An evaluation of the emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) project from the perspectives of primary school children

Abstract

Aim:The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) project is a targeted professional development intervention for Teaching Assistants, delivered and supervised by Educational Psychologists (EPs). The intervention aims to build the capacity of schools to support the social, emotional and mental health needs of their pupils’ using their own resources. This paper reports the evaluation of an ELSA project in one Local Authority.Rationale:There is very limited research on how the ELSA project is experienced by the young participants. This research therefore evaluated the ELSA project from the perspectives of primary school children, in order to explore whether the project was effective and to identify the factors that contributed to the perceived effectiveness.Methods:The research followed a mixed-methods design, with 53 children between the ages of six and eleven years completing quantitative questionnaires and nine children participating in semi-structured interviews.Findings:The research findings indicated that a number of significant factors contributed to the perceived effectiveness of the ELSA project, including the importance of the therapeutic relationship with the ELSA teacher, having a space to talk and think about feelings and building resilience, confidence and self-esteem. The children also identified aspects of the ELSA project that they felt could be improved upon, included feeling prepared before starting and understanding what happens once the project finishes.Conclusions:The findings from this research offer a unique contribution to research into the ELSA project, which can be used by both ELSA teachers and EPs. The findings may also be pertinent to EPs outside of ELSA related work, highlighting the importance of listening to children of all ages and using alternative methods such as drawing to support them in sharing their views.