Hi Marie

Yes it is a very important area of development and it is recognised
that emotional literacy contributes to children developing in other
ways as well.

I think it both contributes to other ends but is also an ends in itself - that children and adults grow in their ability to recognise and respond to their own emotional needs and those of others in ways that contribute to the development of a humane society.

As with everything there are a number of materials,
suggestions, ideas of how to put it into practice. The reality is that
these are only tools and surely is the way an educator uses those tools
or indeed other tools he or she created that allows for the creation of
an environment where children develop emotionally. Sometimes, some
educators just rolls materials and strategies out and forget that the
most important aspect is the relationship they themselves establish
with others. Emotional literacy is not done between 10.00 and 10.20
a.m. at circle time. Is part of life all the time, it's about being,
the way you are and they you are developing-

I couldnt agree more. I get concerned when materials and strategies get confused with what we are trying to achieve.

no wonder it is difficult to assess it.

Difficult - but not impossible! A Living Theory approach gives me more hope of understanding and developing evidence than other approaches I have been acquainted with as I take your point that 'it's about being, the way you are and the way you are developing'. Perhaps as we begin to share what it looks like for each of us through our accounts as Alon suggests we can gradually add to a living picture that can grow with us and communicate; feels more organic than adding pieces of a jigsaw while retaining the rigour of research.

Marie

Joao


On Thursday, October 12, 2006, at 06:19  pm, Marie Huxtable wrote:

> Emotional literacy is an area of developement in schools in England at
> present with huge claims made for its impact but as far as I know
> there are
> no living standards of judgement by which to assess those claims nor an
> understanding of how to produce evidence that can be used to assess
> them. If
> anyone knows otherwise I would be very interested to hear. In the
> meantime
> my colleagues and I are working on a living theory account as we work
> with
> educators on developing our understandings of emotional literacy in a,
> hopefully, emotionally literate fashion in a workshop. We are hoping to
> video the workshop as evidence of our standards being lived as they
> emerge
> through our practice so I appreciate Alon's invitation to
>
> 'Just produce an account, showing your living standards of judgement
> and make it public for assessment and re-evaluation:  We'll decide
> and tell you if it is epistemological, clear and convincing,
> contributing (ethical) and educational.'
>