

> Now that my learners are familiar with Emotion Works, I plan and deliver Emotion Works top-up experiences at least once a week

> I make use of learning opportunities for Emotion Works as they arise during everyday lessons and conversations

> I know who my learners are who require extra support with emotional learning and wellbeing

> I have used the Emotion Works Additional Support Framework to identify and address any particular needs and have discussed these with other people involved in providing additional support for these learners

> All of my learners participate in universal or targeted delivery of Emotion Works learning experiences at least once a week

Evaluation & Impact

> I have engaged in ongoing informal assessment of my learners during Emotion Works activities and have gathered feedback from support staff and children themselves about their learning

> I have carried out a more formal assessment activity with some of all of my learners to track progress and impact, if only the ‘Emotion Word Knowledge assessment task’

School Management or the identified Emotion Works lead practitioners take on planning, implementation and evaluation of Emotion Works roll out across the school. Some of strategies and approaches for this might involve…

> Making links to school curriculum planning and current developments/school improvements

> Setting up an Emotion Works development group

> Planning and delivering a week by week assembly – to introduce Emotion Works to the whole school

> Planning a Practice Sharing event – eg. parent showcase, pupil led assemblies

> Tracking progress in learning – methods are agreed and shared, and a system for information gathering and collating across the school is put in place

> New approaches or ideas of your own

To allow us to award your school accreditation and to help you celebrate your staff and pupil achievements we are looking at different ways to help you document, share and present your journey with us, and the rest of the Emotion Works community.

> We could come and visit your school to see and hear all about your Emotion Works roll-out

> You could provide a presentation at a school accreditation day gathering

> You could write and share a blog post about your journey, involving input from pupils, staff and your parent community

> You could work with pupils to create a video account of your journey

> You could come up with an idea of your own

We will be creating a set of criteria for school accreditation to help shape the information gathering and evidencing process, but how you choose to share, present and show off your achievements is very much up to you!