MNHQ - need your thoughts quickly on NICE guidelines to schools on "playing nice"

[AbbyMumsnet]

Hi all - quick canvas of opinions if you don't mind.

New guidance says schools should teach children as young as four about conflict resolution and managing their feelings.
NICE have actually produced guidance on this for schools.

We've got to give Telegraph a quote in next hour - so what are your thoughts on this? Does it sound like telling them to ?play nice? to you?

I don't think it's parents who can't be arsed to teach their kids to be kind to other kids who are expecting teachers to do it. Personally I'd like other children to be taught to be kind to my children and don't give two hoots who teaches them to do it.

Can't see point in attitude "No, dammit, I only want children behaving reasonably towards my children if their own parents have taught them to do it. Any child who needs to be taught how to handle feelings by a teacher can just forget all that nonsense beat mine up instead, like they would have done in the good old days..."

Yes- as a teacher. I think it is really important children are taught how to settle problems (rather than being told to "lamp" them back).

That's all very well Enid, but they are the children that need the help. Teachers should do this. Are schools there for churning out academic robots or well rounded individuals?

Infact I think it is more important than teaching them to read and write.

Our junior school (so 7 & over, not quite as young as the ones you're talking about)does a lot with SEAL - our assemblies follow the themes through the year, in the order Cod listed they fit in well with what's happening at school, the PSHCE curriculum & how relationships between children develop throughout the year - and we're about a year into our Peer mediation scheme, where teams of year 6 children help younger ones to resolve their conflicts by talking it through without taking sides, getting them to suggest ways the problem could be solved.

I think teachers probably do this as they go along anyway dont' they, it'd be very hard to work with young children and not do it.

Look it's a sticky, and what I just said wasn't very well thought out or intelligent and it's just sitting there at the top.

Quick, someone else say something.

Thank you - just had a quick chat and summarised (I hope correctly) by saying that, while the general consensus is that anything that can be done to promote a whole school/healthy school ethos is to be applauded, these issues have been being addressed for a number of years now (via Seal and Healthy Schools scheme etc) so you can't help but wonder whether NICE's efforts would be better focused elsewhere - e/g/ on the NHS rather than our playgrounds.

Ah, more guidelines.
More paperwork stating the obvious.
Just what the education system in this country needs.

Wouldn't want to just let trained teachers get on with teaching would we?

Missed the boat

I actually think that it is a good idea, primary education is not just about the 3 "r's". Looking at the state of the country in terms of crime, violence lack of tollerence and teenage pregnancy to name just a few examples, it is clear the there are a lot of parents out there who aren't teaching this successfully at home. My kids are only young so for all I konw they may need this.

NICE guidelines are, by and large, supposed to state the obvious, though -- they are effectively a summary of best practice together with the evidence for that practice. Same thing goes for children's mental health as for management of diabetes in pregnancy (the guidelines for which I knew were due out this month but this thread has prompted me to notice have now been issued, which is handy for me .

of course managing feelings is important. teaching children how to "play nicely" or manage conflict, however you want to put it is important.

"yeah well they should, we all have the same 24 hours in a day and if parents can't be arsed to be kind to their kids and teach them how to be kind to other
kids then they shouldn't expect teachers to do it for them.". Tell that to the parent of the 5 year old child who was being hit by three other 4 and 5 year old children in the playground at our school this morning. They took it in turns as he tried to push them away. these are 4 year olds! do they not have feelings then? Oh and the teacher dealt with it. severely. Should she have left it and just let the parents do it? One of the children involved I happen to know is allowed to play 18 rated games on his xbox, so no guesses where he learns that behavior ey?

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Agree with Cod that SEAL is excellent.

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I think this is precisely the sort of thing that should be included in schools. It gives a common framework of values and method of applying them which children can easily access and use. The schools I have worked with used SEAL and I'm 'out' of ed at the moment so not sure whether this is another layer which is actually not required, but in principle, great.

"Infact I think it is more important than teaching them to read and write. "