KidsMatter Impact on Teachers
10.1 Teacher competencies
Teachers were asked 23 items about their attitudes, knowledge, competence and confidence (self-efficacy) towards teaching social and emotional competencies. The first seven items focused on staff in the school (see Table 22), to assess whether and how their teaching of SEL changed during the period of KM. The literature on teacher change indicates that a necessary first step is a change in teacher attitude or beliefs. As such, the next three items in this section were about staff attitudes towards SEL. The remaining 13 items asked each teacher to reflect upon his or her own capabilities. These included five items covering the teacher’s knowledge about teaching Social and Emotional Learning, five items about the individual teacher’s program and resources for teaching SEL, and three items about teacher self-efficacy in relation to Components 1, 3 and 4 (see Table 22).
10.1.1 Staff approach to Social and Emotional Learning
It can be seen in Table 22 that by Time 4, over 70% of teachers strongly agreed that staff in the school were helping students to develop SEL skills. This included items about opportunities for students to practice their social and emotional skills, and to apply the skills outside the classroom. It is evident from results in Table 22 and Figure 27 that at the start of KM, teachers rated their schools as already providing substantial opportunities for Social and Emotional Learning. These high ratings meant that there was less scope for measurable improvement (on the 7-point scale) in association with KM. Nevertheless, on average, from Time 1 to Time 4, 8% more teachers strongly agreed that staff helped students to develop their SEL capabilities. This result is supported by the findings from the HLM analysis of changes in the mean scores (see Figure 27), where it can be seen that there were significant improvements on this scale, with small effect sizes for both Round 1 and Round 2 schools.
Table 22. Teachers’ attitudes, knowledge, competence and confidence (self-efficacy) towards teaching social and emotional competencies
The questions in this section are about teaching, including the teaching of social and emotional skills.
From your own experience, rate the extent to which you disagree or agree with the following statements:
Round 1 Round 2
‘Strongly Agree’ at Time 4 Staff approaches to teaching SEL
Staff help students develop an awareness of their own feelings 81% 79%
Staff help students develop an awareness of other people’s thoughts and feelings 84% 81%
Staff help students to develop skills to manage their own emotions 73% 70%
Staff help students develop skills for establishing healthy relationships with other children 78% 74%
Staff help students to develop skills for making responsible decisions 80% 77%
Staff provide opportunities for students to practice social and emotional skills 74% 67%
Staff help students to apply social and emotional skills outside the classroom 67% 65%
Average 77% 73%
Staff attitudes towards SEL
Staff believe it is important to teach social and emotional skills to students 84% 82%
Students can be taught social and emotional skills 87% 84%
Students who are socially and emotionally competent learn more at school 92% 92%
Average 88% 86%
Teacher knowledge about SEL I know how to help students:
Develop an awareness of their own feelings 74% 64%
Develop an awareness of the thoughts and feelings of other people 75% 71%
Develop skills to manage their own emotional or social or behaviour difficulties 69% 61%
Develop skills to make responsible decisions 72% 70%
Develop skills to establish healthy relationships with other children 72% 68%
Average 72% 67%
Teachers’ SEL programs and resources
My teaching programs and resources help students to:
Develop an awareness of their own feelings 72% 69%
Develop an awareness of the thoughts and feelings of other people 75% 69%
Develop skills to manage their own emotional or social or behaviour difficulties 72% 66%
Develop skills to make responsible decisions 77% 68%
Develop skills to establish healthy relationships with other children 76% 68%
Average 75% 68%
Teacher self-efficacy
I can help people to develop a sense of belonging within the school community 69% 64%
I can provide effective support for parents/caregivers about students’ emotional or social or behaviour difficulties 56% 50%
I can identify early signs of emotional or social or behaviour difficulties in students 61% 56%
Average 62% 56%
Figure 27. Staff approach to Social and Emotional Learning
Strongly Agree 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Strongly Disagree
Time 1
Mean response
Time 2 Time 3 Time 4
Round 1 School means Round 2 School means Round 1 line of best fit Round 2 line of best fit SEL Staff Approach:
Teacher responses
Time 1 Mean Time 4 Mean Significance p r Effect Size
Teacher Round 1 5.75 6.01 *** 0.17 small
Round 2 5.64 5.85 ** 0.13 small
10.1.2 Staff attitudes to Social and Emotional Learning
It can be seen in Table 22 that at Time 1, more than 80% of teachers gave ‘strongly agree’ ratings for the items about staff attitudes to Social and Emotional skills Learning. A slightly higher level of mean rating was present at Time 4, indicating relatively little change in attitudes. This is confirmed by the results of the HLM analysis of changes in the mean scores (see Figure 28), where the means were high at the start of KM and showed minimal change. Clearly, at the start of KM, teachers reported that staff already held positive attitudes towards the importance of social and emotional skills, and on the 7-point scale there was little scope for this to improve.
