Primary school children in Glasgow and Northern Ireland will this term join an innovative international programme designed to improve classroom behaviour and reduce violence and bullying.
The Roots of Empathy programme works by teaching children, aged four to 12, to empathise with others through a series of regular classroom visits during the school year by a parent and young baby. A younger version, called Seeds of Empathy, aimed at children under the age of four, is being launched.
Roots of Empathy was founded in Canada in 1996 by Mary Gordon, an educator and parenting expert. Since then it has spread across North America, Australia and New Zealand, and it first came to the UK three years ago when it was introduced in the Isle of Man. From this term it will run in all but two of the island's primary schools.
The results of a research project on the Isle of Man scheme are due to be published this autumn and it is also the subject of a forthcoming BBC television documentary.
While the findings of the study, by a team from the University of British Columbia and King's College London, are not yet known, the anecdotal evidence is very optimistic, according to John Knight, chief executive of the Isle of Man Children's Centre, which acts as lead agency for the project.
'The programme is very carefully constructed,' says Mr Knight. 'The children observe over the months the development of the baby and the development of the loving relationship between the mother and baby.'
Classroom discussions are led by facilitators, who usually have a background of working with young children. They include health visitors, nursery nurses, children's centre staff and teachers.
The facilitator, who undertakes four days' training, deliberately uses positive language in the sessions. For example, when talking with the children about whether the baby can stand, the response would be 'not yet', rather than the negative 'no'. The spin-off from this approach is that when children are playing together, they will see a child as not yet able, rather than unable, to perhaps kick a ball straight.
Through this combination of guided discussions and observations, the children learn how to reflect on their own feelings and thoughts and those of others.
'It teaches children empathy and what it feels like to feel,' says Sue Porter, manager for health visitors and school nurses on the Isle of Man. 'All children have differing experiences of family life and parenting. The programme helps them to witness the loving interaction between a parent and their baby, encouraging normal parenting and child development.
'The baby first comes in at about four months old and follows through with regular monthly visits until the end of the school year. At the end of the year we have a celebration. We have a wishing tree on which the children hang their wishes for "their baby".'
PRO-SOCIAL AND CARING
The Wave Trust, a charity dedicated to reducing violence, has been involved in promoting Roots of Empathy in the UK. George Hosking, the charity's chief executive, says, 'Violent people have little or no empathy with their victims, so empathy is crucial if we want to create a world where people are pro-social and caring towards others.
'A violent personality is, to a significant extent, created in the first three years of a child's life, and people tend to parent as they were parented. The aim of Roots of Empathy is to break that cycle and develop empathy in children who may not have received it from their own experience with their own parents.
'Roots of Empathy shows children how to interact with others in a caring, loving manner in such a way that they have a role model to relate to when they become parents themselves.'
Research into the programme in Canada, by the University of British Columbia, found lasting effects on children's pro-social behaviour in terms of sharing, helping, caring and including others. Teachers also reported lower levels of bullying, name-calling and bad language.
'The research shows that the children who respond most to Roots of Empathy are boys,' says Mr Hosking. 'Their attitude tends to be, when the programme starts, that this is something for the girls and nothing much to do with them. But once it begins, the boys are drawn in to it and become really interested.'
The children become so engaged that if they meet the baby and parent outside of school, they will rush up to greet 'their baby', adds Ms Porter.
During the weeks between visits the children are still talking and thinking about their baby. The facilitator makes extra visits and the scheme is incorporated into the curriculum. The children might draw their baby, write stories about them or work out how much it costs to care for their baby.
Mr Hosking says a key feature of a Roots of Empathy session is when the children are invited to hold the baby. 'The highest incidence of child abuse occurs in children aged under one year old and the reason is because babies cry and parents hit or shake them.
'There was a little boy cradling the baby in his arms who said that when a baby cries it is not because it doesn't like you. He said, "It cries just because that is the way babies talk".
'Here was a small child who understood that a crying baby is not trying to wind an adult up but is trying to talk and that it is the job of the carer to de-code the baby's message.'
CASE STUDY
Sam was the terror of the classroom, according to George Hosking, chief executive of the anti-violence charity the Wave Trust.
'Sam had been in multiple care homes, multiple foster homes and been thrown out of all of them for bad behaviour.
'When his class was about to undertake Roots of Empathy, the teacher warned the baby's mother about Sam's outbursts and behaviour. She asked the mother if she wanted Sam to be barred from holding the baby, but the mother was prepared to wait and see what happened.
'At the end of the discussion, when children were invited to hold the baby Sam's hand shot up first, and rather nervously the mother gave him her baby to hold.
'He behaved perfectly, cradling the baby gently in his arms. When the time came to hand the infant back to his mother, the little boy looked her in the eye and asked, "Do you think if nobody has ever loved you, that you can learn to love your own baby?"'
FURTHER INFORMATION
- Roots of Empathy www.rootsofempathy.org
- Seeds of Empathy www.seedsofempathy.org
- Wave Trust www.wavetrust.org
