IN7760 BALSession 3

Attachment Aware Schools

Attachment is…

Pattern of attachment •(Relationship)

Pattern of processing information •(Transformations of information)

A strategy for identifying and responding

to danger •(Mental and behavioral strategies) (International Association for the Study of Attachment - http://www.iasa-dmm.org/index.php/about-attachment/School-Age-Assessment-Attachment/)

Attachment Assessments Strange Situation: infancy

Preschool Assessment of Attachment (PAA): 2-5 y

School-Age Assessment of Attachment (SAA): 6-13 y

Transition to Adulthood Att. Interview (TAAI): 16-25 y

Adult Attachment Interview: adulthood

(Parents Interview)•DMM - https://www.ranzcp.org/Files/ranzcp-attachments/Resources/Conference-presentations/FCAP-2012-Landini-2.aspx

Dynamic Maturational Model

Memory systems involved in attachment, learning and behaviour:

•Procedural Memory (Knowing how)

•Imaged Memory (Knowing where)

•Semantic Memory (Knowing that)

•Connotative Language (Knowing in what way)

•Episodic Memory (Knowing what happened)

•Integrative reflection (Understanding)

What we can do?Lead practice so that:

•Nurturing relationships promote children’s learning and behaviour particularly for vulnerable or high-risk children and helps to satisfy children’s innate need to have a ‘sense of belonging’•Support practitioners to be secondary attachment figures who can help to reshape the insecure IWM of the child to a more secure IWM •Be child-centred and acknowledge one size does not fit all – in the same way we create additional infrastructures for children with physical impairments, we need to do the same for children with emotional and behavioural impairments

“

Meeting a spectrum of needs to improve learning outcomes and behaviour

 

      

        

6

Attachment relationships – how we can lead practice in schools

• “Attachment influences students’ school success. This is true of students’ attachment to their parents, as well as to their teachers. Secure attachment is associated with higher grades and standardized test scores compared to insecure attachment. Secure attachment is also associated with greater emotional regulation, social competence, and willingness to take on challenges, and with lower levels of ADHD and delinquency, each of which in turn is associated with higher achievement” (Bergin and Bergin, 2009)

• “Emotional well-being must be a larger part of any learning, and by association, the educational agenda…. Schools may be the optimum sites for buffering the impact of stress, building resilience and enhancing individual capacities for learning” (Nagel, 2009)

• ‘Teaching is a social, interpersonal, attachment-based endeavour’ (Conzolino, 2013)

Interestingly…..•Dr Geoff Taggart at Reading University has highlighted how leadership styles can be affected by attachment styles•For example, leaders who have avoidant attachment styles often depend on achievement for their self-esteem which invariably leads to stress-related ‘burn out’•Research into leadership and attachment styles found that ‘secure-base’ leadership did not lead to burn out, with leaders maintaining a healthy balance of stress and other hormones in their system (Kohlrieser 2012)

8

Attachment and Leadership

1. What are the links between attachment and educational attainment?

2. What does your school do to help pupils:– promote emotional resilience?– enhance individual capacities for learning?– develop nurturing relationships?– manage transitions?

3. Are schools currently fulfilling their public duty to support the needs of all children?

9

Pause for thought