Figure 28. Staff attitudes to Social and Emotional Learning
Strongly Agree 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Strongly Disagree
Time 1
Mean response
Time 2 Time 3 Time 4
Round 1 School means Round 2 School means Round 1 line of best fit Round 2 line of best fit SEL Attitude:
Teacher responses
Time 1 Mean Time 4 Mean Significance p r Effect Size
Teacher Round 1 6.24 6.35 ns 0.08
Round 2 6.25 6.30 ns 0.03
10.1.3 Teacher knowledge about Social and Emotional Learning
It is apparent in Table 22 that by Time 4, around 70% of teachers strongly agreed on the items about their SEL knowledge. This was a substantial improvement on the ratings provided at Time 1, when around 56% of teachers strongly agreed to these items. This change in teacher knowledge was confirmed in the results of the HLM analysis of changes in the mean scores (see Figure 29), where it can be seen that there was a medium effect size for the change in Round 1 schools’ teachers’ knowledge and a small effect size for change in teachers’ knowledge in Round 2 schools.
Figure 29. Teacher knowledge about Social and Emotional Learning
Strongly Agree 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Strongly Disagree
Time 1
Mean response
Time 2 Time 3 Time 4
Round 1 School means Round 2 School means Round 1 line of best fit Round 2 line of best fit SEL Knowledge:
Teacher responses
Time 1 Mean Time 4 Mean Significance p r Effect Size
Teacher Round 1 5.41 5.84 *** 0.29 medium
Round 2 5.39 5.62 ** 0.13 small
10.1.4 Teacher SEL programs and resources
From the results in Table 22 it can be seen that by Time 4, 75% of teachers in Round 1 schools and 68% of teachers in Round 2 schools strongly agreed with these items. This represented a substantial change from Time 1, when 56% of Round 1 teachers and 55% of Round 2 teachers strongly agreed with these items. This change in teachers’ SEL programs and resources was confirmed in the results of the HLM analysis of changes in the mean scores (see Figure 30), which showed a medium effect size for the change in Round 1 schools and a small effect size for the change in Round 2 schools.
Figure 30. Teacher SEL programs and resources
Strongly Agree 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Strongly Disagree
Time 1
Mean response
Time 2 Time 3 Time 4
Round 1 School means Round 2 School means Round 1 line of best fit Round 2 line of best fit SEL Programs and Resources:
Teacher responses
Time 1 Mean Time 4 Mean Significance p r Effect Size
Teacher Round 1 5.47 5.86 *** 0.26 medium
Round 2 5.33 5.64 *** 0.19 small
10.1.5 Teacher self-efficacy
The Time 4 results for teacher self-efficacy in Table 22 show that more than half the teachers strongly agreed on these three items about their self-efficacy for managing KM Components 1, 3 and 4. When comparisons were made between Time 1 and Time 4, it was found that there were some noticeable changes in teachers’ reports from Round 1 schools. This occurred in particular for two items.
For the item “I can provide effective support for parents/caregivers about students’ emotional or social or behaviour difficulties”, 14% more teachers strongly agreed from Time 1 to Time 4. For the item “I can identify early signs of emotional or social or behaviour difficulties in students”, 15% more teachers strongly agreed at Time 4 compared with Time 1.
The pattern of change on these items is shown in Figure 31. Here it can be seen that there were small effect sizes for the changes in Round 1 and Round 2 schools.
Figure 31. Teacher self-efficacy
Strongly Agree 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Strongly Disagree
Time 1
Mean response
Time 2 Time 3 Time 4
Round 1 School means Round 2 School means Round 1 line of best fit Round 2 line of best fit Self-Efficacy:
Teacher responses
Time 1 Mean Time 4 Mean Significance p r Effect Size
Teacher Round 1 5.18 5.55 *** 0.23 small
Round 2 5.20 5.38 * 0.10 small
The pattern of findings on these five measures of teacher competencies is consistent, pointing to a positive change in the ratings by teachers of their knowledge, competence and confidence in relation to the teaching of SEL and promoting positive mental health in schools. The changes are indicated by the presence of the small to medium effect sizes among this cluster of five indicators.