R time and National Initiatives
November 2007
Bullying as a relationship problem
“Relationship problems require relationship solutions”
An article for Spotlight Magazine by Rob Osborn (Leicestershire Anti-Bullying Strategy Manager) December 2006 (updated October 2007).
Over the last few years much of the research to address bullying has focused around the area of relationships. We are now aware that children with secure friendships and the ability to develop positive relationships with their peers are much less likely to be bullied. The research by Craig and Pepler highlighted the need to look at the social architecture of the classroom to promote learning by supporting a student’s capacity to develop healthy relationshipsA number of initiatives have developed as a result of this desire to address the issue of relationships.
One programme called R time was developed in 2002 and can now be found in over 40 Education Authorities and was highlighted in “Bullying Today” a report by the Children’s Commissioner (November 2006)
First pilotWhen Leicestershire developed its first Anti-Bullying Strategy it chose to focus on Primary aged students and became the first authority to pilot R time.
From a pilot in one school in 2003 R time is now successfully in place in over 175 Primary schools across the county.
What is R time?The programme consists of a weekly lesson of 10-15 minutes length.
Questionnaires at the start and end of the programme help to set class and individual targets, and evaluate progress. There are 30 sessions, for each year group from Nursery to Year 6. Each session has five component parts:?Random Pairing – the children work each time with a different partner. Random selection is achieved through the use of pairing cards.
? Introductions – once in their pairs they greet one another with a positive statement e.g. “Hello, my name is Simon. I’m glad that you’re my partner today Sarah”.
? Activities – there are 30 easily achievable short activities for each year group for the children to do with their partner.
? Plenary – the children feed back their experiences to the whole group and the teacher helps them to reflect on their learning.
? Conclusion – at the end of the session the children thank their partner and say something positive to finish.
Has R time made a difference?
Our annual Pupil Attitude Survey has shown a significant decline amongst Primary pupils reporting that that they had been bullied since the introduction of R time. The most striking reduction has been in years 5 and 6.We believe that R time grows in impact as the work is reinforced each year from the Foundation stage.
Percentage of pupils reporting that they have been bullied since the introduction of R time in 2002 |
||||||
Year Group |
02/03 |
03/04 |
04/05 |
05/06 |
06/07 |
Overall reduction |
Year 3 |
22.9% |
21.1% |
21.0% |
8.3% |
10.6% |
50%+ |
Year 4 |
17.0% |
17.9% |
16.9% |
17.6% |
9.6% |
43% |
Year 5 |
16.2% |
14.8% |
11.7% |
12.1% |
8.2% |
49% |
Year 6 |
11.6% |
8.8% |
8.3% |
7.6% |
5.7% |
34% |
Overall |
16.3% |
14.9% |
14.4% |
13.9% |
8.7% |
40% |
(NB: Overall in 2006/7 includes Year 2 pupils for the first time)
R time research findings
The Leicestershire Anti-Bullying Team evaluated the benefits of R time in 2004/5 through the use of questionnaires with 1140 pupils from 8 Primary schools (before
R time was introduced and again after 3 and 6 months). The research showed that
R time had a positive impact on social inclusion, contentment in school, relationships and promoting a positive ethos. It also showed that students perceived that their school was against bullying and were increasingly willing to talk about it.
Why is R time successful? After the initial training the programme is easy to implement and requires few resources. It is a whole school approach and positive results quickly become apparent. It is teacher friendly and the students love it. It has no academic bias so it is accessible to students of all ages and abilities The whole programme is based on good practice and uses comparatively little curriculum time R time complements and supports the SEAL initiative.
SEAL
Within the Primary National Strategy the SEAL materials provides a whole school framework for explicitly promoting the social and emotional aspects of learning. These are identified as self awareness, managing feelings, motivation, empathy and social skills. They are developed through 6 whole school themes lasting half a term during which time the students have the opportunity to practice the pro-social strategies they have learned.. In additional there is a smaller module over two weeks called “Say no to bullying” which is intended to be covered around Anti-Bullying Week
A new publication R time for SEAL uses the R time approach to support schools in introducing and developing the materials.
Together R time and the SEAL materials are having a dramatic impact on developing a positive school ethos in which children learn the skills to develop social skills, accepting, respectful relationships and bullying is not tolerated.
Further information
SEAL materials can be downloaded from www.bandapilot.org.uk
R time and Ofsted
The following are actual direct quotes taken from Ofsted Reports of schools who have been using R time:
- The school ethos is very good and the buzz of activity is supported by the very positive way pupils interact with each other and staff. Weekly R time meetings for each class foster good manners, polite conversation and civilised attitude to others.
- R time makes a very good contribution to pupils’ personal development.
R time helps the school to be the calm and friendly place that it is.
- R time sessions do much to help pupils reflect on issues such as bullying, cheating and the pressures of moving schools.
- Support for pupils’ personal development is very effective. A special programme, R time, encourages pupils to develop good relationships, show respect and consideration for other and always be polite. These principles are underlined in assemblies as well as curriculum activities.
- The introduction of R time contributes very well to pupils’ self-awareness.
- Teachers have very good classroom management skills and control pupils very well. This is because the school has worked very hard to establish clear expectations of good behaviour and has established programmes to support this. The teaching of personal and social skills and behaviour management through R time lessons makes a strong contribution to the success of the programme.
- The R time lessons provide the foundation of the school’s behaviour management. This has had a positive effect on the pupils’ good behaviour throughout the school.
- At first, their personal and social skills are often limited but with more attention to social interaction through R time the children have developed into youngsters who are a credit to the school.
- R time has enabled the school to develop pupils’ views. The programme enables the children to share high quality, regular chances to share ideas within a setting where people are expected to take turns and to learn from each other.
How does R time contribute to two national priorities; Bullying and SEAL?
It contributes to Anti-Bullying Strategies by teaching skills, which will reduce bullying. These skills include acceptance, respect, valuing differences in each other, creating ways to support one another, enabling children to succeed in one-to-one friendships, and to handle conflict situations. Whilst this is not specifically an anti-bullying programme many children, in their evaluations, have commented on the way that R time has stopped bullying by the children in their class or group. It makes a clear contribution to the prevention of bullying and the creation of a ‘climate’ within which bullying will not take hold.
It contributes to the key skills included in the Primary National Strategy, SEAL initiative (social and emotional aspects of learning) by creating friendships – leading to social skills; by enabling children to understand their own and others feelings - leading to empathy; by children recognising that they are accepted and liked by their classmates - leading to self awareness; and by providing an in-built success/ feel good factor with every child having the opportunity to succeed and make their own contribution within each session– leading to motivation.
