CASE STUDY 1

In Hungary it was an important aspect in choosing piloting schools to have at least two teachers included in the programme. It was assumed, and proved that having two teachers working together provides an extra support for each other.

In this specific case one of the teachers was also the headmaster of the school, while the other worked as her deputy. They also had an own class within the school (grade 6) where the DoE techniques were used and implemented during the school year.

The school is located in a small village, with a high percentage of disadvantaged population. For many pupils of the school talking about emotions was completely unknown as they haven’t got used to it in their homes. Therefore as the DoE program started, they had to progress in small steps, creating the culture of sharing emotions, which seemed difficult at first, but eventually pupils got used to it.

This school was in a very good position to involve the wider environment in the program. As the headmaster was on board from the beginning, it was clear that the program is supported within the school. Even though it was mainly the headmaster and her deputy implementing the techniques, due to the size of the school, the rest of the school staff was also aware of it, asking about it. The pupils also talk about the techniques to other teachers. The headmaster and the deputy have been planning a local “training” for all the teachers, where they could also learn the techniques for further implementation – they were waiting for the proper time, so their collegaues would accept is a positive program, instead of an extra burden among many other responsibilities. This shows, that when we aim for spreading DoE for more teacher, we have to be conscious about how to introduce it to the staff, so they won’t be hostile against it.

Beside the school, they also put effort into introducing the program to the village: a one page article was written to the local newspaper about DoE and its use in the school. This way they are trying to create a community-level understanding of the importance of emotional education, getting not only the pupils and the school staff on board, but the general population as well, including the parents also.