SAFE AND ACTIVE SCHOOLDAY Estonian-Finnish cooperation

1. SAFE AND ACTIVE SCHOOLDAYEstonian-Finnish cooperation

2. The aim of SAS • Encourage students’ well-being and positive orientation toward schoolin Turku and Tallinn via Turku: 40 schools Tallinn: 45 schools • Promoting activity, safety, and cooperation at schools

3. Research and practice hand in hand • Which aspects are related to positive school-orientation the most? • What is similar and what is different in Turku’s and Tallinn’s school-life? What have we learned from each other? • How could schools sustainably support students’ „school- joy“? • What does really work in practice? • How has the SAS project contributed to the better school life?

4. Research • Research groups • Tallinn University& Psience – The Center of Applied Psychology • University of Turku • Studies in Tallinn • Students’ break-time study (n = 3324) • Survey on students’ activity, well-being, and safety (n = 2412) • 2-step study among schools’ personnel on culture and values (n = 422) • Feedback focus-group interviews among teachers and students

5. Positive relations with teachers High social activity High self-esteem I ♥ school High empathy Not feeling lonely Not being bullied Aspects related to school-satisfaction

6. Supporting self-esteem • Students’ possibility to takeresponsibilityfororganizing activities and be active agencies; • Continuouspractice of social skills which leads to positive feedback from peers and teachers, and feel of safety • Experience of supervising and coaching for game-leaders. • Different kind of environments for different students during break-times • Noticing lonely children and playing with them • Performances etc in a supportive and positive atmosphere • Positive feedback from teachers

7. Promoting activity and emphaty • Game-leaders / play-masters – older students take care of youngers, playingwith them, reading, talking etc to them • More fun during break-times • School-events • Directing young childrens’ energy into socially accepted activities • Older students’ caring attitude toward younger kids • Moving break times outside which is a great step (esp for large city schools) that students value a lot

8. Better relations between students and teachers • More joint activities • Teachers and students as partners in organizing events etc • Teacher’s initiativeness and modeling • Trusting students’ and giving them more responsibility • Giving positive feedback and express warm feelings

9. Ongoing value... • Value fit.SAS project supported nicely schools’values and matched well with other projects which enhance active and caring school life • Equipments. Teachers are happy with break time equipment provided by SAS project. • Sustainability. Furthermore, the change in social and psychological meaning has even greater value: new ways of organizing break-times are based on better social skills, cooperation and thus support childrens’ self-esteem and sense of responsibility. • Better climateand relations. • Less noisy and more enjoyable environment thanks to well-organized initiatives at break-times. • Improvedrelationships between children– both peers and older-younger • More trustful relations between students and teachers. • Outdoor activities. Breaktimes have moved clearly more outside in Tallinn.

10. Value of cross-boarder cooperation • Learning from each other experiences • Teachers-directors level • Students level • Notice the similarities of basic issues • Tallinn schools started to move breaktimes outside, some Finnish schools vice-versa 

11. Looking into the future • The effect of SAS is sustainable • Future cross-boarder projects’ emphases: • students’ social skills (communication, cooperation, empathy) • school motivation (esp teenagers) • core values in action • healthy lifestyle (eating, physical activity) • ...

12. Thank you! Eva-Maria Kangro SAS research group evamaria@psience.ee