The Freedom to Flourish 'Isle of Man Champions' scheme, together with the H&S Davidson Trust and the Public Lottery Trust, have funded the first evaluation of the Roots of Empathy programme in Europe
Roots of Empathy is delivered in Canada, where the programme originated, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Isle of Man, where it operates as a Freedom to Flourish initiative.
The programme is designed to develop social and emotional learning, increase empathy and decrease bullying behaviour in young children.
The evaluation is being undertaken by Dr Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, associate professor at the University of British Columbia, Dr Tamara Russell, lecturer in affective neuroscience at King’s College, London and Fiona Scott, Roots of Empathy director of research.
The team recently spent three days in the Island to brief teaching staff and issue pre-test questionnaires to Roots of Empathy and comparison classes.
Completed questionnaires will be returned to Dr Russell and entered into the programme’s database for scientific evaluation. Dr Russell said, "We would not expect the findings from the first questionnaire to show any significant changes.
"We wait nine months then issue the same post-test questionnaire and it’s at this point when there will be changes."
Dr Schonert-Reichl said the evaluation was a high quality scientific process designed to demonstrate the programme’s long-term benefits, principal among which were an increase in social and emotional intelligence, increased understanding of infants and parenting, and a decrease in aggression levels and bullying behaviour.
She continued, "Children’s behaviour also becomes more prosocial, e.g. more disposed towards sharing and helping others. And the knock-on effect is that children exposed to the programme tend to do better in school."
Dr Russell said, "Evaluation have been conducted in various settings worldwide - rural, urban and island - but the Isle of Man is a unique setting, and a first for the programme."
Roots of Empathy in the Isle of Man is being run by the Departments of Education, Home Affairs and Health and Social Security in partnership with the Isle of Man Children’s Centre.
The Centre's Chief Executive John Knight said, "Our aim is for Roots of Empathy to be delivered in all the Island’s primary schools by 2010 with the long-term aim of creating a more empathic society, so it is vital the high value of the programme is supported by independent scientific evidence.
"This year, and subject to parental consent, we would hope to have around 500 children receiving the programme."
Dr Russell said, "The evaluation is conducted on groups of children who have been exposed to the Roots of Empathy programme and on comparison 'parallel' groups, who have not participated.
"The process is rigorously scientific as children’s emotional intelligence is developing all the time, in particular during the critical period of around five to seven years.
"The evaluation is designed to determine what’s happening naturally as the child develops, and what is a result of exposure to Roots of Empathy.
"The aim is to see how Roots of Empathy can lead to improved social and emotional understanding, decrease aggression and help create a more caring civic society. This is something you can’t guess at. You must have scientific evidence."
Mr Knight said, "Early intervention works so we see long-term potential benefits in Roots of Empathy: reducing teenage pregnancy rates, for example. Bringing children into supervised contact with babies shows them that parenting’s a difficult job and not one to be undertaken lightly."
Dr Russell continued, "Roots of Empathy is proactive so can also help with emotional regulation problems, a leading mental health issue.
"Roots of Empathy isn’t about changing children’s intelligence. It’s about giving them the confidence and skills to cope better with challenges in life and help them flourish."
Dr Schonert-Reichl said, "We’re indebted to the support we’ve had here in the Isle of Man.
"We’ve also been impressed how 'savvy' the Island’s teachers are about Roots of Empathy and by the tremendous contributions they’ve made during the briefings.
"We recognise completing the questionnaires places extra demands on teachers and they have been extremely generous with their time.
"We’ve also been extremely impressed by what’s happening in the Island with Freedom to Flourish and I shall be taking back some ideas about the strategy to develop at the University of British Columbia."
Pictured: Dr Kimberly Schonert-Reichl (fourth left) and Fiona Scott (centre) with Roots of Empathy instructors. (Dr Tamara Russell unavailable for the photograph).
